Author's Purpose
What type of genre is 'Black Sunday'?
a non-fiction journalistic text
Where did most of the "Okies" end up moving after Black Sunday?
California
a serious or harmful condition or situation
plight
The following quotes from the passage are examples of ____.
"it was coal black"
"deathlike black"
"it got so dark that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face"
sensory language
What were the two main causes that led to the events that took place in 'Black Sunday'?
poor soil conservation techniques
destroyed or damaged badly
ravaged
Why does the author include lyrics from the song, 'Dust Storm Disaster'?
to depict the hardships and struggles faced by the people during the Dust Bowl.
What historical event is Black Sunday closely associated with?
The Great Depression
occurring in many places
widespread
"That afternoon, a gigantic cloud swept across the Great Plains. It was 1,000 miles long and blew at speeds up to 100 miles per hour. It was made of 300,000 tons of dust whipped from the ground of northern farmlands..."
to give an idea of the huge size of the storm
The author refers to an artwork that sums up the effects of Black Sunday. To what artwork does the author refer?
a folk song
discouraged; defeated
demoralized
"It seemed like an ordinary day at first. Like any other day, folks on the Great Plains were struggling to get by. People walked to church, swept up from the dust storm that had blown through the week before, perhaps discussed the Congressional hearings that had brought the plight of the region, which had been ravaged by drought and the economic effects of the Great Depression, to the attention of the rest of the nation."
to emphasize the historic significance of the day
What would have prevented the widespread land erosion, that was partly to blame for the Dust Bowl?
Soil conservation
extremely poor; miserable and exhausted
impoverished