Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-30T07:03:42.828Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Migration in the 1930s: Beyond the Dust Bowl

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2016

Abstract

This paper analyzes in detail the role of environmental and economic shocks in the migration of the 1930s. The 1940 US Census of Population asked every inhabitant where they lived five years earlier, a unique source for understanding migration flows and networks. Earlier research documented migrant origins and destinations, but we will show how short-term and annual weather conditions at sending locations in the 1930s explain those flows, and how they operated through agricultural success. Beyond demographic data, we use data about temperature and precipitation, plus data about agricultural production from the agricultural census. The widely known migration literature for the 1930s describes an era of relatively low migration, with much of the migration that did occur radiating outward from the Dust Bowl region and the cotton South. Our work about the complete United States will provide a fuller examination of migration in this socially and economically important era.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association, 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adger, W. N. (2006) “Vulnerability.” Global Environmental Change 16 (3): 268–81.Google Scholar
Agee, J., and Evans, W. (1941) Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Anselin, L. (2007) Spatial Regression Analysis in R: A Workbook. Santa Barbara, CA: Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science.Google Scholar
Anselin, L., Syabri, I., and Kho, Y. (2006) “GeoDa: An introduction to spatial data analysis.” Geographical Analysis 38 (1): 522.Google Scholar
Bailey, R. G. (1997) Map: Eco-regions of North America (rev.). Washington, DC: USDA Forest Service in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy and the US Geological Survey; https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/54244abde4b037b608f9e23d (accessed September 16, 2016).Google Scholar
Bailey, R. G., and Cushwa, C. T. (1981) Map: Eco-regions of North America. FWS/OBS-81–29. Washington, DC: US Fish and Wildlife Service.Google Scholar
Bakewell, O. (2013) “Relaunching migration systems.” Migration Studies 2 (3): 300–18.Google Scholar
Berkes, F., Carl, F., and Johan, C. (1998) Linking Social and Ecological Systems Management Practices and Social Mechanisms for Building Resilience. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Biggers, J. D., and United States (1938) Census of Partial Employment, Unemployment, and Occupations: 1937. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Black, R., Arnell, N. W., Adger, W. N., Thomas, D., and Geddes, A. (2013) “Migration, immobility and displacement outcomes following extreme events.” Environmental Science and Policy 27 (S1): S32–43.Google Scholar
Black, R., Adger, W. N., Arnell, N. W., Dercon, S., Geddes, A., and Thomas, D. (2011) “The effect of environmental change on human migration.” Global Environmental Change 21, Supplement 1 (0): S3S11.Google Scholar
Bogue, D. J., and Hagood, M. J. (1953) Subregional Migration in the United States, 1935–40. Oxford, OH: Scripps Foundation, Miami University.Google Scholar
Bogue, D. J., Shryock, H. S. Jr., and Hoermann, S. A. (1957) Subregional Migration in the United States, 1935–40. Oxford, OH: Scripps Foundation, Miami University.Google Scholar
Borjas, G. J. (1987) “Self-selection and the earnings of immigrants.” The American Economic Review 77 (4): 531–53.Google Scholar
Boustan, L. P., Kahn, M. E., and Rhode, P. W. (2012) “Moving to higher ground: Migration response to natural disasters in the early twentieth century.” The American Economic Review 102 (3): 238–44.Google Scholar
Boustan, L. P., Price, Fishback, V., and Kantor, S. (2010) “The effect of internal migration on local labor markets: American cities during the Great Depression.” Journal of Labor Economics 28 (4): 719–46.Google Scholar
Carter, S. B., Gartner, S. S., Haines, M. R., Olmstead, A. L., Sutch, R., and Wright, G. (2006) Historical Statistics of the United States Millennial Edition Online. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cook, B. I., Seager, R., and Smerdon, J. E. (2014) “The worst North American drought year of the last millennium: 1934.” Geophysical Research Letters 41 (20): 72987305.Google Scholar
Cunfer, Geoff (2005) On the Great Plains: Agriculture and Environment. College Station: Texas A&M University Press.Google Scholar
Daly, C., Gibson, W. P., Taylor, G. H., Johnson, G. L., and Pasteris, P. P. (2002) “A knowledge-based approach to the statistical mapping of climate.” Climate Research 22 (2): 99113.Google Scholar
Daly, C., Halbleib, M., Smith, J. I., Gibson, W. P., Doggett, M. K., Taylor, G. H., Curtis, J., and Pasteris, P. P. (2008) “Physiographically sensitive mapping of climatological temperature and precipitation across the conterminous United States.” International Journal of Climatology 28 (15): 2031–64.Google Scholar
DeWaard, J., Curtis, K. J., and Fussell, E. (2014) Demographic Signatures of Migration Systems: Population Recovery after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Minneapolis: Minnesota Population Center.Google Scholar
Egan, T. (2006) The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
FAO (2011) Guidelines for the Preparation of Livestock Sector Reviews. Rome: UN Food and Agriculture Organization.Google Scholar
Ferrie, J. P. (2006) “Internal migration,” in Carter, S. B., Gartner, S. S., Haines, M. R., Olmstead, A. L., Sutch, R., and Wright, G. (eds.) Historical Statistics of the United States. Millennial Edition Online. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fishback, Price V., Kantor, S., and Wallis, J. (2003) “Can the New Deal's Three R's Be Rehabilitated? A Program-by-Program, County-by-County Analysis.” Explorations in Economic History 40: 278307.Google Scholar
