Okie

Okie is a term that was used to refer to migrant agricultural workers in the United States. The pejorative was used against agricultural workers in the 1930s during the massive migration westward during the Great Depression as dry Oklahoma farmland became a Dust Bowl. Most Okies were White farmers who lost everything and traveled west from cotton-growing states looking for agricultural work in California. They were frequently met with bias by those who believed they were inferior and were often exploited by landowners. Since the 1960s, the state of Oklahoma has fought to reclaim the term by making it positive.

Background

The term Okie was used as early as 1905 as an abbreviated reference to someone from Oklahoma, which became a state in 1907. Several similar state references existed at that time, for example, Arkies were people from Arkansas, and Tex was often used to refer to someone from Texas.

The world experienced tremendous economic upheaval throughout the 1930s, a time known as the Great Depression. In the American Midwest, severe drought left agricultural lands barren and prone to dust storms. Jobs and local economies dried up as well. After failed seasons, many farmers borrowed to try again, but further drought left them deeply in debt to the banks. As banks foreclosed, poverty soared. Destitute and unhoused, many people decided to move West in search of work.

Even before the Gold Rush in the mid-nineteenth century, California had earned a reputation for abundant opportunities and fortune. Many Dust Bowl families sought work in the state’s vineyards and other agricultural operations. These people were often called Okies, and the journey was known as the Okie Migration.

The migrants were often unwelcome in communities they passed through. Along the way, they frequently faced hostility when they tried to simply get some sleep or buy food.

It was during this time that Okie became a derogatory term hurled at migrant workers. While many hailed from Oklahoma, the term was equally applied to refugees from other states, including Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Missouri, and Arkansas.

Oklahoma alone lost 440,000 residents due to this migration. About 250,000 of these traveled to California’s San Joaquin Valley from 1935 to 1940. California was also struggling through the Great Depression and was already overwhelmed by the number of people on its relief roll. Many newcomers were met at the state border and turned back.

Those who did make it into California—about a half-million people—largely lived in poverty in roadside encampments and migrant campsites. Young and old alike worked long hours. Many of those who found work displaced Mexican migrant workers. They were desperate enough to work for next to nothing, and landowners found them easy to exploit. This led to drops in wage rates for farm work.

The federal government provided relief funds that were used to establish labor camps known as Little Oklahomas. Local Californians looked down on Okies, believing they were socially, educationally, and culturally inferior. California passed an Anti-Okie Law in 1937 that made it a misdemeanor to bring or assist in bringing an impoverished person into the state. Although the law was eventually found to be unconstitutional, it fostered bias and hostility. Some Californians were more welcoming. Will Rogers, a movie star, radio personality, and newspaper columnist born in Oklahoma, said that Oklahomans raised the intellectual level of California.

After the Great Depression ended in 1939, some migrants moved back to their home states. Those who remained received more substantial government relief in the 1940s, when federal defense dollars started pouring into Western industries. This allowed many Okies to abandon orchards for better-paying work in shipyards and munitions factories. Squatter camps started disappearing, though the number of migrants entering California from the Southern Great Plains increased in the 1940s. These new migrants, known as Defense Okies, poured into Los Angeles and Orange County during the war years. They continued taking jobs in the aeronautical, petroleum, and automotive industries in the 1950s.

Overview

The Dust Bowl and the resulting Okie migration brought the culture, dialects, religion, and attitudes of the Southern Plains to California. Much of this influence persists in modern times in places like Bakersfield. About one-eighth of the California population in the early twenty-first century was of Okie heritage.

The Okie migration fueled many artistic works. Author John Steinbeck famously wrote about the plight of the Okies in his 1939 novel, The Grapes of Wrath. The main characters in the book faced awful living and working conditions throughout their migration from Oklahoma and after arriving in California. The book raised controversy—when First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt read the book, she called for congressional hearings that resulted in reform to labor laws that governed migrant camps. Photographer Dorothea Lange documented the poverty of the Great Depression in the Midwest and West with a series of photographs for President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Farm Securities Administration. Lange roamed byways with her camera, capturing shots of the people and drought-stricken farmlands of the Midwest. She talked to her subjects and included the information she acquired in her titles and annotations. Artist Alexandre Hogue famously painted Dust Bowl landscapes.

The Okie culture affected popular culture through music, including songs made famous by performers such as Woody Guthrie, Buck Owens, and Merle Haggard. In their lyrics, both Guthrie and Haggard painted California as cruel, while Oklahoma and its people were portrayed as righteous and nostalgic. Folk musician Guthrie released his semi-autobiographical first album, Dust Bowl Ballads, in 1940. It includes stories of the economic hardship faced by Okies when they reached California.

Oklahoma’s Campaign to Take Back Okie

In the 1960s, Oklahoma governor Dewey Bartlett attempted to spin the word Okie, making it a complimentary name for Oklahomans. Oklahoma writer Mike McCarville attempted to do the same in his 1970 book, Okie. Companies like the Tulsa Bottling Company joined in on the movement, bottling a soft drink called Okie Cola for a short time. Ultimately, these attempts failed. According to the Oklahoma Historical Society, most older Oklahomans still resent the word and prefer to be called Oklahomans. Although the term was a badge of pride and part of many identities, one should consider context and refrain from using the word in a condescending way, especially someone who is an outsider to Oklahoma.

Bibliography

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Bays, Brad A. “Oakies.” Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.ii.044. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

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“The Dust Bowl.” Oakland Museum of California, dorothealange.museumca.org/section/the-dust-bowl. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

“The Great Okie Migration.” Smithsonian American Art Museum, americanexperience.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/The-Great-Okie-Migration.pdf. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

Logsdon, Guy. “Okie.” Oklahoma Historical Society, www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=OK007. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

Schleeter, Ryan. “The Grapes of Wrath.” National Geographic Society, 19 Oct. 2023, education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/grapes-wrath. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

Stewart, Tom. “Okie Is a Derogatory Term.” The Madill Record, 4 Aug. 2021, www.madillrecord.net/news/okie-derogatory-term. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

“Will Rogers Was America’s Cowboy Philosopher.” Will Rogers Memorial Museums, www.willrogers.com/learn-about-will. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.