On this day in labor history, the year was 1940. That was the day The Grapes of Wrath opened in movie theaters.
Adapted from John Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, John Ford directed the film, which starred Henry Fonda as Tom Joad. Pleased with the adaptation, Steinbeck stated, “it pulled no punches and was in fact harsher than the book.”
It is considered one of the greatest films of all time. Like the book, the film focused on the plight of poor white tenant farmers fleeing Oklahoma for a better life in California.
The Joads were devastated by dust bowl conditions, bank foreclosure and mechanization during the Great Depression. They joined thousands of other families heading west on Route 66 to advertised farm jobs that never materialized.
The family gets stuck in New Deal Resettlement Administration camps and ends up on both sides of agricultural workers struggles. They narrowly escape starvation and state police.
At the time of its release, The Grapes of Wrath was critically acclaimed for its depiction of the poor. But the Associated Farmers of California condemned it as Communist propaganda.
Steinbeck visited resettlement camps as part of his research. Union organizing and police violence unfolded during the Salinas Lettuce Strike, which began as he wrote. Woody Guthrie’s classic “Ballad of Tom Joad,” soon followed the movie release.
Recent critics contend that Agricultural Adjustment Administration policies were more to blame than banks. Others assert it presents a sympathetic portrayal of white tenant farmers at the expense of black sharecroppers.
Historian Erik Loomis adds that Steinbeck and Ford both disappear the plight of the non-white, exploited labor already in California. Nonetheless, the film and movie both provide a deep look into the misery created by the Great Depression.
From 2015:
https://laborhistoryin2.podbean.com/e/march-15-the-painters-union-is-founded/
From 2016:
https://laborhistoryin2.podbean.com/e/march-15-2016-bruce/
From 2017:
https://laborhistoryin2.podbean.com/e/march-15-the-grapes-of-wrath-opens-in-theaters/
December 21 - Red Scare Deportations Begin
December 20 - THE UNION IS DISSOLVED!!!
December 19 - Solidarity Gets the Goods!
December 18 - No More Beer
December 17 - Unraveling Anti-Japanese Hysteria
December 16 - No Justice, No Bagels!
December 15 - Troops Put Down the Mother’s March
December 14 - Another Hard Fought Victory
December 13 - The Beginning of the End of Apartheid
December 12 - We Disaffiliate!
December 11 - Right to Work is a Lie!
December 10 - August Spies is Born
December 9 - The Cordiner Doctrine
December 8 - The American Federation of Labor is Founded
December 7 - Strong Arming Goldminers
December 6 - Breaking Through the Racial Divide
December 5 - Striking in Solidarity
December 4 - Organizing to End Slavery
December 3 - Learning & Labor at Oberlin
December 2 - 21st Century Corporate Greed
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Navigating Life After 40
Teaching Learning Leading K-12
Regenerative Skills
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
The Mel Robbins Podcast