Migrant Workers In The 1930s.('Of Mice And Men' John Steinbeck
Migrant workers in America in the 1930's
From the 17th century when the first settlers arrived, immigrants dreamed of a better life in America. People went there to escape persecution or poverty, and to make a new life for themselves and for their families. They dreamed of making fortunes in the gold fields. For many the dream became a nightmare. The horrors of slavery, of the American Civil War, the growth of towns with slums as bad as those in Europe, and the corruption of the American political system led to many shattered hopes. For the American society as a whole the dream ended with the Wall Street crash of 1929. This was the start of the Great Depression that would affect the whole world during the 1930s. However the dream survived for individuals. Thousands made their way west to California to escape from their farmlands in the mid-West. George and Lennie dreamt of their little house and a couple of acres'.
Migrant farm workers are temporary farm hands and are mostly young Mexican men who are employed by farmers around the country to plant, tend and harvest crops. Approximately 99% of these farm hands are illegal aliens.
Farmers hire migrant workers to do these jobs because they have to be done and no one else wants to do them. The work is hard and the pay is poor. By the time that Of Mice and Men' was published almost half of America's grain was harvested by huge combine harvesters. Five men could do what would have taken 350 men a few years earlier. George and Lennie are some of the last of the migrant farm workers. Huge numbers of men traveled the countryside between the 1880s and the early 1930s harvesting wheat. They earned $2.50 or $3.00 a day, plus food and very basic accommodation. In addition to pathetic pay and terrible living and working conditions migrant farm workers faced barriers because of language and culture and they experienced intentional isolation that keeps them...
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