Who were the Okies and what are they do?
“Okies,” as Californians labeled them, were refugee farm families from the Southern Plains who migrated to California in the 1930s to escape the ruin of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.
What are Okies in history?
“Okie” has been historically defined as “a migrant agricultural worker; esp: such a worker from Oklahoma” (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary). The term became derogatory in the 1930s when massive migration westward occurred.
What were Okies in the 1920s?
Okies: a term for those who migrated from the American Southwest (primarily from Oklahoma) to California.
What were Okies in the Dust Bowl?
These Dust Bowl refugees were called “Okies.” Okies faced discrimination, menial labor and pitiable wages upon reaching California. Many of them lived in shantytowns and tents along irrigation ditches. “Okie” soon became a term of disdain used to refer to any poor Dust Bowl migrant, regardless of their state of origin.
Why are people called Okies?
An Okie is a person identified with the state of Oklahoma. This connection may be residential, ethnic, historical or cultural. For most Okies, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Oklahoman.
Why are they called Okies?
In California, the term came to refer to very poor migrants from Oklahoma coming to look for employment. The Dust Bowl and the “Okie” migration of the 1930s brought in over a million climate migrants, many headed to the farm labor jobs in the Central Valley.
Where did the Okies settle?
The classic story of “Okie” migration involves those who settled in the San Joaquin Valley. From 1935 to 1940 more than seventy thousand southwesterners migrated to this fertile inland region, hoping for a small plot of their own.
What does Okie mean in slang?
Okie. / (ˈəʊkɪ) / noun US slang, sometimes offensive. an inhabitant of Oklahoma. an impoverished migrant farm worker, esp one who left Oklahoma during the Depression of the 1930s to work elsewhere in the US.
What does OKIES mean in texting?
Okay. The slang term OKIES is used as a light-hearted alternative to “Okay.” Used in both texting and speech as a response to a question or statement, OKIES implies agreement or understanding. Other alternatives to OKAY include OKI and OKIE.
What kind of name is okie?
Recorded in a number of spelling forms including: Oakey, Okey, Oki and Okie, this interesting surname is medieval English. It is also residential and is derived from the pre 7th century Olde English word ‘ac’ meaning the oak tree.