On the infamous “Black Tuesday,” October 29, 1929, Wall Street collapsed due to heavy trading prices on the New York Stock Exchange. President Hoover claimed the U.S. business was “on a sound and prosperous basis,” but panic set in. The collapse of the U.S. economy, which was the largest in the world, caused global shock. By 1931, the Great Depression affected not only the U.S., but the world. “By 1933, 30 million people in industrial nations were unemployed, five times the number of unemployed four years before” (Brinkley 651). During the Great Depression, unemployment rates were very high, incomes dramatically fell, and many businesses failed. Oklahoma took a hard hit in the 1930’s. On top of the stock market crash, in the early 1930’s, Oklahoma had severe droughts and heavy dust storms. Hoping for a better life in California, many “Okies,” people from Oklahoma, headed west to work as migrant fruit pickers. The film version of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, the Taniguchi essay, and many other works describe the terrible disappointment the Okies found in California: unemployment, low wages, little hope, shanty-towns, and brutal working conditions. The Okies’ experience in California reflects the national experience of Americans during the Great Depression. Yet, the Okies’ experience in California differed from the national experience of Americans during the Great Depression. The combination of the similarities and differences between the Okies in California and the people of the United States represents the Great Depression.…