Downwinders

Downwinder is a term used for people who lived downwind of nuclear testing. Toward the end of WWII, and during the Cold War, nuclear testing continued in the American Southwest, mostly Nevada. The result of that testing was nuclear fallout being spread throughout the region, and the entire country. The hardest hit area of the radiation was in Southern Utah, though.

See the picture below, which shows where nuclear fallout fell across the country. Try to find Utah on the map.

There was a documentary that came out a couple of years ago that was all about the downwinders of Utah, and how the U.S. Government knew about the harmful effects of the nuclear testing, but chose to do little to nothing about it. 

Watch the preview below of this documentary. 

If you want to watch the full documentary, you can purchase it from the makers here: www.downwindersdoc.com 

Be aware, though, that there is some foul language in the film (about 10 curse words or so).

Here is a viewing guide to go along with the documentary

Here is the teacher version of the viewing guide with the answers, as well as instructions for showing, such as a part to skip due to the use of a bad curse word.