Essay On Migrant Workers

Could you imagine working up to twelve hours a day and only making less than a dollar? Well that was the everyday life of a simple migrant worker during The Depression. These workers were forced to live this lifestyle after the Dust Bowl hit many states. Although they struggled a majority of the Depression, they still managed to get the job that needed to be done to continue to support their family.
Migrant workers were Mexican and Mexican Americans who had sought work in California(Depression Era). These workers tended to be either newly arrived immigrants or were individuals who were forced to leave their farms after the Dust Bowl(Mixbook), but the Dust Bowl wasn't the only reason for this migration. The crash of the stock market was another

reason farmers had to flee their farms( Migrant Workers of..) Since the Dust Bowl hit and affected many farms it bought many farmers from states like Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and New Mexico( Dust Bowl Migrants). Workers who were from Oklahoma were usually called an “Okie”(Mixbook) and workers who were from Arkansas were referred to as an “Arkie”(Migrant Workers of..).
This migration era was by far the largest one in American History due to the Dust Bowl( Dust Bowl Migrants).Although many of the migrators were from different states, twenty percent of the workers were from Oklahoma(Migrant Farmers in the 1930s..), stating that more of them were from Oklahoma than from any other state( Dust Bowl Migrants). 200,000 to 350,000 was the approximate guess of the amount of workers who had traveled the United States yearly. At least three quarters of those workers were made up of Mexican and Mexican Americans(Mapes, Kathy). SInce this type of increasing migration was new, finding places to live in an area where the work was, was a challenge.
On the contrary of having to pick up and leave to find work, adding the search for a new place to live was a load. Since most workers were all in one area they lived in crowded places(Mixbook), so they were housed in things such as shanties, shacks or whatever else they could find(Mapes,Kathy). However when shacks or abandoned barns weren’t an option they had no other choice but to try and build their housings from scavenged scraps(Migrant Workers of..). Those who were lucky enough to find some sort of shelter often had to deal with windows that were broken, torn out screens and missing doors(Mapes, Kathy). With their poor housing conditions, they lived without both plumbing and electricity. Serious health problems and sometimes even death were resulted from the lack of trash and waste equipment which was another thing the workers had to deal with( Migrant Workers of..).For instance that's why many farmers employed loads of Mexican and Mexican Americans workers because they believed that many of them were desperate for the work and that they could tolerate living in these horrible conditions(Depression Era). In spite of all the cons to the housing situations, it was all temporary as they moved from farm to farm based on the work they had( Livin’ the Farm Life).
When things were doing right workers would set up different housing areas. Some set up residence outside of larger cities in shack towns which was referred to as “Little Oklahoma” or “Okievilles”. These shack towns were built on open lots that the local landowners had divided into tiny slots(The Great Depression). But regardless of where and how their homes were set up the conditions were still poor and crowded, this environment also often described how these migrators worked.
Along with living in such horrible conditions, these migrants also had to work in them. Workers from states like California often worked in them for up to twelve hours a day on a six to seven day ratio. Not only were the parents of these families working like this, but the children were often apart of the long working hours. With this in mind, the children of working families didn’t begin to work until they were around the age of thirteen(Mixbook).
As a result of so many migrators coming into the United States from Mexico for work, the U.S. and Mexico had formed a labor agreement. With that agreement the U.S. farmers had to provide legal contracts for all Mexican workers which would guarantee things such as wages and work schedules. In detail, with all of the approved workers in the U.S., the United States had enforced the border between them and Mexico making sure that that all migrators had paperwork so they couldn’t get exploited(Depression Era). For this reason migrant workers weren’t allowed to leave their workplace unless their employers had gave them permission(Mixbook).
As a result of environmental conditions like drought and the many dust storms that were happening, it increased the number of migrant workers but also limited the job options. Like said before, many migrators traveled to California for work. The reasoning for that had a lot to do with the mild climate there, the diversity of crops and many of the over exaggerated promises(Migrant Workers in..). Other things that had attracted workers were the advertisements that farmers put up to let migrators know that they were in need of workers(Migrant Worker of..).
During the long day of work that could usually last up to twelve hours, the workers didn't really have many different task.

In addition to the long work hours, the workers would really only have the job of picking up fruit and other crops(Depression Era). Farmers always had a high demand of workers to do the job of picking things like berries and grapes(Migrant Labor).The small jobs that these migrators had, were never guaranteed to keep. This was based off the fact that many migrant workers had a great chance of losing the job they due to the new mechanical equipment that was being produced(Migrant Workers of..). Although the jobs they had weren’t that good, the pay that got for them were also

bad.
In particular to it being the 1930s, any pay you got during this time was never the greatest.

This was especially true for every worker that worked on any farm. With there being so many migrants looking for work it resulted in low pay for everyone(Migrant Workers of..). Any job they had did, they were getting paid at starvation wages(National Farm Worker Ministry). Their earnings often ranged from seventy-five cents to $1.25 a day(The Great Depression). For that reason, migrants were the lowest paid workers in the country(Mapes, Kathy). Even if a family had every member in it working, they still weren’t making

enough.
It was said by government officials that Mexican migrants had made up a majority of the unemployed in California(Depression Era). In 1933 many workers refused to pick up crops for the poor amount of money they were getting paid. That refusal then turned into a strike that took on around 12,00 to 18,000 migrant workers(Mixbook).Although there were many migrant workers at this time, many were in the U.S. illegally so weren’t able protest in the strikes that were happening(Migrant Farmers in the Depression Era.) In the same year more than 56,800 workers from multiple states were apart of at least sixty-one strikes. Many strikes later, workers were forced to earn seventy-five per whatever pound of what they were working with, which was a dollar less than what they wanted to get paid(Migrant Workers In..).
In conclusion, after seeing how the life of these migrants were, do you think you could’ve lived through this ad still continued to support your family?