Out of the Dust and the Farm Security Administration

The Farm Security Administration (initially created as the Resettlement Administration) sought to combat rural poverty in the United States. Its most famous and influential act was its photography program (1935–1944). Eleven photographers were sent to document images of conditions among farmers, migrants, and daily life around the country in an effort to expose poverty and encourage social reform.

Out of the Dust takes place during this era. While it serves as a fictional, written record of dustbowl conditions, it pairs nicely with images documented by the FSA. The authors of this page have paired excerpts from Out of the Dust with FSA images collected by the Library of Congress.

Fifty Miles South of Home (p. 20)

In Amarillo,

wind

blew plate-glass windows in,

tore electric signs down,

ripped wheat

straight out of the ground.

Window in kitchen of house, Williams County, North Dakota. During dust storms in this area, windows had to be stuffed in this manner. (Russell Lee, Library of Congress)

Fields of Flashing Light (p. 31)

I sensed it before I knew it was coming.

I heard it,

I smelled it,

tasted it,

Dust.

Farmer and sons walking in the face of a dust storm. Cimarron County, Oklahoma. (Arthur Rothstein, Library of Congress)

Give Up on Wheat (p. 40)

“Plant some other things, then.” Ma says.

“Try cotton,

sorghum. If we plant the fields in different crops,

maybe some will do better,

better than wheat.”

Daddy says,

“No.

It has to be wheat.

I’ve grown it before.

I’ll grow it again.”

Abandoned farm home in wheat field near Gould, Oklahoma. (Dorothea Lee, Library of Congress)

Nightmare (p. 63)

I was coming home

through a howling dust storm

my lowered face was scrubbed raw by dirt and wind.

Grit scratched my eyes,

it crunched between my teeth.

Sand chafed inside my clothes,

against my skin.

Dust crept inside my ears, up my nose,

down my throat.

I shuddered, nasty with dust.

Bella Glade, Florida. (Marian Post Walcott, Library of Congress)

Driving the Cows (p. 102)

Dust

piles up like snow

across the prairie,

dunes leaning against fences,

mountains of dust pushing over barns.

Joe De La Flor can’t afford to feed his cows,

can’t afford to sell them.

County Agent Dewey comes,

takes the cows behind the barn,

and shoots them.

Too hard to

watch their lungs clog with dust,

like our chickens, suffocated.

Cattle grazing in pasture probably overgrazed near Oakley, Kansas. (Russell Lee, Library of Congress)

Oakley, Kansas Soil blown up by dust bowl, winds piled up in large drifts. (Arthur Rothstein, Library of Congress)

The President’s Ball (p. 115)

And I remember last year,

when Ma was alive and we were

crazy excited about the baby coming.

And I played the same party for Franklin D.

Roosevelt.

Dancers at the square dance. Pie Town, New Mexico (Russell Lee, Library of Congress)

Lunch (p. 117)

The government

sent canned meat,

rice,

potatoes.

…

The little ones drank themselves into white

mustaches

Lunch at the nursery school at the FSA mobile camp for migratory farm workers. Odell, Oregon. (Russell Lee, Library of Congress)

Family School (p. 121)

We share it with our guests,

the family of migrants who have moved out from the dust

and Depression

and moved into our classroom.

Tenant Farmer Family, Alabama. 1936. (Walker Evans, PBS)

The Piano Player (p. 134)

Arley doesn’t understand.

“Just practice more,” he says.6126

“You’ll get it back,”

Lauderdale County, Alabama. Tennessee Valley Authority. Mrs. Case playing the piano for her husband (Arthur Rothstein, Library of Congress)

Dust Storm (p. 142)

Brown earth rained down

from the sky.

I could not catch my breath

the way the dust pressed on my chest

and would not stop.

A car is chased by a “black blizzard” in the Texas Panhandle, March 1936. (Arthur Rothstein, PBS)

Fire on the Rails (p. 156)

But the entire Oklahoma Panhandle is so dry,

everything is going up in flames.

Everything too ready to ignite.

Fighting fire of rice straw stack in rice field near Crowley, Louisiana. Position of fire fighters give an idea of the intense heat. It was thought someone dropped a box of matches in the thresher. (Russel Lee, Library of Congress)

Blankets of Black (p. 166)

When we got back,

we found the barn half covered in dunes,

I couldn’t tell which rise of dust was Ma and

Franklin’s grave.

Something Lost, Something Gained (p. 200)

His eyes are ringed by the soil that comes from riding trains.

This man is a labor contractor in the pea fields of California. “One-Eye” Charlie gives his views. (Dorthea Lange, Library of Congress )

Sources

Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives - About this…

THE DUST BOWL: A Film By Ken Burns