Article
ART BY GARY HANNA
Nonfiction,

Black Sunday

The shocking story of the biggest dust storm in American history

By Lauren Tarshis
From the Issue

Learning Objective: Students will identify cause-and-effect relationships and acquire academic vocabulary as they read a narrative nonfiction article about the Dust Bowl.

Lexile: 800L-900L, 600L-700L
Guided Reading Level: T
DRA Level: 50
Core Skill: Cause and Effect,
Topics: Natural Disasters, History,
CCR Anchor Standards
  • R.1, R.3, R.4, R.7, W.3, SL.1, SL.2, L.4, L.6
TEKS Standards
  • 4.2; 4.3; 4.7; 4.8; 4.10; 4.11a, c, d; 4.15; 4.18c; 4.20; 4.27; 4.28; 4.29; 5.2; 5.3; 5.7; 5.8; 5.10; 5.11a, c, d, e; 5.18c; 5.20; 5.27; 5.28; 5.2; 6.2; 6.3; 6.7; 6.8; 6.9; 6.10a, c, d; 6.17c; 6.19; 6.24; 6.26; 6.27; 6.28

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UP CLOSE

Cause and Effect

As you read, look for what caused a terrible disaster called the Dust Bowl, and what its effects were

COURTESY OF CATHERINE GLEASON HATTRUP

Catherine Hattrup at age 5

Nine-year-old Catherine Hattrup was sure the world was coming to an end. 

It was Sunday, April 14, 1935, and Catherine was enjoying a quiet afternoon at her grandmother’s house in Hodgeman County, Kansas. Suddenly, Catherine’s grandmother rushed inside. 

“Oh my!” she cried. “There’s a terrible black cloud. And I have no idea what it is!”

For hundreds of miles around, people saw the same horrifying sight: a mountain of boiling blackness churning through the sky. 

Was a violent thunderstorm closing in? Was a massive tornado about to strike? 

In fact, it was a dust storm—the biggest in U.S. history. Three hundred thousand tons of dried-up soil had been swept into the sky. It had formed a swirling cloud of dust more than 200 miles wide. Now that cloud was speeding across the land at 65 miles per hour, causing misery and destruction wherever it went. 

What had caused this horrifying storm? And what would happen to Catherine and her grandmother when it hit?

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

"WHERE THE WIND BLEW FREE"

Although weather was extreme on the Southern Plains, the Native Americans who lived there respected the area’s wildness. One Comanche chief praised it as a place “where the wind blew free, and there was nothing to break the light of the sun.”

Nature in Balance

Extreme weather events like tornadoes and hurricanes are natural disasters. But the gigantic dust storm of April 14, 1935, was a disaster caused by another destructive force: humans. 

To understand what happened, we need to go back in time to when Kansas and the surrounding area were mostly empty wilderness. The region, known as the Southern Plains, includes parts of Kansas, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. The flat, treeless land there was once covered by millions and millions of acres of tall prairie grass.

Those prairie grasses were practically indestructible. Some types were 6 feet tall, with tightly woven roots that reached down 9 feet into the earth. The heartiest grasses could withstand the pounding hooves of buffalo herds that stampeded across the plains. Their roots could survive fires ignited by lightning strikes. Most important, those grasses could endure the area’s brutal weather—frozen winters, roasting summers, and bone-dry years of drought.  

The natural world of the Southern Plains was harsh. But for thousands of years, nature was in balance. The people who lived there, members of Native nations like the Comanche and Kiowa, left those grasses mostly untouched.

INSTITUTE FOR REGIONAL STUDIES/NDSU/FARGO

TORN FROM THE EARTH

Newly arrived farmers tore out 5.2 million acres of tall prairie grass to make room for wheat crops. Soon, almost no grassland remained.

Ripping Up the Grass

But by the late 1800s, much of the Southern Plains had been transformed. 

The U.S. government wanted to fill up the American wilderness with towns and cities and farms. They unfairly forced Native Americans from their traditional lands. To lure white settlers to the area, they offered free or very cheap land. 

