Widespread poverty & unemployment; plunging farm incomes; lost opportunities for economic growth as well as personal advancement.
Drought conditions in Oklahoma and Texas, as well as human-made factors such as failure to employ farming methods that prevent wind erosion and destruction of natural topsoil by settlers.
Mass migration from the Great Plains and the South to places such as California and the North.
Shaped modern American literature, inspiring classic works by John Steinbeck such as The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men.