The document describes a family, John and Mary Allen, who farmed multiple properties totaling over 100 acres in the early 1900s. To supplement their income from farming, John's father would travel by horse and wagon to nearby villages selling pottery made by the family. Through renting farms, pottery sales, and saving money, the Allen family was able to prosper and pay off their farmland properties over 10 years of work.

1.
Academic
Controversy
in
the
History
Classroom
This workshop is sponsored in part by the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Eastern Region Program, coordinated by Waynesburg University.
Historical Question:
Was the dust bowl of the Great Depression a natural disaster?
Author: Tim Roarty
Class/Grade Level: 11th Grade US History
CT Standards: 1.4 Geographical space and place. 1.5 Interaction of humans and the environment.
2.2 Interpret information from a variety of primary and secondary sources including electronic media.
Overview:
In the 1930s the Great Plains of the United States had a series of violent and awful dust storms.
They caused many problems for people, economy and the crops growing in the region which was a
major source of income and food for people. There is a debate still going on over what caused the
dust bowl. There are two main sides of the debate. One is it was a natural disaster primarily caused
by long periods of drought. The other is that the dust bowls were caused mostly by the people over
farming the land and abusing the resources there beyond repair resulting in the storms. The period of
drought and storms caused many people to flee living in the area and the region to struggle for a
while.
Document Summary:
Document 1 shows that people living in the region of the dust bowl were ‘ambitious’ and may have
abused the land. Also it discusses some of the farming that was happening during the time period
around the dust bowl and supports that the dust bowl may not have been a natural disaster. The
document also has some information on the drought of the period making it complex and showing
some support for both sides.
Document 2 shows some of the hardships people faced when moving to and living in the region of the
Great Plains and mid-west. It talks about some of the experiences the people had including more
about the struggle with the droughts. The document makes a personal tie and connection for people
in present time to the past. This document primarily supports the yes side that the dust bowl was a
natural disaster.
Document 3 shows a glimpse into the life of a woman living during the time period based around the
question for the lesson. It shows that the family was fairly wealthy and they were living a little
excessively. It discusses how they farmed and where and the extent to which they were farming.

2. Similar to the other documents it does discuss the struggle farming for a time and provides some
support for both yes and no answers to the question.
Document 4 shows information about the life another family during the period around the dust bowl.
It covers more of the everyday events and family activities the Croslin family participated in. The
document is direct quotes from Elbert Croslin and his perspective of what was going on. It talks
about some of the excess and unnecessary purchases and uses around the time supporting that the
durst bowl was not a natural disaster.
Document 5 shows a collage of newspaper articles from the time of the dust storms. The titles show
some of the harsh effects of the dust bowl and how they left a huge impact on the region. It mentions
the effects on farms and implies that the drought was the cause of many storms for some of the
article titles. This source supports that the dust bowl was a natural disaster.
Document 6 shows an image to just how barren the land was during the dust bowl. There is nothing
but a house and desert like land left behind. It shows that the droughts left the land completely ruined
for farming. There is no extra farming equipment or even people in the image. The image supports
the idea that it was a natural disaster. It does leave many ideas up to interpretation but the image is
very powerful and a great source to show just how devastating the dust bowl was.
Procedure (80 minutes):
1. Introduction of lesson, objectives, overview of SAC procedure (15 minutes)
2. SAC group assignments (30 minutes)
a. Assign groups of four and assign arguments to each team of two.
b. In each group, teams read and examine the Document Packet
c. Each student completes the Preparation part of the Capture Sheet (#2), and works with
their partner to prepare their argument using supporting evidence.
d. Students should summarize your argument in #3.
3. Position Presentation (10 minutes)
a. Team 1 presents their position using supporting evidence recorded and summarized on
the Preparation part of the Capture Sheet (#2 & #3) on the Preparation matrix. Team 2
records Team 1’s argument in #4.
b. Team 2 restates Team 1’s position to their satisfaction.
c. Team 2 asks clarifying questions and records Team 1’s answers.
d. Team 2 presents their position using supporting evidence recorded and summarized on
the Preparation part of the Capture Sheet (#2 & #3) on the Preparation matrix. Team 1
records Team 2’s argument in #4.
e. Team 1 restates Team 2’s position to their satisfaction.
f. Team 1 asks clarifying questions and records Team 2’s answers.
4. Consensus Building (10 minutes)
a. Team 1 and 2 put their roles aside.
b. Teams discuss ideas that have been presented, and figure out where they can agree or
where they have differences about the historical question
Closure:
The groups of students will each present their consensus about the topic. There will be a group
discussion talking about the two different sides of the question. The students will recognize through
this that there is no one right answer and that the issue is more complicated than a simple yes or no.

