Sanora Babb and the Steinbeck Controversy

Sanora Babb,
Wikimedia Commons

Sanora Babb was born in 1907 in Oklahoma Territory. When she was four-years-old, her family moved to Eastern Colorado to farm in a very isolated area. The farming was hard and after years of crop failure, they moved back to Oklahoma in the Panhandle region. Sanora and her sister were able to attend school when they returned and Sanora ended up graduating Valedictorian of her class.  

Reading and writing were Sanora’s favorite pastimes. She also had a heart for people. As a young girl, she made friends with the Otoe tribe and was given the name Little Cheyenne Who Rides Like the Wind. She loved her name and loved the Native American people.

 

When she was twelve, Sanora got her first job with a printer. She worked for him in exchange for him printing up handbills for her theater productions. I did not find more about these plays she put on but would love to know more.

Migrant camp 1936, California
Creative Commons

 Sanora continued to write short stories and poetry. Some of her work was published in various literary magazines. In 1929, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in journalism. 

 

In the early days of the dust bowl and the Great Depression, Sanora secured a position as an assistant to Tom Collins to help set up the FSA government camps for migrant workers. Sanora met with many migrants, working alongside them in the fields and writing down their stories. As she took notes, she formed an idea for a book.

 

Sanora drafted her novel, Whose Names Are Unknown during her work with Tom Collins. The book told the story of the dust bowl hardships and the migrant workers plight. She completed the book and an editor at Random House, Bennett Cerf, called her work “exceptionally fine” and intended to publish the book. Then John Steinbeck’s novel, Grapes of Wrath, was released to instant acclaim and Random House refused to publish Sanora’s book, citing the depressed times wouldn’t support two such similar works. 

 

The interesting note and a point of contention with some people is that Sanora had been taking notes about the migrant workers, their conditions, etc. and submitting reports to Tom Collins. Collins, in turn, had met John Steinbeck and knew of his work on a book about the migrants. He sent the reports on to Steinbeck to help with his book with the expectation that Steinbeck would help Collins with editing a nonfiction book he was writing.

 

It is known that Steinbeck spent time in California among the migrant people studying their plight and researching his book. However, some people note the similarities between Steinbeck’s and Sanora’s book and wonder if he did use her notes. There are several interesting comparisons: they both have a character based on Tom Collins, their descriptions of a stillborn baby are similar, and they both describe women birthing in tents. There are several other similarities.

 

Sanora with husband, James Wong Howe
Wikimedia Commons

People who know Steinbeck stand firm that he would never have used her notes in an underhanded way. He did a lot of research for his book and for articles he wrote during the 1930’s. Most likely Collins didn’t tell either Steinbeck or Sanora that he was sharing her notes she was gathering for a novel.

 

Sanora continued to try other publishers after the Random House rejection but no one would take her book after Steinbeck’s success. She stopped writing for several years until she met other writers and also met cinematographer, James Wong Howe, who became her husband. 

 

In 1958, Sanora published a book, The Lost Traveler, and went on to publish other books. She wrote, An Owl on Every Post, a memoir about her time in Eastern Colorado. In 2004, her book, Whose Names Are Unknown, was finally published. She died in 2005 at the age of ninety-eight.

 

Sanora’s book, Whose Names Are Unknown, was featured in the Ken Burns documentary on the dust bowl. She is the author of seven books and numerous short stories, essays, and poems published in literary magazines.

 

Have you ever heard of Sanora Babb or read one of her books? Have you heard of the controversy with Steinbeck’s work. I would love to hear from you. 

Nancy J Farrier is an award-winning, best-selling author who lives in Southern Arizona in the Sonoran Desert. She loves the Southwest with its interesting historical past. When Nancy isn’t writing, she loves to read, do needlecraft, play with her cats and dog, and spend time with her family. You can read more about Nancy and her books on her website: nancyjfarrier.com.

