Grapes of wrath why are the migrants called okies

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.

Florence Thompson above says she was one of the Okies. She and her family had left Oklahoma in , before the Depression. The 30s made their situation worse. She and the family were following the migrant trail moving from place to place as crops became ready for harvest.

His works often dealt with social and economic issues. What is an Arkie? Why did the Dust Bowl farmers leave? The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the s; severe drought and a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent the aeolian processes wind erosion caused the phenomenon.

What was the importance of Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath? It is also a significant event in our national history. Capturing the plight of millions of Americans whose lives had been crushed by the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, Steinbeck awakened the nation's comprehension and compassion. How many Okies moved to California? Historians aren't sure just how many Okies poured into California in that turbulent decade.

Keeping tidy records of so many people on the move was chancy. It was by all accounts the last great migration of a nation moving west and may have numbered as many as , Even the term Okie is imprecise. Did California end up being the promised land? The modern day "illegals" smuggled in from Mexico not only live in constant fear of arrest and deportation, but face a resurgence of hostility in border states such as California from Americans who accuse them of taking jobs and fuelling a surge in drug violence.

Immigration controls are tighter than when Garcia arrived. Employers are obliged to verify a worker's right to be in the country and only those with residency papers are allowed in to Weedpatch.

That leaves many of the "illegals" seeking jobs by the day, where few questions are asked, and forced to live in difficult conditions paying hundreds of dollars a month to sleep in a garage or shed.

Los Angeles is still a magnet for those who make it across the border safely. Many do not, having been robbed by their guides or even kidnapped and held for ransom demanded from relatives already in the US. The undocumented workers can be seen gathered on the street corners early in the morning waiting for a contractor to swing by in search of day labour, perhaps on a construction site, as a gardener or in the fields.

It's not like that any more. But it's difficult. People here don't like us. They blame us for everything. Amate is 27 and has been in the US for eight years. Everything else I had to buy myself. I don't like it but there's nowhere else to stay and there's no work in Mexico so there's no point going back there.

They told me if I get picked up not to say where I live because they'll get into trouble," he said. I keep enough for the rent and food and beer. I have seven. I wire the money through the post office. There are an estimated 2. One in 10 of the pupils in the state's schools are the children of people working illegally in the US. Yet without them, California's stumbling economy would have collapsed. They want us as pickers and gardeners and maids but then they complain we are here.

Perhaps it's because there's too many of us. They say Mexicans sell all the drugs and do all the murders.

Most importantly, the Okies were American citizens. They simply wanted to move freely within their country. Police denied the people entry, mainly at Needles, based on a law. That was where Highway 66 crossed into California. Authorities denied entrance because of appearance and presumed financial status. This was one of the few cases in U. The U. Supreme Court struck down the law in the case of Edwards vs California.

Okies were escaping the Dust Bowl. That area covered approximately , square miles. It included the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles. In addition, the droughted region reached parts of Colorado, New Mexico, and Kansas. The area had light soil, low rainfall, and high winds.

Much of the land focused on grazing. Farmers plowed up the soil to plant winter wheat. A drought between and impacted the region. Eventually high winds kicked up huge dust storms. Winds denuded vulnerable land, exposed without its grass anchor. Dust storms suffocated people and buried buildings. More than half the population moved out.

Most headed west to California. These migrants were called the Okies. Steinbeck became the great chronicler of the Okies. His characters are the Joads. They were a family that lost their farm through foreclosure. There they hoped to find work. The eldest generation had the solace of religion. The middle generation had a dogged determination. But the youngest had little to hope for. A reader sees decent people at the utter end of their resources.