The Dust Bowl An Introduction to the Dust Bowl and Migrant Workers in the 1930’s

During the 1930s, the Great Plains region of the United States suffered from severe drought and wind erosion. Hardest hit were the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles, along with neighboring sections of Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico.

Powerful dust storms swept across the dry land, covering entire towns with dirt and debris.

For nearly ten years, the drought and dust storms continued, destroying farms and forcing people to abandon their land.

When they lost their farms, people packed their possessions and left home.

John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath, 1939 “Families, tribes, dusted out, tractored out…..they streamed over the mountains, hungry and restless -- restless as ants, scurrying to find work to do -- to lift, to push, to pull, to pick, to cut -- anything, any burden to bear, for food.”

The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American history.

Of those millions, over 200,000 moved to California. By 1940, 2.5 million people had moved out of the Plains states.

When they reached California, people set up tents and camps to live in.

.

Those who made it to California didn’t always get a warm welcome. Native Californians distrusted migrants, calling them “Okies” and “Arkies,” regardless of where they were from. Groups of vigilantes often attacked the migrant workers, accusing them of being thieves or Communists.

John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath, 1939 “They said, ‘These goddamned Okies are dirty and ignorant. These goddamned Okies are thieves. They'll steal anything. They've got no sense of property rights. They bring disease, they're filthy. We can't have them in the schools. We can't get these Okies get out of hand.’”

Most migrants found work in the fields, harvesting fruits, nuts, and vegetables. To support their families, many migrants worked long hours in the fields, picking fruit, nuts, and vegetables.

For a whole day’s labor, migrant workers usually earned less than $1.00. The sheer number of migrants looking for work kept the price of labor very low.

Throughout the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl migrants struggled to survive and worked hard establish their own communities. By the time World War II began, the nation’s economy had improved considerably—some Dust Bowl migrants even left California to fight in the war abroad. Many of the descendents of the Dust Bowl still reside in California today.

CREDITS Photographs Music Woody Guthrie, Dust Bowl Ballads, “Dust Bowl Blues.” 1940 Text Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, History & Background