Dust Bowl migration

The Dust Bowl migration was the mass movement of families from the drought-stricken Great Plains during the 1930s, primarily to California.

Severe dust storms and economic collapse drove hundreds of thousands of farmers—often called Okies regardless of origin—to seek work as migrant laborers.

The Dust Bowl migration reshaped California's agricultural workforce and inspired Steinbeck's *The Grapes of Wrath*.