Name: Ella Ramsey Book Title and Author(s): On the Dirty Plate Trail, by Douglas Wixson, texts by Sanora Babb, photographs by Dorothy Babb Copyright date: 2007 Paper Title: Dust Bowl Refugee Camps
On the Dirty Plate Trail is a book written by Douglas Wixson, who was a professor at the University of Missouri-Rolla and lived in Austin, Texas. I chose this book because I thought it would be cool to look more into the lives and hardships of refugees during the Dust Bowl. I think the author’s purpose for writing this book was to give more information on what happened and what life was like in the refugee camps during the dust bowl. My thesis for this paper is that although it had bias in it, Wixson did do a good job of giving …show more content…
A quick summary of the book is Dorothy and Sanora Babb staying and documenting the conditions and the way of life in the Dust Bowl refugee camps through their writing and photography skills. I think Wixson’s thesis was that the refugees were misunderstood and unfairly treated because of it. I think he proved this thesis and his goal in the book because he writes “Quite naturally they suffer the stigmatism of being an “Okie” at school among the “respectable” people”. To clear any confusion, “Okie” was an offensive and derogatory word used by the refugees in the dust bowl. People, primarily the people who lived where the refugees migrated to, thought that the refugees would ruin the economy and taxes in the towns they worked at. They also viewed the refugees as lower life forms and often refused to let refugees go to school in their towns or service them at hospitals, even if they were hurt or sick. It didn’t matter if they were dying from one of the many diseases that circulated throughout the camps, or if you were having a baby, or if you were starving to death. They only saw them as dirty, ignorant people from the plains. The second example I have that proves Wixson reached his goal is “When they are forced to ask for relief, or are found starving, they
On the Dirty Plate Trail is a book written by Douglas Wixson, who was a professor at the University of Missouri-Rolla and lived in Austin, Texas. I chose this book because I thought it would be cool to look more into the lives and hardships of refugees during the Dust Bowl. I think the author’s purpose for writing this book was to give more information on what happened and what life was like in the refugee camps during the dust bowl. My thesis for this paper is that although it had bias in it, Wixson did do a good job of giving …show more content…
A quick summary of the book is Dorothy and Sanora Babb staying and documenting the conditions and the way of life in the Dust Bowl refugee camps through their writing and photography skills. I think Wixson’s thesis was that the refugees were misunderstood and unfairly treated because of it. I think he proved this thesis and his goal in the book because he writes “Quite naturally they suffer the stigmatism of being an “Okie” at school among the “respectable” people”. To clear any confusion, “Okie” was an offensive and derogatory word used by the refugees in the dust bowl. People, primarily the people who lived where the refugees migrated to, thought that the refugees would ruin the economy and taxes in the towns they worked at. They also viewed the refugees as lower life forms and often refused to let refugees go to school in their towns or service them at hospitals, even if they were hurt or sick. It didn’t matter if they were dying from one of the many diseases that circulated throughout the camps, or if you were having a baby, or if you were starving to death. They only saw them as dirty, ignorant people from the plains. The second example I have that proves Wixson reached his goal is “When they are forced to ask for relief, or are found starving, they