CSET Practice Test History Subtest I

Early Christianity in Europe

Beginning with the end of the persecutions of Roman
Christians in the third and fourth centuries, Christianity
took on new forms as it began to spread rapidly westward
from its origins in the Mediterranean. As it moved
throughout western Europe, changes were made to the basic
structure of the practice of the religion; the most
important elements were the Monastic movements, the Church
hierarchy, pilgrimage and the role of relics in the early
Church. These last two were the basic elements of the cult
of the saints, which was a defining aspect of the Medieval
Church. In order to compare and contrast with the Celtic
church, I will give an overview of these developments in
the Catholic Church in Europe in the late antique and
early medieval period.

Monastic and Church Environment

The fourth century AD saw the beginning of the real
acceptance of Christianity as a major world religion. This
is generally accepted as being the result of the
conversion of Constantine, the Emporer of Rome in 312.
Under Constantine, and the subsequent support of
Christianity by his successors, the church was able to
stablize financially and structurally, though some
structure had been recognized at local levels since the
mid-third century. The Council of Nicea in 325 gathered
all the Bishops of the Roman Empire and allowed them for
the first time to organize as a solid hierarchical unit.
The destruction of the pagan temple of Alexandria in 391,
during the reign of Theodosius I, marked the begining of
Christianity as the official state religion.

This legalization and imperialization of the Christian
faith by Constantine forever changed the form and function
of Christianity. First and foremost it brought the
religion into the political realm, and the potential for a
career in the church suddenly became possible. This
politicization also immediately tied Christianity to the
urban centers of the Roman Empire in a way that it had not
been before. Previously Christians had often had to flee
to the wastelands outside the cities to avoid persecution,
but gradually an urban, political Roman Christianity
developped which contrasted with rural ascetic
Christianity in many ways. The goals of early ascetic
monasticism were self-conquest, purity of mind and body,
and the union with Christ; they wanted to achieve the
perfect lifestyle that would allow themselves to be as
close to Christ as possible.

Christian Monasticism began in the deserts of Egypt and
Palestine in its earliest forms at the end of the third
century by men who sought the solitude of the wilderness
either seeking refuge from persecution or to strengthen
their faith. The structure of monastic life at this time
had certain characteristics in common with both Judaic and
Greco-Roman monastic traditions, however, the earliest
Christian ascetics & anchorites were not necessarily well
educated, nor were they always all men. The ascetic ideal
was partly inspired by the words and actions of Jesus, who
several times went into the desert for meditation and
spiritual cleansing, and advised a rich man to give all
his possessions to the poor and to follow him. 

There were two primary forms of monastic establishments,
the earliest of which was that of the eremitic solitary
desert dweller, foremost among whom was St. Antony (c.
251-355 in the late 3rd & 4th centuries. This lifestyle
involved withdrawal from all of human society, living
alone in the wilderness, or often in small groups that met
only on Saturday and Sunday for mass. In order to survive,
they often made baskets, ropes, mats or whatever else
could be made from the raw materials at hand, which, in
the Nile region, was mostly reeds & grasses. There was no
structure to the daily life; it generally consisted of
prayer, fasting, mortification of the flesh, and the
manual labor of making things to be traded or sold for the
basic necessities of food and clothing. Nor was there a
defined social structure; the only leadership was that of
an abbot, who was well trained in the eremitic lifestyle
and could provide support and counseling. There were of
course, those hermits who did not live in any sort of
community, but lived entirely alone, or traveled in the
wilderness seeking purity and salvation.

The other common tradition was the cenobitic monastic
organization, which was formally founded by St. Pachomius
(c. 292-346) in Egypt in the early 4th century. The former
Roman soldier founded his community of ascetics in
northern Egypt at around the same time as the eremitic
tradition was founded. His monastery was quite large,
consisting of 1300 men according to Palladius. Soon this
expanded to communities of both men and women, with each
house having its own head, who was ultimately responsible
to Pachomius himself. The plan of the community was
similar to most later medieval monasteries. There was a
common church, refectory and infirmary, and the dorms were
much in the same style as the Roman military barracks of
the time. Like later monastic communities throughout
Europe, the defining features of the monastery were group
worship, a common meal, total obedience to the leader, the
importance of manual labor for subsistence as well as
discipline. The men were housed according to their manual
skills and there was very little importance put on the
role of the intellect, as most were peasants and
illiterate,.

