Vocabulary & Key Terms
What is a drought?
A long period of time with little or no rainfall.
Which five states were heavily affected?
Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, and Colorado.
On what date did Black Sunday occur?
April 14, 1935.
Central idea of “Black Blizzard”?
Severe drought and poor farming practices caused devastating dust storms that ruined farms and forced many people to migrate west.
Evidence that farmers felt defeated?
Crops failed for five years; banks took their farms; families packed up and moved west.
What was “dust pneumonia”?
A serious lung condition caused by breathing in too much dust.
What natural disaster hit the Plains from 1931–1935?
A severe drought and massive dust storms.
How wide and tall was the storm?
200 miles wide and 8,000 feet tall.
Main idea of “Black Sunday”?
The massive Black Sunday storm showed how dangerous the Dust Bowl had become and led to changes to fix the land.
Why can we infer life was extremely difficult?
Dust covered food and homes; people choked in storms; crops failed; families lost income.
What does migration mean in this context?
Moving from one place to another to find better living conditions or work.
Why did the soil become loose and dusty?
There was no rain, and prairie grasses had been removed, so nothing held the soil in place.
What condition sent hundreds to the hospital?
Dust pneumonia.
How did drought and farming practices contribute?
The drought dried out the soil, and removing prairie grass left the soil unprotected, allowing wind to carry it away.
Two pieces of evidence dust pneumonia was serious?
“Hundreds were rushed to hospitals…”
“Thousands died slowly of dust pneumonia.”
What is topsoil?
The top layer of soil where plants grow.
Why were native prairie grasses important?
They held the soil together and prevented erosion.
What mistake worsened the dust storms?
Removing prairie grass and over-farming the land.
One key detail supporting “Black Blizzard”?
More than 1 million people migrated west.
(Other acceptable answers: crops failed for five years; farms were taken by banks.)
Why can we conclude Black Sunday changed the government’s response?
The storm forced the government to act and begin restoring the prairie.
What does “peacetime migration” mean?
A large movement of people during a time when the country is not at war.
Why did many farmers move west?
Their crops failed, they lost their farms, and they needed work to survive.
What changes were made after Black Sunday?
Millions of trees and grasses were planted, and farmers used better farming methods.
“What is one key detail that supports the main idea of ‘Black Sunday’?”
he storm was 200 miles wide and turned day into night.
(Other acceptable answers: hundreds hospitalized with dust pneumonia.)
Evidence humans helped cause the Dust Bowl?
Prairie grasses were removed; over-farming left soil exposed.