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 **__ Biography Of John Steinbeck __** John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California. He went to college Stanford University but unfortunately did not graduate. John became famous for his writer when he wrote a series of humorous stories called __Tortilla Flat.__ In 1936 he wrote a story called __In Dubious Battle__ which is about the strikes of the nmigratory wokersfruit pickers on California plantations. His next story was written in 1937 and was called __Of Mice and Men__ and was about a giant named Lennie. In 1939 he published his best work which was called __The Grapes of Wrath__ which is about Oklahoma farmers who move to California where they became migratory workers. John Steinbeck died in New York City in 1968



__ Migrant Workers __

 In this picture, a family of migrant workers are sitting outside of there temporary house, which is just a typical shack in a camp of Mexican and Mexican American migrant farm workers during the 1930s' Great Depression. The walls and roofs of the shack are connected together with different types of things. Migrant farm workers of all races lived in temporary camps like this as they moved from farm to farm to follow the seasonal work. In the 1900's the Mexican Revolution and the series of Mexican civil wars that followed pushed many Mexicans to move to the U.S. Many U.S. farm owners had Mexicans and Mexican Americans work on their farm because they believed that these desperate workers wouldn't mind these living conditions that workers of other races would complain about. These migrant workers earned more in the U.S. then they did in Mexico but, the California farm owners paid the Mexican and Mexican American migrant workers way less than the white American workers. By the 1920s, at least three quarters of California's 200,000 farm workers were Mexican or Mexican American. The United Stat es and Mexico formed a labor agreement. Mexico required that U.S. farm owners provide legal contracts for all Mexican workers guaranteeing conditions such as wages and work schedules. The U.S. also enforced the border between Mexico and themselves making sure that every Mexican immigrant had the proper paper work.

__** The Great Depression **__

The Great Depression was at its worst during 1929 to 1933. This is the story of someone who has gone through the Geat Depression : My father, Bill, recalls being startled by loud cheering in the school nearby. It was the end of World War I and he was 3 years old. As a typical teenage boy, Bill focused on food and cars. //“Street cars and Model T Fords appeared in the late 1920s. A lot of foods were becoming packaged and chicken houses were disappearing from backyards. Food was still very cheap. A loaf of bread cost 10¢. Then came the steamer and high-powered luxury cars (Pikes Peak Motor with high-gear capacity).”// Dad’s family was middle class, but the Depression affected everyone. //“Food and jobs were hard to get and many people stood in lines for government hand-outs. A lot of people lived on powdered milk, dried beans, and potatoes.”// In Chicago, a crowd of men fought over a barrel of garbage -- food scraps for their families. More Things On The Great Depression : Starting in the U.S. the Great depression hit world economy. In fact the day the economy decreased to a stock market crash beyond repair is noted as "Black Tuesday" The construction industry shut down and people were getting unemployed. The Great depression hit other countries at different times.

Salinas Valley __**  Salinas Valley is popular mainly because of John Steinbeck. John Steinbeck was born there on February 27, 1902 and he spent his first couple years there. Salinas Valley is where he got his inspiration for most of his novels. He was a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Salinas and graduated from Salinas High School in 1918. He is also buried in the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Salinas.
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