Some folks today might have asked themselves 80 years ago: Why do we live here?
Eight decades ago, life turned quite dark for many thousands of residents of the Texas Panhandle. It was the day that daylight turned dark and when people feared for their lives not to mention their livelihoods.
Panhandle PBS's public affairs series "Live Here" takes a look back 80 years ago when Black Sunday fell across the region.
http://www.panhandlepbs.org/live-here/
The program airs Thursday night at 7.
Black Sunday occurred April 14, 1935. The Dust Bowl had gripped the region. Poor farming techniques, coupled with high wind and a prolonged drought turned the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles into a gigantic dirt box.
Black Sunday was the nadir of that time. It brought huge black clouds of dirt across the region, blanketing every single square inch in dust.
Those who remember it will share those memories with Panhandle PBS viewers.
Those who lived through that nightmare are old now. However, think of this: Their memories are those of children, perhaps teenagers. They talk to us today about what they remember riding their bicycles along the street, playing in the park, going to church and praying their hearts out -- along with Mom, Dad and their grandparents -- for an end to the misery that had befallen the region.
The High Plains of Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico is a region full of people of immense faith. That faith was put to the test over the course of many years as the area struggled through the ghastly effects of the Dust Bowl.
The latest "Live Here" segment walks us through that time, remembering how it was and how, through the strength of their faith, those people persevered through the worst manmade ecological disaster in American history.