3. Assessment:
The students will be assessed through writing an essay presenting their knowledge on the question.
They will have choose either the yes or no side for answering the question and using the primary
source documents will have to support the side they choose.
Differentiation:
There will be both text and visual primary source documents to help the students. If some students
still struggle with working with the textual primary sources I will provide them with more images to
help. And for more advanced students I will provide some more text documents and more complex
ones.

4. DOCUMENT PACKET
Document 1
Many people moved into the great plains of the United States in the early
1900s. The people moving and living in the area worked to accomplish
many things such as farming and building a better form of transportation
which resulted in different consequences.
…The
group
petitioned
for
a
post
office
and
September
6,
1912,
Mr.
J.
X.
Shupe
was
appointed
first
post
master.
They
were
also
assigned
a
school
district
and
December
1,
1912,
school
opened
for
the
children
of
eight
or
ten
families.
School
was
held
in
a
small
frame
house
and
Mr.
Shupe
was
the
first
teacher.
Other
families
came
in
1913
and
especially
during
the
year
1914
there
was
an
influx
of
new
homesteaders.
This
ambitious
group
began
constructing
a
road
across
the
Rio
Grande
canyon,
the
one
which
is
still
in
use
today.
Previous
to
this
all
wagons
or
cars
came
by
way
of
the
Arroyo
Hondo
road
over
John
Dunn's
toil
bridge.
It
was
during
this
year
of
1914
that
it
was
tho'ught
admirable
by
a
group
of
the
Latter
Day
Saints
in
the
community
to
organize
a
branch
of
the
Mormon
Church
and
also
a
Sunday
School.
This little settlement of courageous homesteaders, who year after year, planted suitable dry farming
crops and then hoped that they would harvest enough to live on, grew and and prospered until
1920. At that census the precinct showed 243 persons. Then in 1923 high wages were being paid at
the sawmill at [?] Piedras and the mica mines near-by-were very active. Soon many of the
homesteaders, who have been gradually discouraged by the increasing drought each year, left their
plows and the town of Carson to earn money in other fields of work. But W. K. Shupe remained
and was elected Taos county Probate Judge in 1929 and 1930. By 1930 the population of Carson
had dwindled to less than 150 including Taos Junction, some five miles to the west. This was the
railway station of the Denver and Rio Grande Western and had been nothing but a railway building
while Carson was prospering. However, the railroad had attracted business and a small community
had been slowly developing there at Stong, (Taos Junction) while Carson had been going downhill.
The year 1933-34 brought the most severe drought and tho'se few farmers who still remained on
their homesteads were reduced to bringing water in barrels and tanks loaded on trucks and wagons
hauled five miles after being filled from the Rio Grande River itself. This hauled water supply had
to take care of both household and stock purposes. This further reduced the population. Later a [?]
land purchase by the government bought land to the south and west of this area which further
reduced the population of Carson….
Source: Excerpt from The Mormon Church West of the Rio Grande.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-­‐bin/query/r?ammem/wpa:@field(DOCID+@lit(wpa119070104))

