Black Sunday (storm)

A dust storm approaches Spearman in northern Texas, April 14, 1935.

Black Sunday refers to a particularly severe dust storm that took place on April 14th, 1935. It was one of the worst dust storms in American history and it caused immense damage, economically and agriculturally. It is estimated to have removed 300,000 tons of topsoil from the Prairie area in the US.

On the afternoon of April 14th the residence of the Dust Bowl were forced to take cover as a dust storm, or black blizzard, blew through the region. The storm hit the eastern Oklahoma panhandle and northwestern Oklahoma first, and moved south for the remainder of the day. It hit Beaver around 4 PM, Boise City around 5:15 PM, and Amarillo at 7:20 PM. The conditions were the most severe in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, but the storm’s effects were felt in other surrounding areas.

The storm was harsh because of the high winds that hit the area that day. Along with the drought, erosion, and the unanchored soil, the winds caused the dust to fly freely and at high speeds.

The Dust Bowl

There is some confusion over what the term“Dust Bowl”actually refers to. In some sources the expression seems to refer to the series of dust storms that hit the prairies of Canada and the United States during the 1930s. In other sources it seems that the Dust Bowl is actually the area in the United States that was most affected by the storms, including western Kansas, eastern Colorado, northeastern New Mexico, and the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles.

The “black blizzards” started in the Eastern states in 1930, affecting the agriculture from Maine to Arkansas, and by 1934 they had reached The Great Plains from North Dakota to Texas and from the Mississippi River Valley to the Rockies. The Dust Bowl received its name following the disastrous storm in April of 1935, Black Sunday, after Robert L. Geiger, a reporter, was covering an account of the storm and referred to the region as “The Dust Bowl.”

Causes

There were a few main causes of the dust storms during the Depression. The first one was the massive drought that hit the United States in the 1930s. The drought, which resulted in a lack of rainfall, snowfall, and moisture in the air, dried out the top soil found in most of the farming regions. As the soil dried it became a dusty substance.

The farming techniques used by the farmers in the decades prior to the 30s were not ideal. The techniques used to plow, plant and harvest left the soil less usable for crops. The country’s need for food during past centuries had resulted in over farming, because farmers were using the land as much as they possibly could, in order to produce enough. The over-farming left the soil dehydrated and overused, which also contributed to the soil becoming dried out and dusty.

Another cause was the lack of natural anchors in the region. Careless plowing and farming had left the ground free of vegetation, which usually would help to keep the soil grounded. Cattle farming and sheep ranching had also had an effect on the lack of these natural anchors, because they consumed a large amount of the vegetation.

Effects

The destruction caused by the dust storms, and especially by the storm on Black Sunday, caused hundreds of thousands of people to relocate. Many families and farmers could not afford to live in the Dust Bowl region anymore because it was not economically helpful or stable. The farm land was destroyed and there was essentially nothing anyone could do to stop the storms from happening and wreaking havoc. Many of the residents moved to states such as California and Florida, where the economy was less affected. California was a popular destination, so many people chose to move there and start fresh. The "Okies", a name given to the families who moved away from the Dust Bowl because many of them came from Oklahoma, weren’t exactly welcomed in California, because the number immigrants looking for jobs was higher than the number of available jobs.

After the massive damage caused by many of these storms, some citizens and the government began to see the need for programs to help prevent and protect the environment from such events happening again. On April 27th, 1935 Congress passed Public Law 74-46, which established the Soil Conservation Service as a permanent agency in the United States Department of Agriculture . The SCS was created in an attempt to provide guidance for land owners and land users to reduce soil erosion, improve forest and field land and conserve and develop natural resources. The SCS is now known as the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the agency still strives to have the same goals.

Personal Accounts of Black Sunday and Dust Storms

During the 1930s, many residents of the Dust Bowl kept accounts and journals of their life and of the storms that hit their area. Collections of accounts of the dust storms during the 1930s have been compiled over the years and are now available in book collections and online.

In a New Republic article, Avis D. Carlson wrote:

“People caught in their own yards grope for the doorstep. Cars come to a standstill, for no light in the world can penetrate that swirling murk…. The nightmare is deepest during the storms. But on the occasional bright day and the usual gray day we cannot shake from it. We live with the dust, eat it, sleep with it, watch it strip us of possessions and the hope of possessions.”

Lawrence Svobida was a wheat farmer in Kansas during the 1930s. He experienced the period of dust storms, and the effect that they had on the surrounding environment and the society. His observations and feelings are available in his memoirs, “Farming the Dust Bowl.” Here he describes an approaching dust storm:

“… At other times a cloud is seen to be approaching from a distance of many miles. Already it has the banked appearance of a cumulus cloud, but it is black instead of white and it hangs low, seeming to hug the earth. Instead of being slow to change its form, it appears to be rolling on itself from the crest downward. As it sweeps onward, the landscape is progressively blotted out. Birds fly in terror before the storm, and only those that are strong off wing may escape. The smaller birds fly until they are exhausted, then fall to the ground, to share the fate of the thousands of jack rabbits which perish from suffocation.”

Media References of Black Sunday

File:JohnSteinbeck TheGrapesOfWrath.jpg

References to the events of the Dust Bowl and Black Sunday became more and more prominent as years of impact drew on. Famous novel, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, was written in 1939. This work of fiction tells the story of an Oklahoma family’s journey to California in the search of work. Although the characters are fictional, the story reflects a very realistic view on what life was like for many families during the 1930s.

Musicians and songwriters also began to reflect the Dust Bowl and the events of the 1930s in their music. Woody Guthrie, a singer/songwriter from Oklahoma, wrote a variety of songs documenting his experiences living during the era of dust storms. One of his songs, “Dusty Old Dust,” has been speculated of being representative of Black Sunday. An excerpt of lyrics follows:

A dust storm hit, an’ it hit like thunder;
It dusted us over, an’ it covered us under;
Blocked out the traffic and blocked out the sun,
Straight for home all the people did run,
Singin’:

So long, it’s been good to know yuh;
So long, it’s been good to know yuh;
So long, it’s been good to know yuh.
This dusty old dust is a-getting’ my home,
And I got to be driftin’ along.”