The document discusses the Great Depression and migrant farm workers in the 1930s. It summarizes how drought and economic problems led many to leave the Midwest for work in California agriculture. However, migrant farm workers faced low pay, poor conditions, and lack of job security or unions. John Steinbeck captured their struggles in his novel Of Mice and Men, published in 1938, which remains widely read today despite some criticism.

1. The Great Depression, Migrant Farm Workers and Of Mice and Men

2. The 1930’s The Great Depression, severe drought in Midwest-dust bowl-forces shift to urban Spurs industrialization-less labor needed Labor unions grow-strikes Roosevelt-Nat’l Labor Relations Act facilitates unionization Communism—popular social movement- “red decade” Social Security Act, repeal prohibition, New Deal

3. The Dust bowl

4. Agriculture during the Great Depression Economic problems and severe labor strife Labor conflicts—docks, packing sheds, and fields Steinbeck wrote about their struggles in Of Mice and Men 1938—half the nation’s grain harvested by combines—took only five men, compared to 350

5. Agriculture during the Great Depression Roaming men followed harvests—essential 1900—125,000 migrants traveled along route from Minnesota to Washington state. Rail and empty boxcars Paid $2.50--$3.00/day plus room and board—often a tent

6. Agriculture during the Great Depression World War I—wages rose because of Industrial Workers of the World—800 mile picket line across Great Plains states But… Late 1930’s 200,000-350,000 migrants underpaid, underfed and underemployed Yet, California’s agricultural system could not exist without migrant workers

7. Migrant Workers

8. Agriculture during the Great Depression Farms became “food factories” Farmers- “absentee owners” who remained in city offices “Farming” was more like an industry like lumber and oil End 1930’s—1/3 large scale in US were in CA, trend toward corporate farming Encouraged low wage foreign workers

9. Jobless Men

10. Agriculture during the Great Depression “Bindle-stiffs”—white Americans among the migrants, single, followed harvests No union representation No money to pay dues Move too much Unskilled workers Cannery and Agricultural Workers Industrial Union— Communist led union

11. Agriculture during the Great Depression By mid 1934—led 50 strikes, claimed to raise wages by 2 cents Summer 1934 union broken by anti-Communist activities of employers and state authorities Trial—convicted of treason Later freed and appealed Workers and strike breakers battled

12. Agriculture during the Great Depression After harvest workers weren’t needed Growers wouldn’t pay all year Steady work impossible Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men when becoming involved in CA’s social and economic problems WWII absorbed many workers, “bindle stiffs” disappeared from American culture

13. Criticism Popular at first, criticized after The Grapes of Wrath Dismissed as communist or leftist Still read by public “Compassion balanced by an objective view of the world and man” One of the most frequently challenged books by school censors today

14. “ The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men Gang aft agley” —Robert Burns, “To a Mouse”