California
A man and young child harvesting carrots in the Imperial
Valley during the Great Depression. 1935. Dorothea Lange,
photographer. Gelatin silver print. Collection of Oakland
Museum of California. Gift of Paul S. Taylor.
Stoop Labor. ca. 1935. Dorothea Lange, photographer. Gelatin silver print. Collection
of Oakland Museum of California. Gift of Paul S. Taylor.
Field Workers – Carrots – Imperial Valley. 1935.
Dorothea Lange. Gelatin silver print. Collection of
Oakland Museum of California. Gift of Paul S.
Taylor.
During the 20th century, Hispanic Americans —
the majority of whom were Mexican Americans —
comprised the largest minority group in California.
One-half million Mexicans migrated to the United
States during the 1920s, with more than 30 percent
settling in California.
Dust Bowl Refugees
After suffering through several years of severe drought and joblessness, farm
workers from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri began arriving at the fruit and
vegetable fields of the San Joaquin Valley in the mid-1930s, looking for work. Known
generically as "Okies," between 300,000 and 400,000 migrated to California.
Between 1933 and 1935, wind-generated dust storms produced clouds of blowing
top soil in western Kansas and in the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas. The press
labeled those coming into California "Dust Bowl" refugees because of this
phenomena. Although many of them found temporary employment, living
conditions were harsh, and tents or patched-together shacks provided shelter for the
families.
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Mexican and Mexican American migrant
farm workers expected conditions like those
pictured as they sought farm work in California
and other states in the early 1900s. At that
time, the Mexican Revolution and the series of
Mexican civil wars that followed pushed many
Mexicans to flee to the United States. Many
U.S. farm owners recruited Mexicans and
Mexican Americans because they believed that
these desperate workers would tolerate living
conditions that workers of other races would
not.
Mexican and Mexican American workers
often earned more in the United States than
they could in Mexico's civil war economy,
although California farmers paid Mexican and
Mexican American workers significantly less
than white American workers. By the 1920s, at
least three quarters of California's 200,000
farm workers were Mexican or Mexican
American.
Mexican apricot pickers. June 22, 1935. Dorothea Lange,
photographer. Gelatin silver print. Collection of Oakland
Museum of California. Gift of Paul S. Taylor
When shelters were provided
for migrant farm workers, they
were usually spartan shacks.
Dirt floors were common, as
was the lack of functional walls,
roofs, and doors. Camps would
only rarely have running water.
Usually, water had to be carried
from a river or ditch, the
presence of human or animal
waste and farming chemicals in
the unfiltered water a constant
danger. Often, farm owners
charged rent even for such
inadequate and dangerous
shelters. This photograph,
however, is not just an image of
the past. Today, farm workers
are still fighting farm owners
who do not provide basic,
humane living and working
conditions
Imperial Valley – People in Camps. 1935. Dorothea Lange, photographer. Gelatin
silver print. Collection of Oakland Museum of California. Gift of Paul S. Taylor.
The Great Depression of the 1930s
October 29, 1929, was a dark day in history.
"Black Tuesday" is the day that the stock
market crashed, officially setting off the Great
Depression. Unemployment skyrocketed--a
quarter of the workforce was without jobs by
1933 and many people became homeless.
President Herbert Hoover attempted to handle
the crisis but he was unable to improve the
situation. In 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt
was elected president and he promised a "New
Deal" for the American people.
Unemployment and Relief
During the Great Depression,
many people lost their jobs
as factories and businesses closed.
Both public and private programs
tried to help those who had no money.
At first, people believed it was a disgrace to
accept public assistance. The Great
Depression changed that attitude. People
realized that anyone—neighbors, friends
and family—could lose jobs, money and
homes. Government and private welfare
increased.
President Roosevelt created "The New
Deal" with many programs to help people.
1. Herbert Hoover was president when the Great Depression
began.
2. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 was one of the main causes of the
Great Depression. This stock market crash was the most
devastating crash in the history of the United States. On “Black
Tuesday,” October 29, 1929, the stock market lost $14 billion,
making the loss for that week an astounding $30 billion. It took 23
years for the stock market to hit the high it was at before the crash.
3. As news of the stock market crash spread, customers rushed to
their banks to withdraw their money, causing disastrous “bank
runs.” People who had been very wealthy lost everything they had
and some committed suicide. Many companies went out of
business and huge numbers of people lost their jobs.
4. People who lost their homes often lived in what were called
“Hoovervilles,” or shanty towns, that were named after President
Herbert Hoover. There was also “Hoover Stew” which was the
name for food handed out to the poor at soup kitchens. “Hoover
Blankets” were newspapers that were being used to cover people
like a blanket. “Hoover Hogs” were jack rabbits that were used for
food, and “Hoover Wagons” were broken down cars that were
pulled by mules.