These two ascetic ideals became the templates for all
forms of monastic life into the Middle Ages. The majority
of European monastic settlements followed one of these
systems, or a combination of the two. After Pachomius'
death, several other monasteries were started with certain
differences. The Rule of St. Basil was the first of many
individual Rules set out by particular houses, and adopted
by other branch houses that may or may not have been
subordinate to the original house. Until the 12th century,
the rule of St. Benedict was the most popular single rule,
resulting in hundreds of Benedictine monasteries
throughout Europe. The Rule of St. Columba (Collumcile) of
Iona was also adopted by many monasteries in early Gaul as
well as Ireland and Scotland. The common element of all
the various Rules was the structure of daily life which
included proscriptions of food and drink, work and prayer
schedules, and the social hierarchy all laid out in a
format that was not disputable and was uniform throughout
the monasteries that followed each particular rule.

With the earliest reformations in the 12th century church,
new monastic systems and Rules arose to fit the changing
society and religion which included a literate lay culture
and the dramatic increase in cities and universities.
However, this did not diminish the existence of the
Benedictine monastery, in fact there are still Benedictine
monasteries that adhere to the 5th century Rule in the
United States. These new monastic movements and
reformations were to lead to a change in the most basic
forms of Christianity, making way for its urbanization and
the increased involvement of the laity.

The Cult Of The Saints

The original usage of the term "saint" was by St. Peter in
his letters to the Corinthians. By his usage the word is
synonymous with "Christian," or anyone who had been
baptized. However, by the second century the term "saint"
was being used to indicated a martyr, the first record of
which is in the account of the death of St. Polycarp in
A.D.155. 

The cult of the saints became one of the defining features
of Christianity long before the seventh General Council of
Nicea in 787 declared that every church have a relic in
the altar of the church. The focus for both Church
structure and lay worship became centered around the
relics and the saints' feast days when the relics were
believed to be the most potent.

According to religious historian Stephen Wilson, most
religions, even monotheistic ones, distinguish "between a
higher god or gods and lesser divine beings." These lesser
gods, whether termed as saints or spirits or sub-deities,
serve as the links between the human realm of day-to-day
existence and the distant high gods who are "concerned
with origins & things cosmological," but still have
influence over the world of humans. These sub-deities
become the patrons of important elements of human
existance like "the well-being of a village, clan or
family, or the health & fertility of humans, animals and
fields." 

Many have argued that the origins of the cult of the
saints are pagan and polytheistic in nature, but Christian
scholars say that the similarities in worship rites,
locations and dates were based on the attempt to oppose
the pagan cults rather than to absorb them. The
incorporation of pagan folk traditions into the cult of
the saints was explained as a compromise necessary in
order to gain the converts. By making them a part of
Christianity, the people would be more ready to become
Christian, as the difference between the old and the new
diminished. 

Even more credit is given to this theory by the writings
of Pope Gregory of Tours, who in an early 7th century
letter to Missionaries Mellitus and Augustne in England,
says that the temples of the gods should not be torn down,
but that they must be "aspersed with holy water, altars
set upin them and relics deposited there". This is done in
hopes that the people of Britain "may abandon their error
and, flocking more readily to their accustomed resorts,
may come to know and adore the true god." He goes on to
tell the missionaries to substitute the sacrifice of
animals to demons, and instead "let some other solemnity
be substituted in its place, such as a day of Dedication
or the Festivals of the holy martyrs whose relics are
enshrined there." It seems inarguable that at least the
medieval celebrations of the feast days were deliberate
attempts to Christianize the pagan practices of the lay
people. It is easy to understand how many festivals came
to be loosely Christianized venerations of the deities
formerly worshipped in ancient sacred places, and how
saints were invented to justify the festivals, as with
Brigid.

Another possible source of the popularity of saint worship
is also often cited as the early Christian contemporary
Greco-Roman hero cults. According to Peter Brown, to the
people of late antiquity, "to idealize the dead seemed
natural enough" as well as "worship of the deceased, "
especially the "heroes or emperors" of the time. However
Brown also believes that the cults of the heroes were
different from the cult of the saints in that the dead
Christians were now with God, whereas the heroes were
worshipped in their own rights, not because of their
proximity to the gods. He differentiates the fact that the
martyr saint is able to act as an intercessor, which the
hero is not, but often in saint cults, the saint him or
herself is worshipped, in his or her own right, thereby
negating this distinction. 

