photo #8457294

Dust Bowl Refugees heading west to start a new life. 1939 In a past Friday Footnote (Black Blizzards) we examined the economic factors and natural events (drought, dust storms, grasshoppers) that farmers endured during the 1930s which led to the establishment of the Soil Conservation Service. However, we focused on the events, not the people. It is estimated that at least 400,000 migrants hit the road during the dust bowl era (Gregory, 1989). How did they survive? In this Friday Footnote, we look at the human aspects of the dust bowl and focus on the Resettlement Administration (RA) and how it worked to help the displaced farmers. A New Beginning As the depression worsened in the 1930s and the drought and dust storms continued, many farmers were hanging on by a thread. Often a family didn’t know where the next meal or dollar would come from. During the dust bowl era, many farmers in the plains were ready to quit farming, but that was all they knew. Approximately 900,000 farmers had an annual income of less than $400. The federal government stepped in and started buying the small farms that were not economically viable. What was to be done with the displaced farmers? Moving to the city was not a viable option since unemployment was rampant in the cities. The solution was to establish farming communities and migrant camps across the country. Two federal agencies facilitated these initiatives – the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (created by the Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933) and then the Resettlement Administration (created by Executive Order 7027 on May 1, 1935). Later the Farm Security Administration took over the work of the Resettlement Administration.