Final answer:
The Joads from John Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath' were living in California when they picked cotton, depicting the challenges faced by migrant workers during the Great Depression.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Joads, characters from John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, were living in California when they picked cotton. In Steinbeck's narrative, the Joad family is forced to leave their Oklahoma home due to the Dust Bowl and ends up working in agriculture, including cotton picking, in California. This part of the book reflects the harsh realities of migrant workers during the Great Depression.