Photograph of an abandoned farm in the Dust Bowl, 1938
A Spotlight on a Primary Source by Dorothea Lange
When a severe drought in the early 1930s left the crops of the Great Plains stunted, the relentless winds of the plains picked up the soil and brewed up horrific, roiling storms that gave this time its name: the Dust Bowl. Thousands of farmers saw their livelihoods literally blown away.
By 1938 when this farm was photographed by Dorothea Lange, its owners had abandoned it, and it became covered by the blowing sands.