Originally many of the church authorities did not approve
of the shift from the city centers (which were also the
secular seats of authority) to the cemeteries outside the
cities. However, in the late 4th century, once they
realized the popularity and benefits of this cult of the
saints, bishops of Roman cities began to base their power
in these new cemetery/cities rather than inside the town.
This was distinct from the ascetic movement into the
deserts; rather Brown sees this as the bishops moving
Christianity out of the desert & closer to these cities
built cities in cemeteries. For examble, in the early 5th
century, Paulinus of Nola built a shrine to St. Felix
around his grave that was so large that one "might take it
for another town. 

Despite the poularity of the tomb cults, the main
basilicas remained inside the cities. Still, the shrines
outside the cities were where the bishops gained their
greatest power and influence in the early medieval
European towns. Several fundamental changes came about as
a result of the cult of the saints being focused outside
the cities at the grave-shrines. The tomb became altar and
the masses said in honor of the saints were said on top of
graves. This was the beginning of the tradition of housing
Saints' relics in altars, which gradually became so
popular that by the end of the 8th century it was declared
that every altar must have a relic in order to be a
propper church. In some ways declaration of the tomb of a
saint to be public property eroded the barrier between the
public and private aspects of death. The family of the
dead saint were not the only ones who had access to the
body, which was not true of any other members of the
society, including other Christians. 

In all of these examples and possibilities, it is often
the location of the cult of a saint that is most
important. This is also closely linked to the notions of
sacred versus secular space, and that which makes a space
sacred.

Sacred Spaces

The primary definition of "sacred space" that will be
dealt with here is that of a section of timespace that has
been separated from the rest of timespace by religious
significance. According to Mircea Eliade, these sacred
spaces are more structured and indeed more real than the
rest of the profane world. This is a universal concept,
and sacred space is found wherever there are stories of
the otherworld. "The sanctification of the local landscape
is a fundamental function of mythology," says Joseph
Campbell.

Sacred does not always equal holy in the Christian sense
of the word. Places that were in use by the pre-Christian
Celts and pre-Celtic peoples may not have been places of
worship, but certainly had otherworldly significance. For
example, there are many places that are considered to be
"gentle," meaning inhabited by or protected by the "little
people" of Ireland. These are clearly not "profane" or
everyday places, but places that are, as Eliade says, out
of space and out of time, different and special, with
rules and observances that must be followed lest their
sacrality be defiled.

Why are these spaces sacred? We know they are different
from other places through recorded or orally transmitted
evidence of hierophanies, or revelations of how the
deities, which can vary from place to place. This evidence
of the presence of otherworldly power includes the
appearance of figures and animals, healings, deaths and
visions. Sometimes only stories are left to document the
hierophany, especially in places that are no longer
considered sacred, or the physical evidence has been
removed or lost. Many of these stories explain the
geographical details of the location on the land
revealing, for example, who caused the mountain to be
there, why the spring moved, or whose head caused the dent
in the rock. According to Eliade, the presence of at least
one hierophany is what defines a place as being sacred,
which is when the sacred reveals itself to the human
observer.

What made a place especially holy, or proved the sacrality
of a location in Early Christian Europe was the
performance of healing miracles. Usually there was a relic
that performed or was somehow involved in the miracle, as
it was used to transfer the power of the saint to the
afflicted person. Often sites, like holy wells, do not
have any specific object that is the focus of the cult,
only the stories of the inception of the holy site, or the
hearsay of other worshippers. In these cases, the site
itself, the water and the pattern ritual performed are
based on the events that caused the place to become
associated with the saint; recreating a previous miracle
is considered sufficient to heal the faithful.

There are certain types of places that were more likely to
be sacred than others. Not surprisingly, many of them have
pre-Christian origins and evidence of continued sacrality
and worship from one religion to the next. A very common
location of sacred sites of all varieties is on a high
place. This can include small hills as well as
mountaintops and rocky pinnacles such as Skellig Michael,
Mont St. Michel and St Michaels's Mount, all of which have
a continuous tradition of sacrality from pre-Christian
times. Many sacred sites are located on the boundaries
between one realm and the next. According to Eliade,
sacred trees often serve the same religiousfunction of the
sacred stone or pole–to connect the realm of the gods
(sky) to the realm of man (earth). Sacred trees and sacred
groves are found all over the world, not just in Celtic
mythology. There are several examples of caves as holy
sites. There are often wells in caves, and one story
describes St. Patrick's Purgatory at Loch Derg, where he
spent time in a cave, and this is now the most popular
pilgrimage site in Ireland. Caves are traditional
otherworld entrances, especially to the otherworld of the
ancestors. Various sources of water and holy wells are
known to be sacred throughout the world.

