We Checked, Not A Single Horse Thief Anywhere.... So Far
I am from simple folks who lived, loved, worked and passed on into the next world after following their beliefs that "one should do on to others as you would like to be done to!" I'd call them "salt of the Earth"*
* the best people. Farmers were described as the best, the salt of the earth, particularly when their products were needed to feed the army. Etymology: based on the high value salt had in the past, and used in the Bible
The Depression
It is August 1939 and Americans are still recovering from the Great Depression--the worse nightmare that has ever happened to the United States. For the last ten years, since 1929, this country has experienced total economic collapse. Who could have imagined that this would happen in our modern industrial world?
The Wall Street stock-market crash of 1929 signaled the beginning of this Great Depression, even if it did not actually cause it. Ten years have passed and this economic depression has had devastating effects on most people in this country. Production fell sharply. Unemployment went through the roof. No one had much money, so purchasing declined. Thousands of businesses and hundreds of banks have closed. We are a country of small farmers, but farmers everywhere have gone into bankruptcy. People lost their jobs, homes, and savings, and now many depend on charity to survive. In 1933, more than 15 million Americans--one-quarter of the nation's workforce--were unemployed.
Dad's Letter To Aunt Opal
One of the few things I have from Dad is a letter he wrote in 1933 to his sister, Opal, who lived in California. It in essence said "There is no work in Louisiana and no prospects for any in the near future. Can Georgia and I come to California where we might have a future?"
Of course dad and mom came to California and stayed with Opal and Jimmy Robinson in a tiny tiny 500 square foot house until they could get established. The little house still exists.
The Robinson Home and Parchman Homes In Paramount, California 2007
The Robinson & Parchman homes were originally on the land owned by the people on the right (whose names I have forgotten). The sold off these hugh lots to my aunts and they built on them. First little houses in the back of the properties andin the 1950's they built new homess on the front of the property.
Dad Was An Arkie And Mom Was An Oakie
This car was about what they arrived in in 1933 California
after driving from Little Rock, Arkansas
Okie is a term, dating from as early as 1907, denoting a resident or native of Oklahoma. It is derived from the name of the state, similar to Texan or Tex for someone from Texas, or Arkie or Arkansasyer for a native of Arkansas.
In the 1930s on the West Coast, especially California, the term
came to symbolize a migrant who left the South-central, Midwest and
sometimes, Southeast United States to settle in masses to restart
their lives in the region's agriculture and manufacturing
industries. Most worked on farms, and in the shipyards and defense
factories leading up to and following World War II. The Dust Bowl as
well as a federal program which took farm land out of production
caused many to lose or leave their homes.
Rural caucasian and American Indian farmers of Oklahoma, and from
the Southern and Central states relocated to the Northeast and west
coast since the 1850s, but the "Okie" migration of the 1930s brought
in over a million new displaced residents to California's Central
valley and major cities bucked the trend. Ben Reddick, a
free-lance journalist and later publisher of the Paso Robles Daily
Press, is credited with first using the term Okie, in the mid-1930s,
to identify migrant farm workers. He noticed the "OK" abbreviation
(for Oklahoma) on many of the migrant’s license plates and referred
to them in his article as "Okies." Californians began calling all
migrants "Okies," regardless of whether they were actually from
Oklahoma.
Many West Coast residents and some politically motivated writers
used Reddick's term to disparage these poor, white (including those
of mixed American Indian ancestry, the largest tribal group being
Cherokees), migrant workers and their families. The term was made
famous nationwide by John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath.
Will Rogers, an Okie immigrant to California himself, once remarked
jokingly that the Okies arriving in California increased the average
intelligence of both states.
Mom and Dad indeed came to California in 1933 after not being able to continue to live in the Louisana.
Coming To California
Picture the 1930`s. The Great Depression is in full swing. The Wall Street stock-market crash of 1929 precipitated the Great Depression, the worst economic downturn in the history of the United States. The depression had devastating effects on the country. The stock market was in shambles. Many banks couldn't continue to operate. Farmers fell into bankruptcy. A quarter of the working force, or 13 million people, were unemployed in 1932, and this was only the beginning. The depression lasted over a decade, with hundreds of thousands of Americans losing their jobs, businesses failing, and financial institutions collapsing.
Mom and Dad were married living in Arkansas and Louisana looking for work. The economy was pretty bad in the South. I have a letter Dad wrote his sister Opal in 1936 asking if she would let him come out and look for a job in California. I never heard how they got here but I am sure it was an old broken down car and everything they owned piled into it... Think Beverly Hillbillies!
Mom and Dad came to Downey, California where Aunt Opal had a large lot! Dad went to work for Ralph David Leibowitz... a relationship went on until Dad's death in 1970. Ralph had a dime store... and although he really didn't need any help, he allowed Dad to dress the windows part time and then finally hired him full time.
Mom and Dad were married but the economy was pretty bad in the South. I have a letter Dad wrote his sister opal in 1936 asking if she would let him come out and look for a job in California. Mom and Dad came to Downey, California where Aunt Opal had a large lot! Dad went to work for Ralph David Leibowitz... a relationship went on until Dad's death in 1970. Ralph had a dime store... and although he really didn't need any help, he allowed Dad to dress the windows part time and then finally hired him full time.
Growing Up A Child Of A Depression Family
Growing up was fun in the 1940's and 1950's. Family and friends made life warm and fuzzy! The economy was doing great, the war was over and it was boom times. My mother and father were just great people and the older I get, the greater they were! I grew up on Comey Avenue in west Los Angeles. Please meet my grandparents on dad's side and on mom's side.