Why did many displaced farmers from Oklahoma 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.
How did the Great Depression affect farmers in Oklahoma?
Although Oklahoma agriculture had been in the doldrums for a decade, signs of the Great Depression emerged only in 1930 as a drought hit the region. Rural Oklahomans, who numbered 1.5 million, saw farm income fall 64 percent in the 1930s. Tenant farmers made up more than 60 percent of the farming population.
What happened in Oklahoma in the 1930s?
During the 1930s, Oklahoma suffered from droughts and high winds, destroying many farms and creating the infamousDust Bowl of the Great Depression era. In the 1930s, more than a million Oklahoma residents moved to California as a result of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.
What happened to the farmers in the Great Plains in the 1930’s?
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.
What crops did migrant workers pick in the 1930s?
Beginning in the early ’30s, migrants from the states of Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri came to California in ever-increasing numbers. Farmers, who hired the migrant workers at 20 or 25 cents an hour to pick cotton, oranges, and peas, initially welcomed them.
Why did farmers move west during the 1930s Select all that apply?
Why did farmers move west during the 1930s? Farmers believed that California would have better jobs. Many farmers were forced to abandon their farms after going into debt. Farmers did not want to work as tenants for commercial farms.
What problems did farmers face during the Great Depression?
Farmers who had borrowed money to expand during the boom couldn’t pay their debts. As farms became less valuable, land prices fell, too, and farms were often worth less than their owners owed to the bank. Farmers across the country lost their farms as banks foreclosed on mortgages. Farming communities suffered, too.
How were farmers and banks connected in the 1930s?
How were farmers and banks connected in the 1930s? Banks made money, and then farmers lost their farms. Farmers expanded their farms, and then banks made money. Banks lost money, and then farmers lost their farms.
Why did farmers move west during the 1930s?
Why did many farmers in the Great Plains leave their land in the 1930s and head west?
During the Dust Bowl years, the weather destroyed nearly all the crops farmers tried to grow on the Great Plains. Farmers who rented the land and farmhouse couldn’t pay rent, and farmers who owned their land couldn’t make payments. Parents packed up their children and belongings and moved West.