All of these sacred spaces were created as such by human
mythology, and the latest version of that is the Christian
creation of sacred spaces both in these older places in
the natural environment, and in their man-made churches.

Relics And Pilgrimage 

Relics created sacred space in Early and Medieval
Christianity. Soon after the advent of Christianity, it
became popular practice to create a center of worship
around the tomb, or the relic if it had been translated
from its original location. This resulted in the human
creation of sacred spaces, which was a common element in
the Greco-Roman and Judaic religions of the time, but not
the Celtic religions Christianity later encountered, as
the Celtic sites of worship, pagan and Christian, tended
to be in or at least founded near natural formations or
symbols such as rivers, trees, natural springs and rock
formations. However, the churches were often built near or
on top of natural formations and other ancient sacred
spaces, as we see described by Gregory of Tours.

The cult of the saints was one of the most important
aspects of medieval Christianity, which took the form of
the veneration of the relics of the saints, celebrations
of their feast days and pilgrimages to their shrines. It
has even been said that "late-antique Christianity...was
shrines and relics." In the Middle Ages, the translation
of and pilgrimage to relics of saints were the primary
cause and opportunity for miracles to occur, though they
did happen at other times, for example, during dreams and
visions, or while praying to the saints. Often the
translations of relics and miracles were used as symbols
of "the intricate systems of patronage, alliance and gift-
giving that linked the lay and the clerical elites." The
most popular and important way a saint performed a
miracle, however, was through physical contact with, or
being in the direct presence of the relic. 

The first saint cults were based around the early martyrs
and were centered on the tombs of the saints that
contained the saints' remains, which meant that these
cults were primarily located in cemeteries. Later the
location itself became less relevant, since the relics
were portable, and the actual bones and clothing of the
saints came to be the focus of the cults. Relics included
objects that had been set on the tomb, the tomb itself,
cloth that had been dipped in their blood, or any other
items "closely connected with the dead bodies of holy men
and women, confessors and martyrs." The reliquary, whether
at the tomb or fragment in a gilded box far from the
saint's place of death, was believed to be "where the
contrasted poles of heaven and earth met" primarily
because it was also believed that "the saint in Heaven was
believed to be 'present' at his tomb on earth." 

The most important aspect of a relic was its ability to
perform miracles, indeed wherever there were relics and
processions there were miracles. This seems to be a
strictly Christian phenomenon, perhaps related to the fact
that so many of the New Testament stories describe how
Jesus went from town to town, healing the sick. If there
was belief, he could heal people with a mere touch, and
even just touching his clothes healed blind men and
cripples. Either way it involved physical contact with
Jesus, or an item associated with him. 

The importance of physical contact with the relics, or at
least proximity to their relics, or the exterior of the
tomb, is illustrated by a chapter in Bede, in which he
describes how the clothing and hair of St. Cuthbert cured
two monks' illnesses, one by touching hairs to his
afflicted eye, the other by merely lying before the tomb.

The relics were important because they were not just the
physical remains of the saint, they were the saint, and
had the same attributes that the saints had acted in life.
"The fullness of the invisible person could be present at
a mere fragment of his physical remains, and even at
objects...that had made contact with these remains." This
is why they relics had such power to cure, because they
had the same powers as the saints themselves, able to
perform miracles and healings, which is why they were
given such respect in beautiful reliquaries. 

Although not all miracles were performed as a direct
result of the relics of a particular saint, many were, and
these were often considered the most important, and were
questioned the least about their validity and actuality.
This is because the physical remains of the saints were
believed to retain all the power and presence of the
actual saint, and were to be treated accordingly. The
primary focus of Christianity, the pilgrimage, was a
direct result of the cult of the saint and the role of the
relic, all in hopes of a miracle.

The pilgrimage served many purposes in medieval
Christianity, as it does in the various other religions in
which pilgrimage plays a prominent role, including
Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam. According to
Turner and Turner, the one thing all pilgrimage sites have
in common is that "they are believed to be places where
miracles once happened, still happen and may happen
again." The purpose of the pilgrimage is to seek miracles
(ususally of healing) and also as a form of pennance
beyond that which is done at the shrine or sacred location
itself. Another, perhaps more subconscious role of the
pilgrimage is that of the initiatory rite, which thereby
"offeres liberation from profane social structures...in
order to intensify the pilgrim's attachment to his own
religion."

