Okies and Dust Storms

Of Mice of Men Blog

                         I didn't know what dust storms were so i went on a website called "spark notes" to find out what dust storms where,the website reads "The dust bowl winds began in 1932 but the Dust Bowl got its name from the horrendous winds beginning in 1935. The primary area it affected was the southern Plains. The northern Plains were not hit so badly but the drought, the blowing dust, and the decline of agriculture in the region had a nationwide effect. The wind turned day into night and was so strong it picked up the topsoil on the ground and blew it away in large clouds of dust" - Spark Notes 
The cause of     
Th                     i learned that the soil blowing away was poor farming techniques that ruined the topsoil. The displaced farmers were forced to look for work elsewhere and became the migrants described in the book on the internet called" John Steinbeck's, Grapes of Wrath", Families from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada and Arkansas, packed what they could in cars and trucks and headed west. Most were aiming for California where they would become a class of migrant farmers, following the crops during the harves  ting season.

                 

I read an arc     The article on the website of  “livinghistoryfarm.org” that reads “more and more farmers gave up or were forced off of their land. In addition, the relentless march of new tractors meant that the farmers who were able to scrape together enough money to buy a tractor could buy out their neighbors” so some people had to live off their negibors. The plight of the Okies and other plains migrants caught the sympathy of people across the country.

In part, this was because these migrants were white, in contrast to the Mexican and Filipino workers who supplied the "factory" farms with the seasonal labor needed before and after Okies arrived. The Okies also came in family groups and were in desperate straights, living in tents or out of the back of a car or truck. Some went to cities. But many decided to head west.

In fact, I read that during the 30s hundreds of thousands left the plains for the West Coast. So many migrated from Oklahoma that they were dubbed "Okies" in the popular press. For years, California, Oregon and Washington had been growing. Many who were pushed off of the plains were pulled west because they had relatives who had moved to the coastal areas. And the boosters of California had advertised that the state offered a perfect climate and an abundance of work in the agricultural industry, they just people trying to get by in life and find work. JJJ