The Pitfalls and Profits of Researching Fiction--and a Giveaway

As an author, some stories are easy to write. They flow from my mind out onto the computer screen like a rushing waterfall. Others…not so much. My newest release, Lady and the Tramps, part of the Courting Calamity novella collection, falls in the second category—and one of the main reasons this one became so difficult is because of a little line on a map.

The novella focuses, in part, on a train robbery. So I needed to set the story close to a railroad track. I scoured California maps from 1874 to find the exact right location to set my story, and I thought I’d found it in San Luis Obispo. There was a line on various maps, clearly marked “Southern Pacific Branch Line,” indicating a train ran close enough to that town to fit my needs. In the northern portions of the map, that line had hash marks across it, but further south, the hash marks stopped, and it was a simple straight line. However, it was clearly marked as a branch line, so I started writing with that in mind.

Weeks later, with three-quarters of the story written and only fourteen days until my deadline, I did a quick Google search for another minor detail. That’s when the bottom dropped out. In researching that other little factoid, I read a single sentence that stated the railroad finally made it to the area I’d set my story in—twelve years after my story took place! The “branch line” on the 1874 map was a proposed location for the railroad—not the actual railroad line. That explained why the hash marks stopped further north. They’d only built the line to the point where the hash marks ran out--Soledad, California. MAJOR PITFALL!

So…did I simply move the story timeline forward by twelve years? Not without throwing a wrench in other historical details. Did I address the timeline error with an author’s note stating I knew the train didn’t reach that area until more than a decade later? If it had been a matter of a few months, I would have…but I could not, in good conscience, choose that solution when the time discrepancy was so large! So my only option was to reset the story further to the north—and revamp the plot to fit the new locale. Let me tell you, it took work and a very gracious extension to my deadline from my publisher. 

But here’s where things turn around. In researching new locations for the story, I discovered the very interesting town of Salinas, California. It fit my needs perfectly, and it was a joy to read up on the area in the process. So here’s a bit about this fascinating place.

Just eighteen miles east of Monterey, California, the area was originally settled by Native Americans, then became part of the Mission system under Spanish control. When California shifted into Mexico’s hands, the area was divided into smaller “ranchos.” Then California was ceded to the United States in 1848.  

At this point, Rancho Las Salinas became a crossroads where two prominent stagecoach lines passed. One traveled between Monterey and San Juan Bautista, and the other between San Francisco and Los Angeles. But in 1854, six years after California became part of the United States, some local American settlers decided to put a post office at the crossroads. Two years after that, the Half Way House—an inn for weary travelers—was built. The inn was quickly expanded into a full hotel, and it wasn’t long after that a mercantile, stable, and blacksmith shop were added. Thus, the town of Salinas was born.

During the 1850s and 1860s, the greater area around Salinas was used for running cattle, but by the late l860s, the focus shifted to planting. Everything from mustard and potatoes to grain crops like wheat and barley grew well in the area. When the county courthouse was moved from Monterey to Salinas, and the Southern Pacific Railroad agreed to route their upcoming branch line through the growing city, they put themselves on the map—literally and figuratively. 

Salinas grew from there, becoming one of the most modern cities of its size in California by the mid-1880s. It boasted a water company, a gas company, three newspapers, and electric lighting—all in addition to the multiple churches, shops, schools, hotels, and residences.

Here are a few interesting facts about Salinas, California, that I learned in my research:

·      In those early days, Salinas had the second largest “Chinatown” in California, only eclipsed by San Francisco.

·      Chinese Immigrants were largely responsible for the success of the crops in Salinas in the early days since they drained the marshes in the area and built the irrigation systems that allowed the crops to thrive.

·      Because of the great growing conditions—and the entrepreneurial mindset of Claus Spreckles—a sugar beet processing factory was built near Salinas and helped to form the industry for that crop nationwide.

·       By 1898, Spreckles brought two hundred Japanese men to the area to work in his sugar beet processing plant, developing quite a large and prosperous immigrant community in the thriving town.

·      The Japanese workers introduced celery, broccoli, and other crops into the repertoire of the area farmers, adding to the grains, root vegetables, grapes, and beet crops already grown there.