Regardless of the purposes medieval Christians had for
undertaking pilgrimages to the many holy sites,
intentional or unconscious, it was the major method of
demonstrating piety among clergy as well the lay people of
medieval Europe.

Migration to California in the 1930s

Californians who lived through the 1920s and 1930s must
have felt as though they were on a roller coaster. In a
dizzying cycle of boom and bust, a decade of spectacular
prosperity was followed by the worst economic collapse in
the state's history. Ramshackle encampments, such as Pipe
City in Oakland, filled with forlorn unemployed workers
and their families. The crash of the Macon, a helium-
filled dirigible, mirrored the collapsing fortunes of
Californians everywhere. The hard times of the thirties
contributed to a disturbing resurgence of nativism;
authorities shipped thousands of Mexican deportees across
the border.

Meanwhile, thousands of new Dust Bowl refugees from the
heartland of America streamed into California seeking a
better life. Their coming inspired John Steinbeck to write
The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and Dorothea Lange to compile
an epic photographic record. The newcomers created in
California an "Okie subculture," a way of life still
flourishing today.

During the Great Depression of the 1930's California was
subjected to a mass immigration of poor farmers from the
Southern Plains states. Although poor, these were proud
people who valued their families, had a strong work ethic,
and found solace in a strong evangelistic Protestant
faith.

The initial reception for these people was quite negative,
and in some cases California police turned people back at
the borders. Those who persevered and did take up
residence within California made up two important groups.
One group continued their work in agriculture but found
themselves competing with other immigrants for poor-paying
migrant jobs. The second group added to the state's
growing urban population, especially in Los Angeles, where
they competed for entry-level jobs.

Eventually, as the economy strengthened during World War
II and more jobs became available, the members of the
"Okie subculture" found themselves helping to form a solid
middle class.

Of all the stories of western Americans, none is quite so
poignant as that of the Dust Bowl refugees of the 1930s. A
devastating drought ravaged the farmlands of Oklahoma,
Texas, and Arkansas; monstrous dust storms blackened the
sky. George Turner, a resident of Oklahoma, later
described what it was like when he and his family were hit
by a blizzard of dust: "It was an unbelievable darkness...
We seemed to be smothering in dust."

Hundreds of thousands of residents of the Dust Bowl
salvaged what they could, piled their belongings into
rattling jalopies, and headed for the promised land of
California. They hoped to find good jobs and a better
life. They soon found, however, that conditions in
California were not quite what they imagined. Jobs were
scarce. And many Californians greeted the newcomers with
hostility. 

Oklahoma-born song writer Woody Guthrie wrote several
ballads about the plight of the Dust Bowl refugees. In "Do
Re Mi" he offered an unheeded warning about the
unfulfilled promises of the Golden State: "California is a
garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see But believe
it or not, you won't find it so hot If you ain't got the
do re mi."

The most enduring account of the Dust Bowl refugees' trek
to California is John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath
(1939).

Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902, in the farming
town of Salinas. After attending Stanford University for
six years (and failing to complete the requirements for a
degree), he went to New York City where he worked as a
construction laborer and reporter. In the 1930s he
published a series of critically acclaimed novels, each
set in California's central coast and valleys. 

Steinbeck began gathering material for The Grapes of Wrath
by traveling among the Dust Bowl refugees, viewing first
hand the deplorable conditions of their lives and labor.
When the novel was published in April 1939, it became a
runaway best seller. Darryl Zanuck of Twentieth-Century
Fox released his film version of the book while it was
still at the top of the best seller lists. Not everyone
was pleased with the book. The Kern County Board of
Supervisors banned The Grapes of Wrath from public schools
and libraries, and corporate landowners launched a
campaign to extend the ban to other counties. The
credibility of the opposition diminished following
Steinbeck's receipt of the Pulitzer Prize in 1940.

There was indeed a Dust Bowl, but almost all of these
migrants came from areas well to the east of it, mainly
from parts of Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri and Arkansas. And
most did not match the demographics of the Joad family of
Steinbeck's novel. Less than half the migrants, just 43
percent, were farmers or farm laborers. Almost one in six
was a professional, a proprietor or a white-collar
employee. About two in five were blue-collar workers.
Accordingly, their prospects differed from those of the
Joads.  

