American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California

by James N. Gregory

Fifty years ago, John Steinbeck's now classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath , captured the epic story of an Oklahoma farm family driven west to California by dust storms, drought, and economic hardship. It was a story that generations of Americans have also come to know through Dorothea Lange's unforgettable photos of migrant families struggling to make a living in Depression-torn California. Now in James N. Gregory's pathbreaking American Exodus , there is at last an historical study that moves beyond the fiction of the 1930s to uncover the full meaning of these events.
American Exodus takes us back to the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and the war boom influx of the 1940s to explore the experiences of the more than one million Oklahomans, Arkansans, Texans, and Missourians who sought opportunities in California. Gregory reaches into the migrants' lives to reveal not only their economic trials but also their impact on California's culture and society. He traces the development of an "Okie subculture" that over the years has grown into an essential element in California's cultural landscape.
Gregory vividly depicts how Southwesterners brought with them on their journey west an allegiance to evangelical Protestantism, "plain-folk American" values, and a love of country music. These values gave Okies an expanding cultural presence their new home. In their neighborhoods, often called "Little Oklahomas," they created a community of churches and saloons, of church-goers and good-old-boys, mixing stern-minded religious thinking with hard-drinking irreverence. Today, Baptist and Pentecostal churches abound in this region, and from Gene Autry, "Oklahoma's singing cowboy," to Woody Guthrie, Bob Wills, and Merle Haggard, the special concerns of Southwesterners have long dominated the country music industry in California. The legacy of the Dust Bowl migration can also be measured in political terms. Throughout California and especially in the San Joaquin Valley Okies have implanted their own brand of populist conservatism.
The consequences reach far beyond California. The Dust Bowl migration was part of a larger heartland diaspora that has sent millions of Southerners and rural Midwesterners to the nation's northern and western industrial perimeter. American Exodus is the first book to examine the cultural implications of that massive 20th-century population shift. In this rich account of the experiences and impact of these migrant heartlanders, Gregory fills an important gap in recent American social history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Research, Politics, Labor, Cultural Studies

368 pages, Paperback

First published October 19, 1989

Reviews

[Brianna Lambert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was a fascinating look at the effects of the Dust Bowl Migration. I originally got the book because I wanted to know the real history behind The Grapes of Wrath. While I really loved learning where Steinbeck got it right (and where Steinbeck caused more harm than good), what I really ended up appreciating was the bigger look at the way culture shifts. Gregory does a great job at showing the give and take of the Okie population throughout the first half of the 20th century.

Partly I came to this book personally, as I was born near Los Angeles, CA and always wondered where my square-dancing, country-music loving family fit into the California culture. Despite my grandparents never having lived in the actual "Okie" region, it's easy to see that the Okie culture had a huge impact on California culture-wide, and I am proof of it.

[Jack Dixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent study and remarkable research that provides an excellent narrative of the Southwest migrants.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gregory does a huge amount of work in foregrounding the nuanced experiences of “Okies” in this text, taking to task the blanket framing as all being from Oklahoma, all migrating with the same motivations, all being drawn during the same period, and all experiencing the same challenges. He looks closely at the different peoples migrating during the 1930s (many of whom were middle-class and from local cities or small towns rather than farmworkers) to help establish why they migrated (not solely for new agricultural opportunities, but also as a response to a perceived abundance in California) and what they encountered (housing challenges, nutritional deficiencies, inconsistent employment, and profound rejection and antipathy from Californians.) This is primarily a story, Gregory notes, of regional cultures and internal migrations coming together, clashing and sometimes coalescing into new forms of political and cultural significance. In particular he notes the ethos of toughness that emerged from the migrants who settled in California that then shaped both the resurgence of working-class populism in the later 20th century, the popularity of country music and “hillbilly” popular culture, and the rhetoric of contemporary Baptist and Protestant evangelical movements. This is a valuable text when thinking about migration not solely as a foreign vs. familiar narrative, but about contrasts between modern and presumably antiquated modes of living, between periods of history and industry, and between dominant cultures, subcultures, and various forms of interaction/transmission. (My major critique is Gregory’s neglected treatment of the question of race, especially as he fails to delve deeply into how agricultural labor pursued by white migrants was received by preexisting populations of Mexicans, Asians, and African-Americans.)

[Vanessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

My roots. I've always wondered my California-born grandpa speaks with a southern twang. This book explains. Very academic and not a page-turner, so not for everyone but if you want the real story behind Grapes of Wrath, here it is.

[Carma · Rating 5 out of 5]

A piece of American history either forgotten or less favored amongst other historical events.

The story of the exodus of Dust Bowl residents is one about both environmental consequences and human spirit and prejudice. Later these people were called "Oakies" even the ones not from Oklahoma. They were treated poorly and discriminated against when they arrived in California and when their children were turned away from school they started their own school.

The kids that tried to go to local schools couldn’t hide who they were“because they spoke differently and wore shabby clothes.” Due to this, they faced constant prejudice from other students
and teachers. The camp had one room cabins and tents that housed 300 people, but
at least the Okies now had food, shelter, and a school.

[Kaleb Horton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most comprehensive book about how the Okie migration impacted California. Necessary if you care.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty detailed and well researched. Exposes the real exodus and larger successes than one would get from having read Grapes of Wrath and seeing Dorothea Lange's photography.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

More than I wanted to know... but a good start for those interested in the "Okie" migrant story.

[Nora L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Proud to be a 4th gen Okie woohoo! loved learning about my family history!

[Melinda]

I have never liked any of John Steinbeck's books. I was force fed "The Grapes of Wrath" in both book and then movie form when I was in high school. I found the characters flat and "created" instead of robust and real. They seemed to spout political jargon instead of real words. I just read this article from the "Weekly Standard" that shows perhaps my literary revulsion of Steinbeck's writing was well founded.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/article...

The article was based on information from this book, so I've decided to read it.

[Trent · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read my share of non-fiction but I couldn't get through the first couple chapters of this beast. Very, very dry, loaded with information presented in the most boring manner you can possibly imagine. I wanted to learn more about the Okie migration to California after seeing the show Carnivale but had to stop reading this book after I fell asleep on the train home from work 2 days in a row.

[Sam Reaves · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Dust Bowl-era migration of the Okies from the Southwest to California became instant folklore with The Grapes of Wrath and Dorothea Lange's photographs. This is the real story, a look beyond the stereotypes at the migration that helped shape our view of the Depression and created a distinctive culture in California.

[Kaleb Horton]

A comprehensive overview of southwestern migration to California. The dust bowl stuff disassembles Steinbeck's mythmaking, which is valuable, and the country music section accurately explains just how important that was at creating and maintaining an Okie cultural identity.

Highlight was the excerpts from labor camp newspapers. Those were amazing. It was another planet back then.

[Matt Shake · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad book, I would recommend this to anyone who wanted a historical counter-point to the fictional "Grapes of Wrath." Nonetheless, unless this subject really interests you than the book would be a bit dull. Like it was for me.

[Martha Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

History. Like any historian, Gregory has poured his heart into his work and it shows by his illuminating explanation of the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and the war boom influx of the 1940s. Well researched with an easy to read and compelling narrative.