Technology of the Dust Bowl

The Dust Bowl was an ecological and human disaster caused by misuse of land and years of sustained drought. Millions of acres of farmland became useless, and hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes; many of these families, since so many came from Oklahoma) traveled to California and other states, where they found economic conditions little better than those they had left. Owning no land, many traveled from farm to farm picking fruit and other crops at starvation wages. Author John Steinbeck later wrote The Grapes of Wrath, which won the Pulitzer Prize, and Of Mice and Men about such people.

NYS Regents Exam January 2009
Theme: Movements of People—Migration
The movement of people into and within the United States has had a significant

impact on the nation. These movements have been both voluntary and involuntary. 

Task: Select two periods of migration that had an impact on the United States and for

Each

• Describe the historical circumstances that led to the migration
• Discuss the impact of the migration on the United States 

You may use any period of migration from your study of United States history. Some

suggestions you might wish to consider include colonial settlement (1600s–1700s), westward

expansion (1800s), rural to urban migration (1870s–1920s), European immigration

(1880–1910), the Dust Bowl (1930s), suburbanization (1950s–1960s), and illegal immigration  (1990 to the present).