Facts about
the Great
Depression
5. Some people who became homeless would ride on
railroad cars, because they didn’t have money to travel.
Many of these people traveled together and were
called hobos.
6. Almost half of the children who were living in the
United States at that time did not have enough food,
shelter, or medical care. Many schools closed down
entirely. At least 200,000 children took to riding the
rails either with their parents or as orphans.
7. African Americans, Native Americans, Mexican
Americans and women were discriminated against
during the Great Depression. They were looked at as
the groups that could take jobs away from white men.
8. Severe drought and dust storms made the Great
Depression even worse, because it dried out farmlands
and forced families to leave their farms. The drought
and dust killed tens of thousands of animals and some
people.
Facts about
the Great
Depression of
the 1930s
How the Depression Affected Children
What was it like growing up during the Great
Depression? For many people, life was a daily struggle.
At the peak of the Depression, 25% of the nation's
workers -- one out of four -- were unemployed. No job
meant no money to pay the mortgage or buy food and
clothes for the family.
Times were hard whether you lived in a city or on a
farm, whether you were an adult or a child.
Families unable to pay the mortgage lost their homes
and farms.
As a result, about 250,000 young people were homeless
in the early years of the Depression. Many became
nomads, traveling the highways and railways.
Mexican Immigrant
in 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. As unemployment swept
the U.S., hostility to immigrant workers grew,
and the government began a program of
repatriating immigrants to Mexico. Immigrants
were offered free train rides to Mexico, and
some went voluntarily, but many were either
tricked or coerced into repatriation, and some
U.S. citizens were deported simply on
suspicion of being Mexican.
Migrant Workers
The photographs show Mexican migrant
workers in California agriculture. Families
(like the one whose car has broken down on
the road) faced rough living conditions in
the fields. The photograph of field shacks
constructed of tin cans is a good example.
Title:
Migrant family of Mexicans on the road with car trouble,
February, 1936.
Creator/Contributor:
Lange, Dorothea
Date:
February, 1936.
Contributing Institution:
UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library
Title:
Migratory Mexican field worker's home, March, 1937.
Creator/Contributor:
Lange, Dorothea
Date:
March, 1937.
Contributing Institution:
UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library
The farmworkers who remained struggled to survive in desperate
conditions. Bank foreclosures drove small farmers from their land, and large
landholders cut back on their permanent workforce. A great number of
Mexican American farmers discovered they had to take on a migratory
existence and traveled the highways in search of work.
Many found temporary stability in the migrant work camps. The camps
provided housing, food, and medicine for migrant farm families. The camps
also provided an unexpected benefit. In bringing together so many individual
farm families, they increased ties within the community. Many residents began
organizing their fellow workers around labor issues, and helped pave the way
for better living conditions.
Although farming was an important source of employment for Mexican
immigrants, by the end of the 1930s Mexican Americans were established
throughout the American workforce. Mexican immigrants and their
descendants could be found in most of the industries of the Southwest,
including ranching , mining, and the railroad.
Carmen Carter Remembers Turkey Farming
In 1929 Orlo and I had been married two years and had a
year old son, Douglas. We were just nicely getting started in
the turkey raising business on his parents' farm near
Bridgeton. We had about a thousand young turkeys that
spring and we bought feed on credit during the growing
season and paid for it when we sold the turkeys at
Thanksgiving time.
But that year was different. The newspapers were full of news
about bank closing, businesses failing, and people out of
work. There was just no money and we could not sell the
turkeys. So we were in debt with no way out.
But when we read about the bread lines and soup kitchens in
the cities, we felt we were lucky because we raised our own
food. Our house was rent free, just keep it in repair. Our fuel,
which was wood, was free for the cutting. Then our second
child, Iris, was born and our biggest expense was doctor bills.
However, this too was solved when our doctor agreed to take
turkeys and garden produce for pay.
About that time my husband and a friend started operating a
crate and box factory near Maple Island. After expenses they
were each making about a dollar a day. Food was cheap.
Coffee was 19 cents a pound, butter 20 cents, bacon the
same, with a five pound bag of sugar or flour about 25 cents.
Gasoline was five gallons for a dollar so for recreation we
would get into our 1926 Overland Whippet and go for long
rides. We also had an Atwater Kent radio we could listen to
when we could buy batteries for it.
I had always liked to write poetry so I decided to submit some
to Grit, a weekly newspaper. I was delighted when they
accepted them and paid me $2 each for them. That money
bought a large bag of groceries at that time. I continued to
write for Grit for several years.