Daily life in the Dust Bowl

Dust pneumonia made breathing dangerous. Breathing dust caused chest pain, fever, and breathing trouble, and it hit children and older people hard. Hospitals reported hundreds of patients. Estimates of deaths range from hundreds to several thousand, so no exact toll is known.

Families sealed windows with tape and rags, hung wet sheets over windows and doors to catch dust, and wedged cloth under doors. The methods often failed, because fine dust still seeped through cracks and coated food, skin, and furniture. After storms, people cleared buckets of dirt from their homes.

Drought, dust, and debt pushed them out. Farms failed as crops blew away, banks foreclosed on families who couldn't pay their mortgages, and jobs were scarce. Many headed west to California, hoping for farm and orchard work. It became one of the largest migrations in American history.

Often badly. Californians used insulting names for the newcomers, and Okie was the one that stuck. Many migrants lived in makeshift camps with poor sanitation, and some faced hostility and discrimination. They formed close-knit communities and sometimes organized to demand better wages and working conditions.