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An Okie is a resident or native of Oklahoma. Like most terms that disparage specific groups, it was applied by the dominant cultural group.〔Allison, Clinton B. "Okie Narratives." White Reign: Deploying Whiteness in America (2000) p. 229.〕 It is derived from the name of the state, similar to ''Texan'' or ''Tex'' for someone from Texas, or ''Arkie'' or ''Arkansawyer'' for a native of Arkansas. In the 1930s in California, the term (often used in contempt) came to refer to very poor migrants from Oklahoma (and nearby states). The Dust Bowl, and the "Okie" migration of the 1930s brought in over a million newly displaced people; many headed to the farm labor jobs advertised in California's Central Valley. Dunbar-Ortiz (1996) argues that 'Okie' denotes much more than being from Oklahoma. By 1950, four million individuals, or one quarter of all persons born in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, or Missouri, lived outside the region, primarily in the West. Prominent Okies in the 1930s included Woody Guthrie. Most prominent in the late 1960s and 1970s were country musician Merle Haggard and writer Gerald Haslam.〔Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, "One or Two Things I Know about Us: Rethinking the Image and Role of the 'Okies'," ''Canadian Papers in Rural History'' 1996 10: 15-43〕 ==Great Depression usage== In the mid-1930s, during the Dust Bowl era, large numbers of farmers fleeing ecological disaster and the Great Depression migrated from the Great Plains and Southwest regions to California mostly along historic U.S. Route 66. More of the migrants were from Oklahoma than any other state, and a total of 15% of the Oklahoma population left for California. Ben Reddick, a free-lance journalist and later publisher of the ''Paso Robles Daily Press,'' is credited with first using the term ''Oakie,'' in the mid-1930s, to identify migrant farm workers. He noticed the "OK" abbreviation (for Oklahoma) on many of the migrants' license plates and referred to them in his article as "Oakies." Californians began calling all migrants by that name, even though many newcomers were not actually Oklahomans. The first known usage was an unpublished private postcard from 1907.〔Stewart, Roy P. "Postal Card Proves Sooners Were 'Okies' Way Back In 1907," ''The Daily Oklahoman,'' December 20, 1968, pg. 9, col. 2. "Now comes Mrs. Agnes Hooks of Thomas with a postal card mailed at Newcastle, Ind. in 1907, address to a Miss Agness Kirkbridge, with the salutation: "Hello Okie – Will see you next Monday night." Signed: Myrtle M. Pence. Mrs. Hooks says Agness Kirkbridge was an aunt of hers. The Kirkbridge family came to Oklahoma Territory in 1904 and settled south of Custer City.〕 Many West Coast residents and some politically motivated writers used "Okie" to disparage these poor, white (including those of mixed American Indian ancestry) migrant workers and their families. The term became well-known nationwide by John Steinbeck's novel ''The Grapes of Wrath.'' Will Rogers, a famous movie star and political commentator from Oklahoma remarked jokingly that the Okies moving from Oklahoma to California increased the average intelligence of both states. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Okie」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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