Description
Velma Barkhausen was born in Arkansas, then moved as a child with her family to Oklahoma. She and her family moved to California, spurred by drought and famine during the Great Depression. Employed first in the agricultural industry picking and canning fruits, she and her family later joined wartime industry, taking jobs in the shipyards. In this interview she discusses her family's rural background, migration to California, work in California's agricultural industry, work in the shipyards, and the Port Chicago explosion.