SRP #1
docx
keyboard_arrow_up
School
Texas State University *
*We aren’t endorsed by this school
Course
2301
Subject
History
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
docx
Pages
3
Uploaded by CoachElement5278
Wylie 1
Natalie Wylie
Ms. Majumder
HIST-230-007
23 Oct. 2023
The Dust Bowl & The Great Depression
While there were various life-altering events that defined the United States of America, I
am going to be focusing on the defining events of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. The
United States' drought-stricken region suffered the Dust Bowl, which lasted for around ten years.
For Americans at the time, it was a succession of fierce and catastrophic dust storms that would
be an everyday dread. The Dust Bowl will eventually exacerbate and worsen the Great
Depression's crippling effects on the economy. The Great Depression affected the entire world
economy and is frequently studied as an international tragedy. One of the worst periods in
American history would begin with the collapse of the Wall Street Stock Market. This economic
downturn would result in bank closures, a spike in unemployment, home foreclosures, and
widespread fear that would affect every family and every individual in it. Americans lived
through the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression at the same time, a period that was a time of
suffering, loss, and failure. It altered and revolutionized the American way of life. From reading
the narrative “Recovery” written by Bradley who interviewed Tarpley, a survivor of this horrible
era, we see just how the Great Depression altered the lives of people. For example, Tarpley states
“It didn’t pay much in money and kept me away from home practically all the time” (Tarpley,
10). People jumped at the chance of employment, regardless of what they had to do, what they
would be paid, or what sacrifices they had to endure in order to survive, which serves to
highlight how horrible life was at the time. And during this nightmare, this was what Americans
desired most of all. To survive. The American way of life was also severely damaged and
devastated by the Dust Bowl. For example, the land was nearly rendered uninhabitable due to its
Wylie 2
complete destruction. During the Dust Bowl, millions of individuals fled their homes in quest of
a better life; many of them became homeless and almost malnourished to death. I believe that the
Dust Bowl exacerbated the crippling effects of the Great Depression and prompted a desperate
exodus of millions of Americans in pursuit of better living circumstances and employment
opportunities, making the crisis of the 1930s far more catastrophic.
For example, hazardous dust storms that turned farmland into a desert and left Americans
homeless and in dire need of help were being experienced with the 1929 Stock Market Crash,
which led to both local unrest and global disaster, forcing the country to deal with two separate
problems at once. Overall, the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression had a profound effect on
American culture and ultimately came to represent the struggles faced by the country in the
1930s.
Wylie 3
Works Cited
Tarpley, Mr. W. W, and Bradley?.
Recovery
. Georgia, 1940, pp. 10. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Re-
trieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/wpalh000498/>.
Corey, Glenn. “The Great Dust Bowl of the 1930s Was a Policy-Made Disaster: Glenn Corey.”
FEE Freeman Article
, Foundation for Economic Education, 13 June 2020,
fee.org/articles/the-great-dust-bowl-of-the-1930s-was-a-policy-made-disaster/.
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help