From the dust is an exciting project that uses new technologies to bridge the present to the past.

The Dust Bowl: A Human-Made Ecological Catastrophe…

“And then the sky just turned black. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. The dust got in your teeth, your clothes, even your prayers.”

— Imogene Glover, Oklahoma Panhandle settler

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The Dust Bowl was a defining moment in American environmental history—not because it was inevitable, but because it was preventable. Its legacy, preserved through voices of those who endured it, reminds us that the land remembers. And it holds us accountable.

The Dust Bowl of the 1930s was a human-made ecological disaster. Drought and poor land management combined to devastate the Great Plains, creating massive dust storms that displaced millions. States most affected included Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico.

“And then the sky just turned black. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. The dust got in your teeth, your clothes, even your prayers.”
— Imogene Glover, Oklahoma Panhandle

“We were treated like dirt. They thought we was stupid just ‘cause we came from the Plains. But we’d seen more than most. Lost more, too.”
— Migrant worker in California (Todd Collection)

Over 2.5 million people fled the Dust Bowl, mostly toward California. Dust pneumonia, hunger, and poverty shaped the migrant experience.

The Dust Bowl inspired iconic works like Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, Dorothea Lange’s photography, and Woody Guthrie’s protest songs.

Today, as megadroughts and climate change loom, the Dust Bowl reminds us that ecological disasters are often human-made—and preventable. Conservation strategies born in the 1930s remain relevant: sustainable farming, land stewardship, and federal intervention can protect against similar catastrophes.