Migrant+Workers

__**Migrant Workers**__

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= = ===In the 1930's, farmers from the great plains migrated to California. This action gave them a name, migrant workers. They were also nicknamed "Okies" because most of them came form Oakland. ===



===By moving to California, they were hoping to flee the dust bowls, drought, and soil erosion. They were also looking for work, because this occurred during the Great Depression. The workers had to harvest and sell their crops through out the whole state of California in order to keep their jobs. ===



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===The Arvin Migratory Labor Camp was created by the Farm Security Administration (FSA) in 1937. Camps like these were made for migrant workers so they and their families had a place to stay, and to control sanitation and public health problems. ===

===The Arvin Migratory Labor camp consisted of approximately 145 families that lived in 106 different shelters made of steel, 98 tents, and 20 adobes. When the cotton picking practice increased, the number had risen to about 250 families. This could have amounted to 1200 people. ===

===Adobes were permanent homes. Though workers could not stay there for more than a year, they could always come back after living somewhere else. Rent for an adobe was $8.25 a month and rent for a tent or steel shelter was about 25 cents. ===



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===By staying in camps and preserving their culture, the migrant workers survived. Some of the songs the workers sang to uphold the "Angelo-Celtic ballad tradition". Songs they sang included "Father Rumble" and "Pretty Molly". ===



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===The economy started to pick back up during World War II when the defense industry geared up to help the war. As many migrant workers went to fight in the war, more jobs opened up for the ones who stayed behind. This made life easier for these migrants. Most of them stayed in California, never to return home. Ancestors of these workers still live there today. ===



Sources: -http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afctshtml/tsme.html 