The Grapes of Wrath Travel Journal Ch 1-10 (A)

The Okie Migration

Since 1910, the Southwesterners moved west in significant numbers and started to increase dramatically during the 1930s especially in the California. During the Dust Bowl, it largely affected the life of the Oklahomans or the "Okies" to be forced out of their lands. Through the challenges, the farmers had to cope with the horrible environment and lack of resources between 1930 and 1931. About 60% of Oklahoma tenant farmers (farmers who rent farmland from the landowner) had to endure the poor crops and low prices year after year. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration's policy of paying the farmers to not raise crops resulted in landowners taking tenants' land out of production. This connects to the content in Chapter 5 in which it talks about how the banks and the landowners was unable to make high profits from tenant farming, they evict the farmers' lands. The landowners suggest that the farmers should move to California where there would be opportunities to improve their lives and escape from poverty.

This graph shows the percentage of each pre-migration occupation of California migrants from the Southwest. In the majority, the percentage of farmers and farm laborers was 43% of the groups of migration. Their lands were taken away by banks which forced them to their last resort to migrate to California in hope for a better life.






Information:
Okie Migration
About Great Depression

Images:
Twenty-first century Okies
California migration during Great Depression Graph