Fishback, P. V., Horrace, W. C., and Kantor, S. (2006) “The impact of New Deal expenditures on mobility during the Great Depression.” Explorations in Economic History 43 (2): 179222.Google Scholar
Fussell, E., Curtis, K., and DeWaard, J. (2014) “Recovery migration to the City of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina: A migration systems approach.” Population and Environment 35 (3): 305–22.Google Scholar
Giesen, J. C. (2011) Boll Weevil Blues: Cotton, Myth, and Power in the American South. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Greenwood, M. J. (1997) “Internal migration in developed countries,” in Mark, R. R. and Oded, S. (eds.) Handbook of Population and Family Economics, Vol. 1. The Netherlands: Elsevier: 647720.Google Scholar
Gregory, J. N. (1989) American exodus: The Dust Bowl migration and Okie culture in California. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gregory, J. N. (2005). The Southern Diaspora: How the Great Migrations of Black and White Southerners Transformed America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Haines, M. R., and Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (2010) Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790–2002. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.Google Scholar
Haines, M. R., Price, Fishback, V., and Rhode, P. W. (2014) United States Agriculture Data, 1840–2010. Ann Arbor: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.Google Scholar
Hall, P. K., and Ruggles, S. (2004) “‘Restless in the midst of their prosperity’: New evidence on the internal migration of Americans, 1850–2000.” The Journal of American History 91 (3): 829–46.Google Scholar
Hornbeck, R. (2012) “The enduring impact of the American Dust Bowl: Short- and long-run adjustments to environmental catastrophe.” American Economic Review 102 (4): 14771507.Google Scholar
Kanbur, R., and Rapoport, H. (2005) “Migration selectivity and the evolution of spatial inequality.” Journal of Economic Geography 5 (1): 4357.Google Scholar
Lee, E. S. (1966) “A theory of migration.” Demography 3 (1): 4757.Google Scholar
Lively, C. E., and Taeuber, C. (1939) Rural Migration in the United States. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Long, J., and Siu, H. (2013) “Refugees from dust and shrinking land: Tracking the Dust Bowl migrants.” Wheaton College: unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Massey, D. S. (1990) “Social structure, household strategies, and the cumulative causation of migration.” Population Index 56 (1): 326.Google Scholar
Massey, D. S., Arango, J., Hugo, G., Kouaouci, A., Pellegrino, A., and Taylor, J. E. (1993) “Theories of international migration: A review and appraisal.” Population and Development Review 19 (3): 431–66.Google Scholar
Massey, D. S., Arango, J., Hugo, G., Kouaouci, A., Pellegrino, A., and Taylor, J. E. (1998) Worlds in Motion: Understanding International Migration at the End of the Millennium. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McEwan, R. W., Pederson, N., Cooper, A., Taylor, J., Watts, R., and Hruska, A. (2014) “Fire and gap dynamics over 300 years in an old-growth temperate forest.” Applied Vegetation Science 17 (2): 312–22.Google Scholar
McLeman, R. A. (2013) Climate and Human Migration: Past Experiences, Future Challenges. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
McLeman, R. A., and Smit, B. (2006) “Migration as an adaptation to climate change.” Climatic Change 76 (1–2): 3153.Google Scholar
Olmstead, A. L., and Rhode, P. W. (2008) Creating Abundance: Biological Innovation and American Agricultural Development. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ravenstein, E. G. (1885) “The laws of migration.” Journal of the Statistical Society of London 48 (2): 167235.Google Scholar
Ravenstein, E. G. (1889) “The laws of migration.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 52 (2): 241305.Google Scholar
Roy, A. D. (1951) “Some thoughts on the distribution of earnings.” Oxford Economic Papers 3 (2): 135–46.Google Scholar
Ruggles, S., Alexander, J. T., Genadek, K., Goeken, R., Schroeder, M. B., and Sobek, M. (2010) Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 5.0. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.Google Scholar
Steinbeck, J. (1939) The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Modern Library.Google Scholar
Tolnay, S. E., White, K. J. C., Crowder, K. D., and Adelman, R. M. (2005) “Distances traveled during the Great Migration: An analysis of racial differences among male migrants.” Social Science History 29 (4): 523–48.Google Scholar
US Bureau of the Census (1946) Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940. Population. Internal migration, 1935 to 1940. Economic Characteristics of Migrants. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
US Bureau of the Census (2002) Measuring America: The Decennial Censuses from 1790 to 2000. Washington, DC: US Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, US Census Bureau.Google Scholar
US Bureau of the Census (2012) United States Summary, 2010 Population and Housing Unit Counts. Washington, DC: US Dept. of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, US Census Bureau.Google Scholar
White, K. J. C. (2005) “Women in the Great Migration: Economic activity of black and white southern-born female migrants in 1920, 1940, and 1970.” Social Science History 29 (3): 413–55.Google Scholar
White, K. J. C., Crowder, K., Tolnay, S. E., and Adelman, R. M. (2005) “Race, gender, and marriage: Destination selection during the great migration.” Demography 42 (2): 215–41.Google Scholar