미국 농무부 운영 FARMWORKERS WHEAT PATCH CAMP 분노의 포도

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FARMWORKERS WHEAT PATCH CAMP

The "Farmworkers' Wheat Patch Camp" is a reference to the Arvin Federal Government Camp (also called Weedpatch Camp) in Bakersfield, California, a real-life camp for migrant farmworkers during the Great Depression.


It is famously featured in John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath and the 1940 film adaptation of the same name, where it represented a place of refuge and community for the Joad family and other migrants.

The original camp was built in 1936 by the Works Progress Administration to provide a self-governing, sanitary living space with running water for distressed migrant workers, a stark contrast to the squalid "Hoovervilles".
About the camp

Real-life location: Arvin Federal Government Camp, located at 8701 Sunset Blvd., Bakersfield, California.

Purpose: Built in 1936 to provide a sanitary and organized living environment for migrant farmworkers during the Dust Bowl.
Self-governing community: Residents had to work for their room and board and could govern themselves.

Contrasting conditions: Provided a better alternative to the overcrowded and unsanitary "Hoovervilles" or shacktowns where many migrants lived.

Cultural significance:

Appears as "Weedpatch" in John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath.

The 1940 film adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath was filmed at the camp and is a key location in the story.

Historic preservation:

The camp was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. The Community Hall, Library, and Post Office are three of the original buildings still standing.

Legacy: The camp continues to provide assistance to migrant workers today.




■ Weedpatch Camp

Concerned about the squalid conditions in the squatters’ camps, the federal government intervened to assist the migrants. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal agency, constructed Arvin Federal Camp, near the town of Weedpatch, California, in 1935. With running water for showers, bathrooms, and laundry rooms, and wood platforms designated for tents, the facility was a step up from squatters’ camps.

Three original structures remain from the camp: the post office, the community hall, and the library.[1] The post office doubled as a medical clinic and hospital. The community hall hosted religious services and social activities, like dances and community meetings. Adults looked for work in the nearby fields of Central Valley.

Female staff and residents of Weedpatch Camp played a particularly important role in creating community there. Members of the “Mothers’ Club” organized themselves to take care of practical needs, like how to equally distribute resources like kerosene to all residents at the camp. They worked with staff to organize a nursery and a school for migrant children so that mothers could work for pay.

Legacy

Some Okies returned to the Great Plains as the crisis passed, but many remained in California. The state’s defense industry expanded rapidly during World War II, with job opportunities that pulled many migrants into the middle class. As the Okies’ economic fortunes improved, Californians’ discrimination against them began to ease. Nevertheless, their experience is memorialized in classic cultural works like John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, which features the Joad family’s stay at Weedpatch Camp and is dedicated to the facility’s administrator, Tom Collins.[2] The Okies also left a permanent cultural imprint on California, particularly through country music and evangelical Christian religion.

The area around the historic buildings at Weedpatch Camp remains in use as housing for migrant laborers.