the Dust Bowl

[Mishe Vanatta]

[Mishe Vanatta]

[Mishe Vanatta]

[Mishe Vanatta]

[Mishe Vanatta]

[Mishe Vanatta]

[Mishe Vanatta]

[Mishe Vanatta]

[Mishe Vanatta]

[Mishe Vanatta]

Leaving For Points West

[Mishe Vanatta]

[Mishe Vanatta]

[Mishe Vanatta]

[Mishe Vanatta]

A Plague of Locusts. Unlike those recently extended compassion and welcome in the post-New Orleans Katrina exodus, Okies were not greeted with "open arms." In www.theroadwanderer.net, it is said,
The plight of the Oakies became a part of the Route 66 story, the legend of the road. In 1934, Los Angeles police stationed themselves at the Arizona border in order to check the wave of dust bowlers. The police held all immigrants at the state line, allowing only a few across at a time and turning many back. This checkpoint didn’t last, however, and emigration on Route 66 continued through the 1930s. By 1939, the migration had reached epic proportions, and Californians reacted with fear and anger. One California grower put it in the following way: "This isn’t a migration—its and invasion! They’re worse than a plague of locusts!"
An article at www.okhistory.org reads,


In 1937 California passed an "Anti-Okie Law" making it a misdemeanor to "bring or assist in bringing" any indigent person into that state. The law was later declared unconstitutional, but the bias remained. There are those who, like Will Rogers, believed that the migration of "Okies" to California raised the intellectual level of both states.


http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/2007/03/dust-bowl.html