Sunday, May 1, 2011

Migrant Farmers Depression Era: The Life of Migrant Farmers

The Great Depression was an extremely hard time for farmers because it was one of the most devastating agricultural disasters in history. The decade of the 1930's was especially difficult. It began with a bunch of natural disasters, including hail that destroyed wheat crops and tough years of drought. Families that depended on their farms suffered greatly and lost a lot of hope during this time period. Because of the stock market crash, prices of crops dropped extremely low and many farmers lost their farms completely. Farmers couldn't sell their crops for as much as it cost to grow them. Some farmers thought protesting was the solution to making prices of crops raise again. There were many high tensions in the United States because of so many families struggling to make a living. The Dust Bowl was a time of severe dust storms caused by drought in the Great Plains in the 1930's. Millions of acres of land used for farming was destroyed. Oklahoma was probably affected the most, and a lot of the farmers there were forced to migrate to other places. California was a popular place for these people to migrate to, because conditions were better there. But because these farmers didn't exactly own land, they were forced to go from farm to farm picking the different crops for very low prices. Although this type of living wasn't very "ideal", it was better than living in the places that suffered the drought. These people became as "Migrant Farmers", and famous author John Steinbeck was known for writing about what it was like to live their lifestyle. 

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