Assignment: Watch selected scenes from Episode 2: "Reaping the Whirlwind" of The Dust Bowl. As you watch the film, consider the following questions:
What was the Dust Bowl? Where was the Dust Bowl?
How was the Dust Bowl part of the Great Depression and the New Deal?
What types of primary sources does documentary filmmaker Ken Burns use to tell the story?
Why was the Dust Bowl both an economic disaster and an environmental disaster?
What was "Black Sunday" on April 14, 1935? Why did they call it "Black Sunday"?
What are some of the New Deal relief agencies discussed?
What was the purpose of the photographs taken for the Resettlement Administration? What was the "simple set of instructions" that Roy Stryker gave photographers like Arthur Rothstein and Dorothea Lang?
What was the experience of Okies living and working in California?
How did Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie's songs earn him the nickname "Dust Bowl Troubadour"?