The new settlers arrived by the thousands. Catherine’s grandfather came from Ireland sometime around 1890, eager to start a new life as a farmer in this promising new land. 

But before they could plant crops, settlers had to get rid of the prairie grass. It turned out that the grasses weren’t indestructible after all. Using plows with sharp blades, axes, and their bare hands, farmers ripped that grass from the earth. Within two decades, millions of acres of grassland had been turned into wheat farms.

COURTESY OF THE KINSLEY PUBLIC LIBRARY ARCHIVE

BRAND-NEW TOWNS

Catherine grew up near Kinsley, Kansas (above), one of many towns that sprang up on the Southern Plains as new settlers moved to the area.

A Hopeful Time

At first, those farms flourished. Rain was plentiful. The years between 1910 and 1930 were unusually wet on the plains. Crops grew quickly. Towns, stores, and churches sprouted up almost as swiftly as the wheat. 

It was during this hopeful time that Catherine was born, in 1925. 

Her father grew wheat and raised cattle on a farm about 17 miles from the town of Kinsley, Kansas. Catherine was one of seven children. She was a tomboy who dreaded “girl” chores like laundry and cooking, who loved riding horses and following her father out into the fields. She and her brothers and sisters went to a one-room schoolhouse, 3 miles away from their farm. 

Catherine’s home was a happy one. But hard times were just ahead, and few people on the plains would be spared.

JIM MCMAHON/MAPMAN® (MAP)

Dreams Turned to Dust

It began in 1930, when America faced a crisis that would become known as the Great Depression. Banks around the country ran out of money. Millions of people lost their jobs. Farmers on the plains were hit hard because the price of wheat fell. This meant they earned far less for the crops they grew on their farms. Even families like Catherine’s struggled to pay their bills. 

But this was just the beginning. 

The year 1932 brought a second and even more frightening crisis: a drought. Suddenly, the rain simply stopped. All through that spring, the sky stayed blue. That summer brought blistering heat. Crops withered. Without the protective layer of prairie grass, soil dried up and was carried away by the wind. On windy days, the air would be gritty with dust. The sky would turn dirty-brown. 

Catherine’s mother would rinse the dust-coated plates before meals. She would lay a cloth across the food until everyone was ready to take a bite. 

But the dusty winds were nothing compared with the storms that came next. They brought enormous clouds roiling with dust and dirt. They snuffed out the sun and dumped piles of dust big enough to bury animals, kill crops, and fill up basements. A person caught in a dust storm would choke as dust rushed up their nose. The gritty wind would rake across their skin like millions of tiny claws. 

As time went on, the storms became more frequent. Many realized that removing all of that prairie grass had been a terrible mistake. But nobody could agree on what to do about it. Meanwhile, life got worse and worse for people living on the plains. 

Catherine’s family was lucky. Money was scarce, but there was always food on the table. Many people lost everything. As the land turned to dust, so did their dreams. By 1935, tens of thousands of people had abandoned their farms. Those who stayed hoped and prayed for better times. 

HASKELL PRUETT COLLECTION/OKLAHOMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY (STORE); COURTESY OF THE CROWLEY COMPANY/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (SAND DUNE); COURTESY OF JOYCE UNRUH/GREEN FAMILY COLLECTION (CHILDREN)

DEADLY DIRT

The dust was especially dangerous for children and older people, who often became ill with “dust pneumonia.” Above, three Kansas kids protect themselves by wearing goggles and homemade dust masks on their way to school.

A Horrific Disaster

On the morning of April 14, 1935, many thought those better times had arrived. For the first time in weeks, the blue sky wasn’t swirling with dust. A sweet breeze blew through the air. Few could have imagined that a horrific disaster was about to strike. 

Catherine went to church with her family and then to her grandmother’s house. She loved her days with her grandmother, who spoiled her with freshly baked bread slathered with butter and homemade grape jelly. They were enjoying the afternoon. 

