Education Struggles: The Okies SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN OF THE DUST BOWL

Black Sunday (April 14, 1935)

In my educators’ book club we were assigned to read The Four Winds by Kristen Hannah. I was moved by this book that describes the migration of the Dust Bowl people from Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas to California to seek a better life due to the devastation of their farms. Areas in these states were affected by horrendous dust storms. Those storms carried the topsoil off their farmland, making a living from farming impossible. Black Sunday (April 14, 1935) saw the most devasting dust storm of all times. It moved more land than was dug for the Panama Canal. Other problems were the unbearable heat and the extreme lack of rain, adding to the burden of trying to make a living off the land.


Billboards in these states carried news of the promise of work, food, and sunshine in California. For many, this was their only choice—to move to California. Many took Highway 66 to Highway 99, which led to Lament, Arvin, Weedpatch, Delano, Tulare, Visalia and Bakersfield. Since many came from Oklahoma. they became known as the “Okies.” These people replaced the Mexican farmworkers, who’d been forced to return to Mexico the previous year. This was because the citizens of the United States were fearful that the Mexicans were taking jobs needed by American citizens during the Great Depression. Millions of the Okies came, but there were not enough jobs nor places to live for them all. Many lived in poverty under poor conditions, became sick, and tragically died.

As with most dedicated parents, Okies thought education was important so that their children would have a better life than they did. However, there were many obstacles to overcome since established farmers and ranchers did not want their children in the same schools as the Okie children. The public schools were downright unwelcoming. Kids made fun of the Okie children for the way they dressed in ragged clothes and no shoes. Their hygiene was poor, since most lived in tents without facilities. They were thought to carry disease. For lunch they had biscuit-and-bean sandwiches, and spoke differently from the other children. They were picked on, both verbally and physically.

The environment was hostile, and they were looked on as being lazy and of weak moral character. Steinbeck, in his book, Grapes of Wrath (1940), witnessed a scene in Visalia where, in one tent, twenty people were quarantined for smallpox and two of the women were about to have babies. The tent contained as much as a foot of water, and there was no food to eat nor fire for warmth. These people were not just hungry, they were starving. However, the ranchers and farmers were misinformed about state relief and thought that the Okies has a free ride (Hannah, 2021). Yes, there was state relief for the Okies, but they had to meet restrictive criteria, and many were turned down and not eligible.


To top it off, between 1935 and 1940 overcrowding in the schools caused Kern County’s education bill to increase by 214 percent. The ranchers and farmers became even more angry and prejudiced toward the Okie children attending “their” schools.

Then along came Leo Hart, a teacher, described in Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp. He went over to Weedpatch Camp, took off his shoes, tie and coat, and played catch with the children. Despite their rough manners and etiquette, he found them to be “ordinary kids.” He became Kern County Superintendent of Schools in April 1949, and after trying to integrate the Okie kids into the regular schools, he decided to build them a school of their own. This school was at no cost to Kern County, so he got swift permission to do so.

Leo B. Hart

In May of 1949 he leased a ten-acre site of land for ten dollars from the federal government next to the campground. He found the best and most dedicated teachers from California state universities and colleges, and got the material to build the school with donated supplies. Clothing and shoes came from the Salvation Army, and many others donated slightly-used paint, and a huge used water heater. Adults and fifty children from Weedpatch Camp built the school. Later they built the first swimming pool in Kern County.

Students building swimming pool

The principal of the school, Pete Bancroft, bought a C-46 aircraft from military surplus for $200 for the children to learn aircraft mechanics. They had a railroad car to contain a workshop. School started in the fall of 1940 and by the spring of 1941 the school had become completely self-sufficient with potatoes, vegetables, milk, eggs and beef, which they raised themselves. Not only did the Okie children have classes for learning English, history, geography, math, and science, but they were taught shoe cobbling, typing, sewing, raising vegetables and livestock, canning fruits and vegetables, and how to make face cream, rouge and lipstick. A doctor and nurse were brought out to care for sick children. The school was a source of pride and self-esteem for the children. Due to the fine reputation of Weedpatch School, the children of the ranchers and farmers were soon sending their applications to attend this school. Okie children did succeed and went into professional careers such as law, teaching and owning their own businesses.

Classes were held in an airplane

I had an opportunity to interview two people I know who have knowledge of this period. One was Ellen Ballard, a former teacher and board member for the Fullerton School District. Ellen’s husband’s family left Texas during the Dust Bowl. What would typically take days to drive to California, took the Ballard family two years, for their car kept breaking down. Many others suffered similar problems due to the poor condition of their trucks and cars. After making it to California, the Ballards had baby Larry, Ellen’s husband. He was born in a tent in Oildale in 1937. He also became a successful lawyer in Fullerton after attending the University of California, Los Angeles.


The second person I interviewed was a friend, Karen Huffman. She had relatives from this period. Her mother was ten years old when she came out from Oklahoma with her parents and grandmother. Her mother remembered putting a tent down on the road and sleeping. Later after settling in her home with her family, Karen’s mother didn’t have the desire to go camping with her children. She said she had all the camping she cared to do!


The majority of Okie children, who were citizens of this country, endured many prejudices trying to get an education. Even the policemen of that period were ordered to beat up the Okie families coming into their state. They were treated as poorly as non-citizens and non-whites—all poor migrants seeking a better life than the one they left.


Closing with the hope that bringing about change is more than just a hope.


Submitted by
Jo Ann Brannock, Ph.D.
MOTAL board member


References
Hannah, Kristen (2021). The Four Winds. N.Y.: St. Martin’s Publishing Group.


Henshaw, Betty Grant (2006). Children of the Dust: An Okie Family Story. Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press.


Stanley, Jerry (1992). Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp. N.Y.: The Trumpet Club


Steinbeck, John (1939). The Grapes of Wrath. N.Y: Penguin Group.