Route 66 in Oklahoma - The Past in the Present                                                                  

Replaced by a series of interstates initiated by Eisenhower in the 1950’s, Route 66 was decommissioned in 1985 after 57years of hard use and service to the people of this country. Fortunately, not all of the history of the Mother Road is gone. While the original Route 66 exists only in short patches much of which has not been maintained, there are still original buildings in the small towns and villages in Oklahoma that were the essence of US Route 66. Time has taken its toll on most of the buildings while others have been kept up as usable space often serving the same function as the original intent. It is those buildings and the life and lives they represent that I felt compelled to capture with my photographs; not the faux gas stations and stores generated for tourists.

The Grapes of Wrath has long been an inspiration to me and continues to feed my fascination with that period in this country’s history. It also tapped into my strong belief in social justice and equity. In the story of the Joad family’s migration across Oklahoma to California during the Dust Bowl era in the 1930s, Steinbeck chronicles the suffering of the farmers whose land became infertile and who were exploited by avaricious bankers and greedy agricultural corporations who forced the farmers and workers off the land and onto Route 66 to head west.

The “Okies,” as they were known, migrated west on a road that was only nine feet wide and not yet fully paved. Old trucks and cars piled high with belongings and the family members crept along the road looking for refuge. Roadside campsites were set up where there was enough space for several cars to pull off the road and where there was hopefully a source of scarce water for drinking, cooking, and replenishing vehicle radiators.

Steinbeck portrays the common struggles of these farmers during their migration to what they believed would be a land of plenty in California. It was in the campsites that the workers came together to face their hardships, share with others what little food they had, and help each other bury the many who died of starvation and disease. It was also there that they began to embrace the necessity of political organizing for farm workers. Route 66 a metaphor for the struggle between the laborers and the owners, the government and the people it was supposed to protect, and avarice and greed and human compassion. It was where determination to survive and to make a better life came face to face with uncompromising barriers.

I went to Oklahoma to photograph what remains of the highway and the communities that grew up along it during that era. I went to photograph what life was, and in many ways still is, on the Mother Road. I went to photograph the spirit of the people who struggled to live meaningful lives. I wanted to honor their courage and perseverance in the face of adversity and their will to triumph over it. I went to photograph the Joads.