A Day In The Life Of A Depression-Era Migrant Farm Worker

"Shelters were made of almost every conceivable thing - burlap, canvas, palm branches" (Oakland Museum of California par. 1), reported a California minister of a migrant labor camp in the Imperial Valley. Disembarking from that shelter and entering into a hard day of labor begins the account of a day in the life of a depression-era migrant farm worker.

Migrant farm workers traveled wherever the work was, which didn't leave much place to go. According to a Library of Congress article, their attempts to find and keep work were "met with frustration due to a 30 percent unemployment rate" (Fanslow par. 1). One place that did offer--by comparison--a decent market for migrant labor was the state of California. The Great Depression and the declining state of the Dust Bowl began to push thousands of farmers westward to this state, where they hoped to find work.

It was not simply the emigration factors that caused this massive migration to California, however. There were many aspects of California's climate and other characteristics that made it far more preferable than almost anywhere else in the country. One of California's more desirable traits was its mild climate, which allowed for a longer growing season and the option for a more diversified range of crops (Fanslow par. 3).

However, California was not exempt from the aches and pains of the Depression, especially with the arrival of more and more people to populate an already strained system. Some migrant workers, if they weren't literally turned away at the borders, found that California was not flowing with milk and honey, and that "the available labor pool was vastly disproportionate to the number of job openings that could be filled" (Fanslow par. 6). The imbalance of labor opportunities strengthened the migrant lifestyle; in order to maintain their income, workers "had to follow the harvest around the state" (Fanslow par. 7).

Over time, migrant camps sprang up across the state. The first camp that was federally operated was the Arvin Migratory Labor Camp, which opened in 1937 (Fanslow par. 8). The purpose of the camps was to "resolve poor sanitation and public health problems, as well as to mitigate the burden placed on state and local infrastructures" (Fanslow par. 8).

Over time, conditions in California and in America began to improve. Ironically, the "migrant" workers put down roots in California, and their descendants still live there today (Fanslow par. 10).