5. Document 2
Many people had hardships in one form or another in the mid-west of the
United States. This document covers the struggle of one man and his
family settling in the region.
…When Mr. Rogers was 14 years old his father died. The year following his death was a fine crop year,
following three years drought. Mr. Rogers then took his mother and three sisters to Mineral Wells to live, and
he went back to Weatherford, Texas, and freighted from there for three years to make a living for them. He then
went back to McKinney, Texas, to live. Here he began working in a store and planned to make his life work.
Mr. Rogers declares he was eighteen years old before he knew that there was such a thing as a man "beating his
debts". His father -- as was customary with all ranchmen -- paid his bills once a year. It was during his job in the
store that he had his first experience of this kind. He had hired out for a month, and if, at the end of [this?] time
he had given satisfactory service, he was to continue working. At the end of the month his employer asked him
to take charge of the store; doing all the buying and selling. One day two well dressed men came to the store
and wanted to open an account, which Mr. Rogers refused to do, but Mr. Pierce -- the proprietor of the store --
did; taking a mortgage on the team and buggy the men were driving, and duly recording the same at the court
house. For several days the men bought big bills of goods -- each time buying enough to run the ordinary ranch
for three months. Then one {Begin deleted text}Saurday{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin
handwritten}Saturday{End handwritten}{End inserted text} they came in and again bought a large bill of goods;
that night they left for the Indian Territory and was never seen nor heard from again.
…In May 1907, Mr. Rogers filed on a claim near Des Moines, New Mexico, which was then only a station on
the Colorado and Southern railroad. In October of the same year he came to New Mexico with his intentions of
opening a store for himself in the new settlement. His first work was that of hauling wood and water for the
settlers; he then began erecting shacks as the people were coming into the new community faster than shelter
could be provided for them. With in three months he had built seventy-five shacks, and has acquired the
sobriquet of "The Shack Builder". He also began locating people from Texas and other parts of the country on
homesteads around Des Moines for which he was paid five dollars per claim. This was the nucleus for the
business he is still in, that of Realtor….
Mr. Rogers and his wife live on their ranch, a few miles from Des Moines, in the summer and make their home
in town in the winter.
He has watched the town grow form a little railroad station, whose only inhabitants were the station agent and
his family, to one of the most prosperous towns in Union County; and has also watched its decline during the
recent years of drought and depression; but thro'ugh it all he has retained his jovial disposition and his faith in
his town and fellow men. Such characters as Mr. Rogers, are the real back-bone of the country.
Source: Biographies—J.J. Rogers
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-­‐bin/query/r?ammem/wpa:@field(DOCID+@lit(wpa119060404))

6. Document 3
People living and farming during the early 1900s United States made a
living in many different ways. The family in this document participated in
farming in multiple forms and during their experiences farming was met with
some obstacles.
About the time Mary and John married, John's mother died and his father spent the rest of his life
with them. For two years after their marriage, they rented farms. During their leisure hours, they
learned from the land-lord the art of pottery making. At odd times they made pots, jars, and jugs.
For several years the father was provided with a horse and covered wagon and was sent out with
the pottery products to canvass the homes of the farmers and villagers. He was usually gone two
weeks at a time, camping in his wagon and paying for his food with his wares. The profits brought
back by this "travelling merchant" supplemented the savings from the farm and enabled the family
during a period of ten years to pay for the property on which they are now living. They continued to
prosper and in due time paid for another farm of forty acres five miles north of Four Oaks.
The Allens had three sons and a daughter, each of whom is married and living away from home.
Some years ago a young woman began to live with the family as a servant. She was never married
but became the mother of one son and three daughters. The Allens allowed her to stay and helped
her to rear her children. Mary spoke of her four "adopted" children but one of the letter gave me the
true facts. The foster-children are married and live as tenants within a radius of a few miles….
Mary told me that her husband "does not like to work" and hence has had to place a loan on the
farm. The mortgage did not worry her. Apparently she thought it a small matter. The family income
has been larger in recent years under "control" than when they first married; but the husband is
taking life easier and the upkeep of the car eats up the income until they are barely "breaking even"
in recent years….
The garden was almost a failure due to excessive rain and no effort had been made to cultivate a
late garden. The Allens had done some canning, but James and his wife had done almost none,
seemingly depending in part upon the generosity of the older couple. James was cordial but did not
ask his wife to come out and see me. Neither family knew how to estimate an adequate income. As
they bad done in other years, they would "tough it out" during the winter on potatoes, hog meat
which they had raised in small quantity, a few cans of vegetables and fruits, and meal and flour
which they would buy, and anxiously await the vegetable garden in the spring….
Source: American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’
Project, 1936-1940
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-­‐bin/query/r?ammem/wpa:@field(DOCID+@lit(wpa227040207))

