What did migrant workers do in the 1930s?
The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl (a period of drought that destroyed millions of acres of farmland) forced white farmers to sell their farms and become migrant workers who traveled from farm to farm to pick fruit and other crops at starvation wages.
What would a typical day be like for a migrant worker in the 1930s?
The typical day for a migrant worker was very difficult they moved place to place looking for jobs. The workers asked to stay at a home but it always came with a price, the price was work. The workers had to do a job and once they were finished they could stay at the place for the night.
Who were the American migrant workers of the 1930s and where did they come from?
Photo by Robert Hemmig. Although the Dust Bowl included many Great Plains states, the migrants were generically known as “Okies,” referring to the approximately 20 percent who were from Oklahoma. The migrants represented in Voices from the Dust Bowl came primarily from Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri.
What was life like as a migrant laborer?
But the life of a migrant worker is often a harsh and isolated one. Cut off from their loved ones and support networks; often unaware of local laws, languages and customs; and frequently denied the same rights as national workers, migrant workers are particularly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
What were the working conditions like for migrant workers?
Migrant workers were subjected to harsher working conditions and lower wages because people were desperate for work. Workers were replaceable. Too many people looking for work reduced living conditions. The migrant worker camps were primitive – no electricity and no indoor plumbing.
How many migrant workers were there in the 1930s?
The exact number of Dust Bowl refugees remains a matter of controversy, but by some estimates, as many as 400,000 migrants headed west to California during the 1930s, according to Christy Gavin and Garth Milam, writing in California State University, Bakersfield’s Dust Bowl Migration Archives.
What crops did migrant workers pick in the 1930s?
An urgent need developed for seasonal labor during the harvest period for cotton, tobacco, cucumbers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, string beans, tomatoes, apples, peaches, and other crops.
What’s the meaning of migrant workers?
A “migrant worker” is defined in the International Labour Organization (ILO) instruments as a person who migrates from one country to another (or who has migrated from one country to another) with a view to being employed other than on his own account, and includes any person regularly admitted as a migrant for …
What problems did migrant workers face?
What problems did migrant workers have?
How much did migrant workers get paid in the 1930s?
Migrant workers in California who had been making 35 cents per hour in 1928 made only 14 cents per hour in 1933. Sugar beet workers in Colorado saw their wages decrease from $27 an acre in 1930 to $12.37 an acre three years later.
What were migrant farmers in the 1930s?
1930s: The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl (a period of drought that destroyed millions of acres of farmland) forced white farmers to sell their farms and become migrant workers who traveled from farm to farm to pick fruit and other crops at starvation wages.
What are some interesting facts about migrant workers?
A ” migrant worker ” is a person who either migrates within their home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have an intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work. Migrant workers who work outside their home country are also called foreign workers.
What is a migrant farmer?
A migrant farm worker is someone who leaves their home (permanent place of residence) in order to find agricultural work. In the United States, many migrant farm workers move to Florida during the orange harvesting season just to help with the crop and then move after the season is over.
What is migrant labor?
migrant labour. (US migrant labor) 1A workforce which travels from place to place in search of (temporary) employment, or is recruited for such employment, usually to an urban from a rural area; the existence or exploitation of such a workforce.