And then came the black cloud. 

It was a dust storm of unequaled power and size—200 miles wide and stretching 8,000 feet into the sky. As it raced across the earth, it was
led by thousands of terrified birds and animals running for their lives. 

The storm was far bigger than any before. It turned the day black. Farmers staggered blindly through their fields. Cars crashed. It is unknown if any people died because of the storm. But hundreds were rushed to hospitals with a condition called “dust pneumonia,” caused by dust they had breathed in. 

Hardships and Hope

COURTESY OF CATHERINE GLEASON HATTRUP

Despite the difficulties of her childhood, Catherine says she remembers mostly the happy times.

More than 80 years later, at the age of 91, Catherine can still remember the terror of the day that became known as “Black Sunday.” She remembers how she huddled with her grandmother through the hours-long storm, how they prayed together. “I really did think the world was coming to an end,” she recalls.  

But of course it did not. Catherine and her family made it through. And incredibly, there was a bright side to Black Sunday. The storm was so dramatic that it forced the government to face this fact: Humans had broken the prairie. Now it was up to humans to fix it. 

In the coming years, millions of trees and prairie grasses were planted across the plains.  Farmers learned how to farm in a way that was kinder to the earth. The weather shifted, and by the late 1930s, the drought had ended. New ways of farming protected the land. There has not been a dust storm of that massive size since Black Sunday.

Many people left the plains after Black Sunday. But Catherine’s family remained. She later married, had five children, and settled not far from the family farm. 

There were many hardships during the dusty days of her childhood. But days like Black Sunday taught her lessons that would always stay with her. “I learned that even when things didn’t work out quite right, I should be thankful for everything,” she says.

Text copyright Lauren Tarshis

This article was originally published in the December 2016/January 2017 issue.

Write to Win

Imagine you are Catherine the day after Black Sunday. Write a letter to a friend describing the storm and its causes. Use details from the article. Send it to “Dust Contest” by Feb. 1, 2017. Ten winners will each receive a copy of The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan.

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Activities (11)
Core Skills Workout
  • The Core Skills Workout is a series of skill-based activities that will help your students "bulk up" in the comprehension skills they need most to become strong, analytical readers. The Core Skills Workout comes with every issue and will support your reading program no matter what your scope and sequence.
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Activities (11) Download All Activities
Core Skills Workout
  • The Core Skills Workout is a series of skill-based activities that will help your students "bulk up" in the comprehension skills they need most to become strong, analytical readers. The Core Skills Workout comes with every issue and will support your reading program no matter what your scope and sequence.
Skills Activities
Quizzes (2)
Quizzes (2)

More About the Story

Skills

cause and effect, vocabulary, close reading, text evidence, compare and contrast, text structure, synthesizing, key details, inference, applying learning, narrative writing

Complexity Factors

Purpose

The article describes the events leading up to the biggest dust storm in U.S. history, which hit the Southern Plains in 1935. It also explains the effects of the storm.

Structure

The text is mainly chronological with narrative and informational passages.

Language

The article includes challenging academic vocabulary (e.g. churning, indestructible, transformed), as well as metaphors, similes, and rhetorical questions.

Knowledge Demands 

The article includes challenging academic vocabulary (e.g. churning, indestructible, transformed), as well as metaphors, similes, and rhetorical questions.

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

1. Preparing to Read

Watch a Video (15 minutes)

  • Project pages 4-5, covering the subhead. Ask students what they think is happening in the picture. Explain that it’s a dust storm and that they are about to read about a terrible event in the 1930s called the Dust Bowl. 
  • Distribute our video activity sheet and preview the questions with students. 
  • Show our video “Behind the Scenes: Black Sunday,” in which author Lauren Tarshis introduces the topic and discusses the article. 
  • Have students complete the activity.

