PAHOKEE PREPARES FOR WAR
V O C A B U LA R Y
Agriculture: production of food through farming.
Bushel: a container filled by workers during harvest.
Crop: cultivated plants or agricultural produce, such as grain, vegetables, or fruits considered as a group.
The Great Depression: an economic crisis that started in the
United States in 1929 and lasted until 1939. It became worldwide
crisis because of the owing relations between the United States and
European economies after World War I.
Migrant workers at a bean canning plant in
Florida
Farm Security Administration: was a New Deal program created
in the Department of Agriculture in 1937. It was designed to assist
poor farmers during the Great Depression.
Farmer: a person who owns or works to raise crops or animals.
Harvest: the act or process of gathering crops.
Juke joint: a bar offering music from a jukebox, dancing and drinks.
Migrant workers found rest and relaxation here.
Lake Okeechobee: Largest freshwater lake in Florida.
Migrant worker: One who moves to find work. Migrant workers are
used extensively for crop harvesting, mandating that they follow the
harvest seasons.
Snap bean: a crisp bean pod, such as a green bean or a wax bean
that was the main crop produced in Pahokee in the 1940s.
Snap Beans
World War II: Starting in 1939 and lasting until 1945, Britain and
France declared war on Germany after Adolf Hitler refused to abort
his invasion of Poland. World War II involved 61 countries with 1.7
billion people. Fifty million people lost their lives and hundreds of
millions people were injured.
Florida Sunshine State Standards: Social Studies
SS.4.A.1.1 SS.4.A.4.2 SS.4.A.6.1 SS.4.A.6.2 SS.4.A.7.1
SS.4.A.7.2 SS.4.E.1.2 SS.4.G.1.1 SS.5.A.1.1 SS.7.E.2.5
SS.7.E.3.2 SS.8.A.1.2 SS.8.A.1.5 SS.912.A.1.7
SS.912.A.3.13 SS.912.A.5.1 SS.912.A.5. SS.912.A.5.11
SS.912.A.5.12 SS.912.A.6.5
PAHOKEE PREPARES FOR WAR
Poverty spread in the United States when the Great Depression affected millions of
workers in 1929. Entire families became migrant workers because of the high rates
of unemployment. These families took the few possessions they could carry and
traveled in search of work. During the years of the Depression, tens of thousands of
migrant workers traveled in and out of Florida to work. They drained the marshlands
south of Lake Okeechobee and along the edges of the Everglades, they picked
vegetable crops such as beans, tomatoes and potatoes and they worked other
manual labor jobs.
In the late 1930s Pahokee was a migrant town. The name Pahokee means grassy
waters in the Seminole language. The main crop in Pahokee at that time was snap
beans. The harvest season was December through April.
When the harvest season ended in Pahokee, the migrant workers would travel north
to other towns or states in search of crops to harvest. This meant that families often
had to make their temporary homes in the new town from whatever materials they
can find. In some towns temporary shelters or tent camps were provided by
government relief programs such as the Farm Security Administration. Since families
were constantly moving, migrant children never got a proper education. African
American children only attended school 6 months out of the school year because
they had to help their families during the harvest.
During the harvest season the town of Pahokee came alive. The increase in
population meant more customers for local businesses. After a long day of work,
some migrant workers went to Juke Joints to relax. The Juke Joint provided a place
to eat and socialize after working long hours.
When the United States entered World War II in late 1941, thousands of jobs in war
industries opened up for workers. In towns all across the country, people worked to
support the war effort. In Pahokee, the community gathered together to salvage
scrap metals that were used to make airplanes, jeeps and tanks. In school the war
brought changes to the curriculum at Pahokee High. Concepts of aerodynamics
were added to science classes while a sewing groups made bedside bags for the
servicemen.
In many ways the migrant town of Pahokee mirrored other migrant communities all
across the United States by providing jobs for migrant workers during
one the darkest periods of time in the United States for workers.
EPOCH, doing business as The Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, is a non-profit organization located in Palm Beach County and is dedicated to discovering, collecting and sharing the African American history and heritage of Florida. Located in the former home of the late Solomon D. Spady, the
most prominent African American educator and community leader in Delray Beach from 1922 to 1957, the museum opened in July 2001 and is the
only African American Cultural Heritage museum of its kind in Palm Beach County. In addition to hosting permanent and traveling exhibits, the museum provides community outreach programs, a lecture series and an annual heritage festival. The Spady Museum is located at 170 NW 5th Avenue
in downtown Delray Beach. Call 561.279.8883 or visit our website www.spadymuseum.org for more information.
PAHOKEE PREPARES FOR WAR
Name 3 towns that border Lake Okeechobee
1.
2.
3.
1. The round containers in the photograph
are called bushels. If one bushel can hold
2,150 beans and your class can eat 200
beans per day at dinner, how long would
it take your class to eat a whole bushel of
beans?
2. This migrant family can fill 8 bushels in
one day. How many classes can this
family feed?
Study the photograph to the left. These are two
friends from the Bahamas who came to the
U.S. to be migrant workers.
1. What main mode of transportation would
you guess was used by migrants when they
traveled between farms?
2. Once season was over in Pahokee, how
long might it be before these friends come
back to Pahokee?
Both John Steinbeck’s The Grape of Wrath and
Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching
God are famous American novels about migrant
workers. What U.S. government program helped
fund these books? What other authors were also
funded through this program?