I received these images in an E-mail and they were too graphic not to share as a reminder that most of us are not that bad off compared to the generation that lived through the "Dust Bowl Era" after the great depression. Just a reminder that things could be worse.









































Did you notice that NO ONE was smiling?

To me this is a perfect example of a "picture being worth a thousand words" and that what we are going through pails in comparison to what they went through. And what a good portion of the world is still going through today. A year 2000 survey found that fifty percent of the world's population have never placed a phone call.

So every once in a while we need to take a reality check about what we are really complaining about.

 

^^^I don't know how folks survived that period. If you have never seen the movie "The Grapes of Wrath," then I wholeheartedly recommend you catch it sometime on TMC. It is a pretty realistic portrayal of the Okies who were in the heart of the dust-bowl during and after the depression.

 

To get my degree, I took a photography class at Ohio State to fulfill an "artsy-fartsy" requirement. Those people viewed the WPA as the Golden Age of America.

 

In a documentary about the dust bowl they couldn't get funding for relief and farm reform until "Black Sunday" when a dust storm actually reached Washington DC.

 

Thanks for sharing the pics, Matt.

 

Matt, I can't imagine trying to raise a family during those times. Some damn strong willed people. The Grapes of Wrath is a classic as are the photos of that period.

 

and many many more here

it must have been terrifying to look back and see that coming.

 

^^^^^ Those dust storm pictures are scary.

I am happy to learn that you folks thought that these pictures were worth sharing.