About a third went into the valleys of California that are
associated with "The Grapes of Wrath," two-thirds into the
cities, especially Los Angeles, where they found
industrial jobs. And some of them were white-collar
workers. So the imagery is misleading. It's much too
negative. It creates an impression of great misery, when
there was certainly difficulties and there were people who
suffered tremendously, but the majority's story is much
more positive.  

Iowans in Southern California It has been estimated, for
example, that several hundred thousand immigrants have
moved from Iowa to Southern California. But a majority of
these people, perhaps, were born in such states as
Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri. The Iowa migration,
therefore, is of much greater significance than the census
figures would indicate. 

To understand the origin of the Iowa-to-Southern-
California movement, it is necessary to look at the
settlement of Iowa. In 1860 only one-third of Iowa had
been settled, but after the Civil War, the population of
the state increased phenomenally. By 1890 the free lands
were gone. In the next decade, the rate of rural
population began to decline and, by the turn of the
century, Iowa had begun to export population. Although a
comparatively new state, the population of Iowa showed an
actual decrease between 1900 and 1905. As much as anything
else, farm prosperity had been responsible for the exodus
from Iowa. Farm lands purchased for $5 an acre were
selling for $75 an acre in 1905. With the free lands gone,
Iowa farmers began to worry about "the younger son." Had
rail transportation not developed as rapidly as it did
after 1880, it is quite possible that these "surplus
families" would have moved merely a short distance. But
Southern California began to attract national attention at
precisely the time when Iowa needed to export population. 

If you look west from Iowa, what do you see? Arid plains,
mountains, intermountain deserts, and still more
mountains. But over that final range is paradise. The Iowa
migration to Southern California started about 1900,
momentarily abated during the first World War and then
sharply increased from 1920 to 1930 when it has been
estimated that at least 160,000 Iowans came to the coast.
By 1930 one-third of the persons born in Iowa were living
in some other state. 

While the Iowa influx to Los Angeles is primarily to be
explained by economic and social changes in Iowa that
happened to coincide with opening of Southern California,
still some artificial stimulation has long been a factor
in the migration. One of the earliest excursion parties
was made up of Iowans recruited for settlement in the
American Colony (which later became Long Beach).
Throughout the 'eighties, one read of excursion-party
leaders and itinerant lecturers who toured Iowa extolling
the advantages of Southern California. In 1881 an exhibit
of Southern California fruits and vegetables was shown at
the state capital of Iowa and the lecturer who accompanied
the exhibit was invited to address a joint session of the
Iowa legislature. When the California Fruit Growers
Exchange decided in 1907 to experiment with national
advertising, Iowa was selected as the ideal state in which
to conduct the experiment. Under the slogan, "Oranges for
Health - California for Wealth," a large amount of
newspaper and billboard advertising was placed throughout
the state. Iowa newspapers were given cartoons of a very
pretty Miss Southern California giving a magnificent
orange to the Iowa framer. During the first year of this
experiment, out-of-state citrus sales increased 17%, but
sales in Iowa showed a 50% increase. From then on, the
amount which Sunkist spent on national advertising
steadily increased with most of the money being spent in
Iowa and the adjoining states. After 1911 the advertising
campaign was spread throughout the vast Middle Western
domain that lies north of Oklahoma, and the north of the
Arkansas and Ohio Rivers. Artificial stimulation has
certainly played a part in encouraging Iowans to settle in
Southern California, a region which the Iowa newspapers
frequently refer to as New Iowa. While Iowa and Southern
California are, of course, not contiguous, they are
nevertheless joined together by an interconnecting system
of waterways. In the early 'thirties, an ambitious Iowan
actually traveled by boat from Iowa to Southern
California, which is probably the origin of the saying
that Southern California is the sea coast of Iowa. 

Historians recently have begun to analyze the inner
dynamics and institutions of the "Okie subculture" in
California. The term "Okie" encompassed not just displaced
Oklahomans, but all those Dust Bowl refugees who fled the
southwestern states hit by drought and depression.

The Okies who settled in California's Central Valley
preserved their rural values and folkways, including their
distinctive southwestern accents, food preferences, and
country music. Thus, to a remarkable degree, the newcomers
retained their separate identities and passed them on to
succeeding generations.

The dance halls and honky-tonks of the Okies fostered
positive social interaction and reinforced group identity.
Country music stars, such as Gene Autry and Bob Wills,
became important success symbols and sources of group
pride. Known as "Nashville West," Bakersfield launched the
careers of such notables as Merle Haggard, Buck Owens,
Glen Campbell, and Ferlin Husky.