The Dust Bowl Cometh

The “Dust Bowl” got its name on this date (a.k.a. “Black Sunday”) when a huge windstorm blanketed the midwest.

America was in the heart of a Great Depression at the time. Could life be more miserable? The Dust Bowl would have one benefactor: California. With news of work and a better life in the Golden State, countless Americans migrated out of the Midwest to the west coast during the 1930s.

In the decades that followed, California would continue to rise like the bear on its flag, thanks to Hollywood, Dodgers and Giants, rock and roll, citrus and surfing.

But without that Dust Bowl migration, things might’ve been much different. It’s the rest of the story.