·      On February 27, 1902, author John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California. Steinbeck went on to write many American classics such a The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. Salinas is the setting for his novel, East of Eden. 

·      The California Rodeo began in 1911 in Salinas—and still continues today as one of the premier rodeo events in the nation.

·      During World War I, the Salinas Valley produced many crops to feed the Allied Armies in Europe.

·      During the 1920s, Salinas moved away from sugar beet crops to lettuce and artichokes, which are the mainstays of the farming industry of the area today. Salinas is now affectionately known as the "Salad Bowl of the World." 

·      In 1924, Salinas, California was one of the wealthiest cities in America, per capita.

·      During World War II, the California Rodeo grounds in Salinas became one of the temporary intake areas for the Japanese-Americans who were sent to internment camps due to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066. (If you’re unfamiliar with this piece of American history, I invite you to read some excellent HHH posts by Kiersti Giron here and Nancy J. Farrier here and here).

An example of the posters hung in western communities explaining FDR's Executive Order 9066.

That line on the map caused me quite a headache for a while…but in the long run, I’m glad it did. The history geek in me is glad to have been forced to research Salinas and learn just what an impact this town had on so many things.

It’s Your Turn: What pitfall have you experienced in your life or job that ended up being a profit to you in the end? And/or…what part of the history of Salinas that I presented here did you find most interesting? Leave your answer with your email address, and you’ll be entered in the drawing for a signed paperback copy of Courting Calamity, which includes my story, Lady and the Tramps. (US residents only).

COURTING CALAMITY—Available Now 

Heroes Needed for Four Damsels in Distress
Despite the determination to be strong and independent, four women of bygone days are in need of a hero.

Lady and the Tramps by Jennifer Uhlarik
California, 1874
When outlaws steal a deed from Mattie Welling, her dreams for her eight orphan charges from New York City are dashed. Can Wells Fargo detective Jake Hicken be trusted to pick up the pieces?

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has finaled and won in numerous writing competitions, and been on the ECPA best-seller list several times. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers, Women Writing the West, and is a lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.

The Mother Road and Weedpatch Camp

Carla Stewart here. My series on Route 66 wouldn't be complete without exploring its importance during the Great Depression. It was, after all, John Steinbeck who traveled this historic ribbon of highway and dubbed it The Mother Road. If you're just now joining us and want to read more of the series, here are the previous posts: Santa Monica Pier, America's Main Street, and Route 66: More Tales from the Trail. 

One thing I've learned as a writer is that the more I learn about a subject, the more there is to know. Although I've seen the movie The Grapes of Wrath and was, and still am, struck with the rawness of what it must have been like during the Depression of the 1930s, I didn't fully grasp Steinbeck's passion about telling the story of the Joad's until I read Children of the Dust Bowl by Jerry Stanley (I highly recommend it!). It's a thin book loaded with pictures and tells a powerful story. 

The economic crash of 1929 thrust our nation into the throes of the Great Depression, but it was a drought combined with poor farming practices, failing crops, and low prices that burdened the "heartland" of America even more. Years of boiling dust storms compounded the problems, especially for people in the "Dust Bowl" - an area covering parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico. 

Erosion of farm land during the Dust Bowl. Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

A Child of the Dust Bowl. Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

Printed flyers from California began to arrive in drought-ridden areas with promises of food, work, and continuous sunshine. For those who had reached the limit of their resources and saw nothing but more dark days ahead, it was viewed as a ray of hope. The Mother Road became the exodus to a better life. 

Only it wasn't better. 

More than one million people loaded all their belongings in jalopies and flatbed trucks and set out for the Promised Land along, you guessed it - Route 66. Getting there, for some, took months as they traveled through blast-furnace heat, winding mountain roads, bridgeless rocky paths, and washed-out mud banks. Hunger and uncertainty were constant companions. They cooked outside, slept outside, went to the bathroom in the woods, and did it all again the next day. Many didn't make it over the Black Mountains of Arizona or the 143-miles of desert that greeted them when they did reach California. 

Rear view of an "Okie's" car as it headed west. Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

Those that did make it were greeted with signs like these:

NO JOBS HERE! 
IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR WORK - KEEP OUT! 
10 MEN FOR EVERY JOB! 

The migrants were relegated to camping out in tents or shacks made from cardboard or tin, gathering together in shared agony at the bottoms of dry lake beds. These squatter camps became known as Okievilles - places that John Steinbeck visited and which became the inspiration for The Grapes of Wrath. 

Henry Fonda in the movie, The Grapes of Wrath. Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

 
In 1936, the federal government, via the Farm Security Administration, began building camps for the displaced Okies to provide emergency shelter and improved living conditions. People flocked to them, grateful for the one room cabins or tents on wooden platforms. The cost: $1.00 per week. Many couldn't afford this, but were allowed to work off their rent doing maintenance and other jobs. One of the camps was situated on Weedpatch Highway, and Okies called it Weedpatch Camp (the name Steinbeck used in his novel). As they tried to enter into community life, they were shunned and ridiculed. Okies were thought to be ignorant and filthy and were banned from shopping in many towns. California parents didn't want "Okies" going to school with their children. "Okies, go home!" was the battle cry of citizens across the state. In school, little girls were called "maggie" and "maggot," a play on the word "migrant."  

Between Weedpatch and Lamont, Kern County, California. Children living in camp. Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath from compassion mixed with revulsion that people would be subjected to such treatment in America. The novel was published in 1939, sold 500,000 copies before the end of the year, and won the Pulitzer prize. It also created great controversy followed by a movement to ban the book from schools and libraries. Californians said it was one-sided in favor of the Okies. Others said it was obscene. An Oklahoma Congressman called if "the black, infernal creation of a twisted, distorted mind." Although it was banned in its day, it is still considered by many to be the greatest novel ever written. More than 14 million copies have been sold. 

Florence Thompson, an "Okie" of Cherokee heritage, known as the Migrant Mother. Photographed by Dorothea Lange in California. Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

The story doesn't end there. The Okies of Weedpatch Camp and the ten or so other camps built in California were a resilient people. They never lost hope and always believed that tomorrow would bring better fortune. When a unique school was constructed at Weedpatch Camp that employed a host of excellent teachers and taught both traditional and vocational courses, it became the envy of other citizens in the county. Soon people were petitioning to let their children attend Weedpatch School. Many of the "Okies" who attended went on to become businessmen, educators, and successful entrepreneurs. 

Part of my interest and passion for including this in my Route 66 series is personal. My parents both grew up in the middle of the Dust Bowl. My mother's family (her parents and four little girls) were among the Okies who migrated to California in hopes of a better life. I don't know if Weedpatch was the camp they lived in or where my mother attended first grade. I don't know whether she was treated shabbily or called ugly names. I don't know whether Grandpa found work or not, only that Mother said they nearly starved. As for school, she said she learned nothing the year they spent in California. Disappointed and discouraged, they returned to Oklahoma. So while Route 66 is, and always will be, about the people who traveled it, I like to think that the Mother Road is also the road home.  

Carla Stewart is the award-winning author of six novels. With a passion for times gone by, it is her desire to take readers back to that warm, familiar place in their hearts called “home.” Her 2014 release, The Hatmaker's Heart, was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award and the Selah Award. Her newest release is A Flying Affair. Daredevil Mittie Humphreys navigates her heart as well as the skies in this beguiling adventure of grit and determination during the rollicking Roaring Twenties. Learn more about Carla at www.carlastewart.com

"A well-written romance with characters willing to do what they need to achieve their dreams. The storyline is believable, and some of it is based on true events. Stewart did her research and brings to attention a forgotten piece of history, the Women's National Air Derby."―RT Book Reviews, 4 Stars

"Compelling action scenes, clever dialogue, and believable characters add spice and depth to a multidimensional tale....The historical detail and vivid action scenes anchor an enjoyable story."―Publishers Weekly