Dust Bowl Migration

Paper Summary:

Traditional explanations of the Dust Bowl emphasize the lack of rain as the fundamental cause of the severe dust storms that struck the southern plains. This paper discusses additional reasons for the Dust Bowl such as poor agricultural practices and years of sustained drought. The paper describes the effect the Dust Bowl had on the inhabitants.

From the Paper:

"Americans tend to confuse the "Dust Bowl," a region plagued by dust storms in the 1930s, with the mass migration of "Okies and Arkies" to California that occurred in the same decades. Many people were forced to leave the Dust Bowl for California. But the majority of 1930s migrants, even migrants from Oklahoma, came from regions of the country largely unaffected by the dust storms.

The whole concept of a Dust Bowl migration is a wonderful misnomer. Most of the people had nothing to do with the Dust Bowl region. Most really weren't victims of the drought either. A lot of them weren't even farmers."

More papers on Dust Bowl Migration:

• Analytical Essay # 3300 : "Dust Bowl Days"
• Analytical Essay # 7910 : "Steinbeck and the Era of the Dust Bowl"
• Analytical Essay # 53592 : "Class System in "The Grapes of Wrath"

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