How Many Migrants Moved To California During The Great Depression?

The exact number of Dust Bowl refugees remains a matter of controversy, but by some estimates, as many as 400,000 migrants headed west to California during the 1930s, according to Christy Gavin and Garth Milam, writing in California State University, Bakersfield's Dust Bowl Migration Archives.

What were the migrants who moved to California known as?

Although Oklahomans left for other states, they made the greatest impact on California and Arizona, where the term “ Okie ” denoted any poverty-stricken migrant from the Southwest (Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas). From 1935 to 1940 California received more than 250,000 migrants from the Southwest.

Who migrated to California during the Great Depression?

In the 1930s, farmers from the Midwestern Dust Bowl states , especially Oklahoma and Arkansas, began to move to California; 250,000 arrived by 1940, including a third who moved into the San Joaquin Valley, which had a 1930 population of 540,000. During the 1930s, some 2.5 million people left the Plains states.

Who were the migrant workers during the Great Depression?

The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl (a period of drought that destroyed millions of acres of farmland) forced white farmers to sell their farms and become migrant workers who traveled from farm to farm to pick fruit and other crops at starvation wages.

What drew migrants to California in the 1930s?

Which best describes what drew migrants to California in the 1930s? The promise of fruit picking jobs .

Why did Okies move to California?

“Okies,” as Californians labeled them, were refugee farm families from the Southern Plains who migrated to California in the 1930s to escape the ruin of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl . ... The Dust Bowl years on the Southern Plains also had economic origins.

Why did Dust Bowl people go to California?

The arrival of the Dust Bowl migrants forced California to examine its attitude toward farm work, laborers, and newcomers to the state . The Okies changed the composition of California farm labor. They displaced the Mexican workers who had dominated the work force for nearly two decades.

What were some problems with farming during the Great Depression in California?

Soil conservation practices were not widely employed by farmers during this era, so when a seven-year drought began in 1931, followed by the coming of dust storms in 1932, many of the farms literally dried up and blew away creating what became known as the “Dust Bowl.” Driven by the Great Depression, drought, and dust ...

What was life like in California during the Great Depression?

California was hit hard by the economic collapse of the 1930s. Businesses failed, workers lost their jobs, and families fell into poverty . While the political response to the depression often was confused and ineffective, social messiahs offered alluring panaceas promising relief and recovery.

What hardships did immigrants face during the Depression?

The Great Depression of the 1930s hit Mexican immigrants especially hard. Along with the job crisis and food shortages that affected all U.S. workers, Mexicans and Mexican Americans had to face an additional threat: deportation .

What factor led directly to the stock market crash of 1929?

By then, production had already declined and unemployment had risen, leaving stocks in great excess of their real value. Among the other causes of the stock market crash of 1929 were low wages, the proliferation of debt , a struggling agricultural sector and an excess of large bank loans that could not be liquidated.

What was the life of a migrant worker in the US in the 1930's?

The working hours were long, and many children worked in the fields with their parents. Working conditions were often unsafe and unsanitary. Migrant workers had to follow the harvest of different crops , so they had to continue to pack up and move throughout California to find work.

What was life like for workers during the Depression?

A labor market analysis of the Great Depression finds that many workers were unemployed for much longer than one year . Of those fortunate to have jobs, many experienced cutbacks in hours (i.e., involuntary part-time employment). Men typically were more adversely affected than women.

What was the Dust Bowl of the 1930s?

The Dust Bowl was the name given to the drought-stricken Southern Plains region of the United States , which suffered severe dust storms during a dry period in the 1930s. As high winds and choking dust swept the region from Texas to Nebraska, people and livestock were killed and crops failed across the entire region.

Which best describes what drew migrants to California in the 1930s opportunities in coal mining?

Answer Expert Verified. From that list, the option that best describes what drew migrants to California in the 1930s is D. the promise of fruit-picking jobs . ... As such, they looked elsewhere for work such as California where fruit-picking still continued throughout the Depression.

What does Okie mean from a guy?