Preview Vocabulary (15 minutes)

  • Preview words with our new vocabulary slideshow, which adds visual support to definitions. Follow up to confirm understanding with our vocabulary activity. 
  • Highlighted terms: churning, destructive, indestructible, heartiest, drought, transformed, settlers, flourished, crisis, scarce

Set a Purpose for Reading (5 minutes)

  • Call on a volunteer to read aloud the Up Close box on page 5

2. Close Reading

Read and Unpack the Text (45 minutes, activity sheet online)

Close-Reading Questions

  • In the first section of the article, what did the dust storm look like to Catherine Hattrup’s grandmother and others? What details tell you how enormous the storm was? (text evidence) The dust storm looked like a huge black cloud rolling through the sky. The article says that it was the biggest dust storm in U.S. history, with 300,000 tons of dried-up soil forming a cloud 200 miles wide. 
  • Reread the section “Nature in Balance.” How was the dust storm different from events like tornadoes and hurricanes? (compare and contrast) Tornadoes and hurricanes are natural disasters. The dust storm happened largely because of human actions. 
  • Why does the author describe how hearty the prairie grass on the Southern Plains was? How does this help you understand what happened later, during the Dust Bowl? (text structure) The author describes the prairie grass so readers understand that it protected the land for thousands of years. Once the grass was torn out, the land dried up and turned into dust, which was a main cause of the Dust Bowl. 
  • In the section “Ripping Up the Grass,” why did white settlers move to the Southern Plains? Why did they rip up the prairie grass? (cause and effect) White settlers moved there because the U.S. government gave them land for free or sold it cheaply. Settlers ripped up the prairie grass to create farmland. 
  • Reread the section “Dreams Turned to Dust.” What effect did the drought of 1932 have on the land of the Southern Plains? What happened in turn to farms and farmers? (cause and effect) The drought caused the land to dry up and turn to dust. Crops died, so farmers had little or nothing to sell. Many lost everything and left their farms. 
  • Based on “Dreams Turned to Dust” and “A Horrific Disaster,” what happened during a huge dust storm? (synthesizing/key details) During a huge dust storm, the sky turned dark and the dust killed animals and choked people. Many went to the hospital with “dust pneumonia.” Crops were ruined in the storms. People couldn’t see because of the dust, so cars crashed. 
  • Based on the section “Hardships and Hope,” what was a positive outcome of Black Sunday? (cause and effect) As a result of Black Sunday, the government realized it had created a disaster and that it had to take action to fix it. Trees and prairie grasses were planted, and farmers learned how to grow crops in ways that didn’t harm the earth.


Critical-Thinking Question

  • Today, at age 91, Catherine Hattrup still recalls the details of the dust storm she lived through when she was 9. What does that tell you about the storm? (inference) Answers will vary, but students may suggest that it shows how strong and scary the storm was. Catherine says, “I really did think the world was coming to an end.” 
  • What important idea for today might we learn from reading about the Dust Bowl and its causes? (applying learning) We can learn the importance of taking care of the earth, and that the actions we take now can affect generations in the future. For example, we can do things that add to climate change—like wasting electricity—or we can choose not to do them.

3. Skill Building

Featured Skill: Cause and Effect

  • Distribute our cause and effect activity, and have students complete it in small groups. It will prepare them to respond to the writing prompt on page 9.

Differentiate and Customize
For Struggling Readers

Read the article together in small groups. Pause at the end of each section and ask students to summarize what they’ve read. Revisit any difficult words or sentences to help students understand them.

For Advanced Readers

Pair this article with “The Killer Smog” from the April/May 2016 issue of Storyworks (available online!). Have students write an essay about the similarities between these two environmental disasters

For ELL Students

Gather your ELL students in a small group. Using the lower-Lexile version of the article, walk students through the story using the text features. Discuss what is happening in each picture. Then go back and read the text together.

For Independent Readers

Have students read the article on their own and respond to the writing prompt on page 9. Use their responses to gauge how well they understood the story, then follow up to fill in anything they missed in the article.

Text-to-Speech