Seeing

History
from
Multiple
Perspectiv
es
History Hunters Program 2016

Goal for Today: Seeing one historical issue from

multiple viewpoints
The topic: Standing up for migrant farm
workers who moved to California for work
during the 1930s
The problem: Displaced people due to the
Dust Bowl in the Plains states
The perspectives:
Migrant farm workers wanting better
conditions (called Okies and Greenbacks)
and unions to protect them
White migrants from Oklahoma, Iowa, Texas
Mexican migrants from Mexico
Concerned citizens and journalists
Farm owners not interested in unionized
workers

Comparing perspectives:
Read, compare, ask
Compare the perspectives provided in the laborrelated articles collected by Charles Todd in
a scrapbookwith
The perspectiveof migrant laborers as from
interviews, songs, and a camp newsletter.
Do the articles match or contradict the migrant
labor experience or merely add another
dimension to the story?
What new questions do you have?
What does knowing multiple sides of the story add
to our understanding of a topic?

Two Lessons
Part I
Images
Songs written by the farm workers

Part II
Recordings of interviews with farm workers
(Mexican)
News articles from the time telling America about
the problem of the migrant workers

Your Task Today (Part I)

TOGETHER we will READ an introduction to the
problem of migrant workers in the 1930.
DISCUSS what you understand about the
problem when done
LISTEN to a song written by farm workers in the
1930 and analyze it together
In your group REVIEW a primary source
document and the questions that go with it
For images, use the image analysis tool to write
down what you discover
For other types of documents, answer additional
questions provided (songs and document
groups only) with the help of mentors (if
available)

DIRECTIONS FOR
ANALYZING USING
COMPUTERS
Use one computer per group

Go to http://www.loc.gov/teachers/
Click on Using Primary Sources
Click on Teachers Guides and Analysis Tools
Click on Primary Source Analysis Tool
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/primary-source-analysistool
/
Email finished sheet to yourself if online

LISTEN Song: Fight For Union Recognition 1940 ()

Todd, Charles L, et al. Fight For Union Recognition. Bakersfield, 1940. Audio. Retrieved
from the Library of Congress, <https://www.loc.gov/item/toddbib000173/>.

Sung to the tune of Ive been workin on the railroad

Fight for union recognition
Fight for better pay
Fight to better our condition
In the democratic way
80 cents wont even feed us
A dollar and quarter will be fine
Show the farmers that they need us
Join the picket line

QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED ABOUT THIS SONG

What are the farm workers asking for in the song?
Who is the audience for this message?

Group A Analyze an Image

On Highway Number 1
Use the handout Image Analysis Tool or use it online
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/primary-source-analysis-tool/

Group B Analyze a Document

Associated Farmers Declaration of
Law and Order
Taken from the Library of Congress Collection
Voices from the Dust Bowl: the Charles L. Todd and
Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940 to
1941
QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED ABOUT THIS
DOCUMENT
What words stand out to you first?
What was the purpose of this document?
What group of people wrote this (ie farm
workers, farm owners, the government)?
Is there more than one perspective here?
If there are, what are the differences?
Who would have needed to pay attention to
these demands?

Group C Analyze Song Lyrics: Some

more Greenback Dollar
Not A Performer. Some More Greenback Dollar. Indio, CA, 1940.
Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress,
<https://www.loc.gov/item/toddbib000449/>.

QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED ABOUT

THIS SONG
What are the farm workers asking for
in the song?
Who is the audience for this message?

Bringing it all together

Report out for all the groups
What were some new vocabulary
words?
What perspectives on Dust Bowl
migrant workers did we learned about?
How does having multiple perspectives
improve our understanding of the
problem of migrant workers in the
1930s?