7. Document 4
People living in the time around the dust bowl participated in a multitude of
activities. This document shows some of the activities done. It also gives
more of a glimpse to how people were and what they did during this time.
…"Well, I've been about everything else in my life but a cow poke. I rode freight trains into New
Mexico when that was still a pretty wild place, met Billy the Kid, outrode most of the cow pokes I
ever rode with sin the rodeos I rode in, settled a claim and proved it up, run drug stores and sold
moonshine. I could tell you a wilder tale about running rot-gut liquor than I could about riding
hosses and wet-nursing cows but that's what you want so here goes nothing.
"First, I was born on my dad's stock farm in Lamar county, Texas, on June the 21st, 1885. If
somebody'd rushed the stork up about three days, all the niggers all over the country could
celebrate on my birthday. Well, about the farm. Dad didn't have but a few head of cows and a
couple of hosses. Just enough to get under the rope as a stock farm….
…"Until we got to Altus Oklahoma, we had the worst matched team I've ever seen. A little old
mule teamed with a big fine hoss. The big hoss was always pulling the load, and the mule was
almost excess if it wasn't for the fact that we needed two hosses anyway. While we were in the
wagon yard at Altus, a hoss trader came up with a small hoss and said, 'Bud, let me put this hoss in
here just to show you how fine he'll look with your mule. He's more the mule's size and wont cost
you a penny because I'll trade even.'…
…"They had wagon yards out on the plains and in the mountains in those days like they have
tourist camps these days. One of the busiest wagon yards without a town to support it was Lucky
Springs, located on the Prairie Dog fork of the Red River, and in Hall county. This place was just
like I've seen in several picture shows. They had a big stockade around it, and stalls to drive your
whole outfit into. You could rent rooms if you was so a mind to because they had some log cabins
built over the stalls all around, the supports for the cabin being the separations for the stalls below.
In one corner of the wagon yard would be the combination saloon, storehouse, postoffice (if they
had one there), and office for the yard….
Source: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1940
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-­‐bin/query/r?ammem/wpa:@field(DOCID+@lit(wpa337011615))

8. Document 5
Much like current day events of the past were covered in newspapers. This
document is a collage of many newspaper article of the time around the
dust bowl. It shows many feelings and ideas about the events of the dust
bowl
Source: http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/fsa/8e03000/8e03200/8e03296r.jpg

9. Document 6
The land during the time of the dust bowl became extremely barren and
devastated. The image below shows just how devastating the events were
on farm land.
Source: http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3c30000/3c30000/3c30600/3c30634v.jpg
Some of the language and phrasing in these documents have been
modified from the originals.

10. CAPTURE SHEET Don’t
forget
the
rules
of
a
successful
academic
controversy!
1. Practice
active
listening.
2. Challenge
ideas,
not
each
other
Was the dust bowl of the Great Depression a 3. Try
your
best
to
understand
the
other
natural disaster? positions
4. Share
the
floor:
each
person
in
a
pair
MUST
have
an
opportunity
to
speak
5. No
disagreeing
until
consensus-­‐
building
as
a
group
of
four
Preparation:
1. Highlight your assigned position.
Yes: The dust bowl of the Great Depression was a natural disaster.
No: The dust bowl of the Great Depression was not a natural disaster.
2. Read through each document searching for support for your side’s argument. Use the
documents to fill in the chart (Hint: Not all documents support your side, find those that do):
Document What is the main idea of this document? What details support your position?
#
3. Work with your partner to summarize your arguments for your position using the supporting
documents you found above:

11. Position Presentation:
4. You and your partner will present your position to your opposing group members. When you
are done, you will then listen to your opponents’ position.
While you are listening to your opponents’ presentation, write down the main details that they
present here:
Clarifying questions I have for the opposing partners:
How they answered the questions:
Consensus Building:
5. Put your assigned roles aside. Where does your group stand on the question? Where does
your group agree? Where does your group disagree? Your consensus answer does not have
to be strictly yes, or no.
We agree:
We disagree:
Our final consensus: