Tulsa in the 1930’s

    In my upcoming novel, Tulsa Times, Jonny, my central character, spends 1929-1936 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At first Tulsa didn’t seem to be affected much at all by the Depression that was ripping through the rest of the country, but as time went on it was evidenced by the long soup lines in front of the hospital where Jonny worked.

     Jonny was concerned about the young children he saw. They looked “hollow-eyed” and sad to him. Because he had young brothers back home in Kentucky, he couldn’t help wanting to help them in some way. He often bought shoes for them in the winter and bought them ice cream during the summer months. This experience made a great impact on Jonny in future years. 

     In doing research for the novel, I learned a lot about what was called the “Dust Bowl” in the 1930’s. I had, of course, read about the dust storms during this time in books like The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and Four Winds by Kristin Hannah, but I had not read much about how it affected Tulsa. What I’d read seemed to indicate that Oklahoma was mostly affected out in the Panhandle area, so I had not anticipated that it had been a problem in Tulsa. However, in doing my research, I learned that the storms were indeed a problem in Tulsa, especially in 1935. You can learn more about the Dust Bowl here: https://drought.unl.edu/dustbowl/ .