USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -These Dust Bowl refugees were called “Okies.” Okies faced discrimination, menial labor and pitiable wages upon reaching California. Many of them lived in shantytowns and tents along irrigation ditches. “Okie” soon became a term of disdain used to refer to any poor Dust Bowl migrant, regardless of their state of origin.

Detailed explanation-2: -Driven by the depression, drought, and the Dust Bowl, thousands upon thousands left their homes in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri. Over 300, 000 of them came to California. They looked to California as a land of promise.

Detailed explanation-3: -Although the Dust Bowl included many Great Plains states, the migrants were generically known as “Okies, ” referring to the approximately 20 percent who were from Oklahoma. The migrants represented in Voices from the Dust Bowl came primarily from Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri.

Detailed explanation-4: -The migrant population exploded in California during the Great Depression, when thousands of people moved there to find work and a better life. Regardless of where they came from, their skills or education, they were called, “Okies."

Detailed explanation-5: -"Okie” has been historically defined as “a migrant agricultural worker; esp: such a worker from Oklahoma” (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary). The term became derogatory in the 1930s when massive migration westward occurred.