1939 June - Girl of migrant family camped near Spiro, Sequoyah County, Oklahoma (Colored by me)

Family of migrant agricultural day laborers camped near Spiro, Oklahoma. The man and his wife had farmed in this vicinity for many years. However, they had always been renters. They have found it increasingly difficult to find land and house for rent. They had moved to the river bottom where they were camping out while working in the nearby fields. The mosquitoes were bad. They had to move to higher ground by the roadside. The entire family--mother, father and six children--had malaria. When the man was asked if there was much malaria among the people, he replied, "Yes, they have always started chillin' and they'll keep achillin' till frost, them that don't die." The father and two children were chopping cotton for a dollar a day. The father said "that as soon as they got a few dollars ahead it came a rain and they spent their money before it was dry enough to work again." They had a car and were going on to California as soon as they had enough money. The woman's sister is living in Bakersfield, California, and they want to get out there. "They ain't doing much, but he's making a living and I ain't making it here."

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