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The Dust Bowl Explained: US History Review

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In the 1930s, the U.S. Southern Plains suffered from extreme drought and dust storms, caused by poor farming techniques. The Homestead Act of 1862 provided inexperienced farmers with huge amounts of land—which caused the farmland to become bare and over-plowed. The soil began to blow away, creating the massive dust storms and useless land.

About 2.5 million farmers and families left the Southern Plains—Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, and Kansas during the Dust Bowl because of the lack of farming opportunities and unsafe living conditions that arose. This created one of the largest migrations in history. Many of the poverty-stricken people travelled west to look for better work and a safer environment for their family, and California was the most popular destination.

Upon reaching California, migrants faced discrimination, extremely low wages, and unsafe labor conditions. The name “Okie” became the term to refer to any Dust Bowl migrant/refugee.

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The Dust Bowl Explained: US History Review

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Push factors influenced the migration of people out of many southern states, like Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas and Nebraska into California. Some of the push factors include the lack of arable farmland, no reasonable/sustainable jobs, and unsafe living conditions because of the amount of dust and dirt.

Chain Migration
Chain migration is the process where migrants from a specific town follow others from that same town to a new destination. During the Dust Bowl, entire towns or cities often migrated together. A third of Oklahoma settled in California’s San Joaquin Valley. On the whole, Oklahoma lost 440,000 people in five years, and about 225,000 of them ended up in the same city in California.

Forced Migration
Forced migration is a involuntary movement of person or group of people away from their home/hometown. The Dust Bowl Migration is an example of forced migration. Many people were forced to leave because of the physically unsafe conditions present, the lack of food, and the lack of jobs. Even if the people did not want to leave their hometown, in order to keep their family sustained and safe, they were forced to migrate.

Internally Displaced Person (IDP)
An internally displaced person is someone who is forced to flee their home, but remains within their country’s borders. In the Dust Bowl Migration of 1930, the migrants who moved to California are all examples of IDP. They all left their home states, but they still reside in the same country.

Internal Migration
Internal migration is human migration within a country. The Dust Bowl migration is a great example of internal migration because during this time period, people migrated from many southern U.S. states to more western states in the U.S. All the migration was kept inside U.S borders, which is internal.

Intervening Opportunity
An intervening opportunity is a feature that causes a person to chose a specific destination over another one. In the Dust Bowl’s case, California was chosen as the ideal location because it was not as affected by the dust and dirt storms as much as other parts of the country. Although the south was clearly affected, Atlantic places like Washington, D.C. and Boston were also covered in dust. California was not only the closest destination for many, it was also the safest.

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Every migration flow generates a return or a counter migration. 

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Every migration flow generates a return or a counter migration. 

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This means that the original migrant will either bring more family and friends to the new destination, or move back to their original home because they disliked the new destination. In the dust bowl’s case, the migrants brought more family & friends to come live with them. I know this because often entire cities left and moved to California, and it caused Oklahoma to lose a total of 440,000 people in only five years.

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The majority of migrants move a short distance.

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The majority of migrants move a short distance.

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The dust bowl corresponds with this law of migration because the migrants only moved about 500 miles into California.

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Migrants who move longer distances tend to chose big city destinations. 

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Migrants who move longer distances tend to chose big city destinations. 

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The dust bowl migration did not follow this law. 1/3 of all migrants settled in San Joaquin Valley, an area of California that is known for its agriculturally rich soil. San Joaquin was a rural area, not an urban one. I think that the migrants chose to settle in a more rural area instead of a city because they were moving to find jobs. Most of the migrants previous jobs revolved around agriculture, something a city or urban area can not offer.

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Urban residents are less migratory than rural residents. 

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Urban residents are less migratory than rural residents. 

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This law somewhat corresponds with the Dust Bowl migration. In stories and articles informing me about the Dust Bowl migration of 1930, the focus was more on the people that moved from southern, rural areas to more western rural areas. However, this law somewhat relates because even though Atlantic urban cities were also largely affected by the dust storms, most did not chose to migrate. In this situation, the people living in urban areas were less likely to migrate than the people living in rural areas.

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Families are less likely to move internationally than young adults. 

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Families are less likely to move internationally than young adults. 

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This law does not relate to the Dust Bowl migration because the dust bowl migrants did not move internationally.