This is our “White Privilege.” This is our “White Strength.”

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From Woodsterman, https://woodstermangotwood.blogspot.com/

July 6, 1936, Route 66, New Mexico. This is Martha Evans, 32. She had been walking for three days. Her husband died of tuberculosis in Oklahoma in May. The farm was foreclosed. She took the six kids and a Radio Flyer wagon and started west for California. The twins in the wagon were 11 months old. The boys walking were 6, 5, 4, and 3. Her dress was torn on barbed wire. Her leg was cut and infected. She wrapped it with a feed sack. She had $1.60 in her pocket. A photographer from the Resettlement Administration saw them and pulled over. He offered her a ride. She said no. She said if she took a ride now, the kids would expect one every time they were tired. She gave him her name and kept walking. The photo ran in newspapers across the country. Donations came to a PO box in Barstow. She got $200 and a bus ticket. She made it to Bakersfield and picked grapes. All six kids lived. Three went to college. Martha died in 1978. The wagon is in the Smithsonian.

13 thoughts on “This is our “White Privilege.” This is our “White Strength.””

  1. THIS is what made America great, even in times of desperation and upheaval. Hard times make strong men, AND women!

  3. Unfortunately, like most things on the Internet this isn’t a true story however it is extremely compelling and a testament to American women

      • That being said, many people DID bust their asses to get to California and found work in the fields. No, they weren’t Mexican. They were WHITE. They were HUNGRY. Hunger is a GREAT motivator! Welfare is NOT!

        BTW, many people don’t know this, but the original “seat” of country music wasn’t Nashville. It was BAKERSFIELD, CA. All those “migrants” from the Midwest were the reason why…

        CA was once a great place… when it was red… and white…

        • Merle Haggard was born in Oildale, which is now part of Bakersfield. If there was ever a child of the Great Depression, it was Merle.

          • When he was in Folsom prison he saw a concert in which he became motivated to straighten up and fly right. After he got out he became one of the biggest album selling musicians in history. The performer was none other than the man in black recording a live album as well.

            My favorite song on that album? Well of course it was a boy named Sue

        • The folks in Bristol VA/TN might dispute the “seat”‘ of country music claim.

          Maybe a few Kansans moved to CA during the dust bowl but it was mostly Okies and Arkies and residents of the Midwest certainly don’t claim them. Who would?

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