National Youth Summit: Dust Bowl

Grade Range: 9-12
Resource Type(s): Interactives & Media
Date Posted: 10/17/2012

In this archived webcast related to Ken Burns’s film The Dust Bowl, thousands of high school students joined in a national dialogue regarding the Dust Bowl’s legacy on both the environment and the culture of the United States. Students discussed the importance of environmental awareness and the effects humans have on the natural world. In recognizing the Dust Bowl as an ecological disaster of primarily human origin, young people worked together to imagine ways a similar catastrophe could be avoided. Together, students across the country generated ideas for how each of us could be a responsible steward of the delicate environment in which we live. The National Museum of American History (NMAH) partnered with the National Endowment for the Humanities, WETA television, and Smithsonian Affiliations to present the National Youth Summit on the Dust Bowl.


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