How Merle Haggard Helped to Change the Meaning of “Okie” from a Derogatory Term to a Source of Pride

Today, the word “Okie” refers to someone who lives or has roots in Oklahoma. Many Okies wear the title with pride. However, when the word came into heavy usage in the early 20th century that wasn’t the case. At that time, it was used by native Californians as a slur for those who traveled from the Dust Bowl-stricken areas of the country to look for migrant work as a means of survival. How did the meaning of the word change so much? Merle Haggard, that’s how.

Farmers in the Great Plains region over-tilled the land to grow crops. Then, when droughts struck the region in the 1930s, millions of acres of land centered around the Oklahoma panhandle became the Dust Bowl. Winds raged, and dust storms choked the land. It looked and felt like the end of the world for those in parts of Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas. As a result, millions of residents fled to the verdant lands of California in hopes of finding work tending fields to make enough to survive.

Okies Settle in California

More than two million poor Dust Bowl farmers fled to California. Many found work in the fields. However, there weren’t enough homes to accommodate the influx of new residents. Even if houses were open, the farmers couldn’t afford to live there. Instead, they lived in hastily thrown-together shantytowns called “Hoovervilles” named for the president at the time that many blamed for the crisis.

Improvised shelters with no electricity or indoor plumbing, collecting water from irrigation ditches, and poorly built outhouses characterized these Hoovervilles. As a result, death and disease loomed in the shadows.

Native Californians looked down on the “Okies” in the shantytowns. They segregated them along with Black people. Signs reading “No Okies” went up on businesses throughout the state.

“Okie” became a slur to hurl at the poorest and most desperate people no matter the color of their skin.

Enter: Merle Haggard

According to Cocaine & Rhinestones, Merle Haggard’s parents moved to Bakersfield, California in 1934. They were able to afford an apartment because his father had a good railroad job. Not long after that, his father bought a boxcar on a small parcel of land and turned it into a home where Merle was later born.

Decades later, Haggard released “Okie from Muskogee” in September 1969, and became a massive hit. People from Oklahoma heard the song and started to take pride in being Okies. Thus, the meaning of the word started to change for a few.

In 1968, Oklahoma Governor Dewey Bartlett tried to make “Okie” what it is today, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society. However, that campaign failed. In 1970, Oklahoma writer Mike McCarville tried to turn the meaning of the word around with his book Okie. Another failed attempt. The Tulsa Bottling Company tried to push Okie Cola for a short time which also failed.

It was only after the popularity and impact of “Okie from Muskogee” that the word started to take on the modern meaning.

Featured Image by David Redfern/Redferns