American migrant family saying grace before noonday meal by the side of the road, 1930s. Traveling from crop to crop, they lived in shantytowns, squalid camps, and primitive shelters. Life for migrant workers was hard. They were paid by the quantity of fruit and cotton picked with earnings ranging from seventy-five cents to $1.25 a day. During the Great Depression, migrants faced immense hardship. A typical day for a migrant worker in the 1930s involved arduous labor, often in harsh conditions, with little food, shelter, or comfort, and a constant struggle for survival as they moved from job to job and place to place. Their work was often seasonal, meaning they had to move from place to place following the harvest cycle. Some migrant workers traveled by hopping on freight trains, a dangerous but common way to move.
During the 1930s, American migrant families, often struggling with the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, relied on thrifty, starch-based foods like potatoes, biscuits, and fried dough. Meat was a luxury, and families relied more on vegetables and grains for sustenance. The food that migrant families ate became a symbol of their resilience and struggle to survive during the difficult times of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl.
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