Example of the way that 'Okies' travelled west, 1937. This family (from Missouri) reported, 'Broke-baby sick-car trouble'. 'Okies' was the name given to people from the American prairie states (many of them from Oklahoma) who were forced to abandon their farms by the dustbowls of the 1930s. Many travelled to California and other western states. On arriving they found life little easier than it had been where they came from and many were forced to survive by taking itinerant fruit picking work at very low wages.