Weedpatch Camp, Ca.-- Part 4: About Those "Okies"

The migrants from the Dust Bowl were derisively called "Okies" and were the subject of discrimination by the local population.

The plight of the Okies and a description of Weedpatch Camp were chronicled by novelist John Steinbeck in his book "The Grapes of Wrath."  The book is dedicated to camp administrator Tom Collins who was the model of the character Jim Rawley in the book.

Migrant advocate Dr. Myrnie Gifford revealed in a 1937 Kern County Public Health Department annual report that 25% of the Okies  in Arvin Federal Labor Camp  tested positive for  a disease associated with agricultural dust exposure called "valley fever."

The camp was subsequently taken over by the Kern County Housing Authority which administers it as  the Sunset Labor  Camp to assist migrant workers.

--RoadDog