The Okie migration by Raphaël Maziane and Alban Deluche
This exhibit describes the exodus of the Okies during the Dust Bowl years in 1930s.The Okies fled from the Dust Bowl to California.
The Dust Bowl is a very big storm of dust. This storm destroys the fields, the crops, the houses, the belongings of farmers, everything who are on its way. As a consequence, it becomes impossible to raise crops on the dust-covered land and the people have to tie handkerchiefs over their faces when they go out. So the farmers must go in another land. They went to California.
This period is called "The Great Depression".
It was the great economic crisis that started after the U.S. stock market crash in in 1929. Many people lost their jobs. They became homeless and poor. When the Great Depression strated, Herbert Hoover was the president of the United States, and as a result, he was blamed for it. The people voted for a new president in 1932. His name was Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt created a new program caller Social Security. It gave money for old people. Beteen 1939 and 1944, more peoople had jobs again because of the World War II, and the Great Depression came to its end.
During the Great Depression, migrants created camps which was made of tents and scraps and it looked like a slum. The migrants lived in harsh conditions. They wore dirty and raged clothes and the childrens were barefoot. They were skinny and looked starved. They were treated like slaves. Their worrking conditions were unfaire, illegal and ruthless. Thery were offered low-paid slaries and they were exploited.
