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The Great Depression: Homelessness and Refuge

In 1929 the United States Stock Market crashed which resulted in what we know today as The Great Depression. The Great Depression effected each American and their family very differently, but across the United States there was a common theme of homelessness and job scarcity .

In this audio file from NPR you can listen to three different peoples accounts on how the Great Depression Impacted their lives.

“Lives Of the Great Depression” 47 minute listen:

In this podcast you can listen to the three stories of the separate individuals effected by the Great Depression. A young woman entering her first year of college in New York, a man who self describes as a HOBO who travels via train across America, and an Asian American man living in San francisco. This Podcast is able to outline the differences as well as similarities of experiences of the Great Depression.

As a major theme of the Great Depression was Homelessness which swept across the United States. As people lost their homes many seeked out refuge in what are known as “Hoovervilles”. Hoovervilles were shanty towns that popped up all over the United States, most of the time located near large cities such as New York and Seattle.

The Name, Hooverville, came from the idea that President Hoover, a republican, was responsible for the housing and stock market crisis. The term was created by the Democratic National Committee.

Hoovervilles covered acres of public land with homes made from cheap metal, scraps of tin, and wood. These towns turned into communities sometimes claiming a mayor or leader.

Contrary to popular belief, these towns were not simply occupied by single homeless men. These small cities were home to women and young families with small children.

A “Hooverville” located outside of Seattle

People living in these shanty towns were able to find a sense of community and a place for their children to grow up in somewhat of a normal setting.

In New York City the central park reservoir was drained and made room for thousands of people to set up their makeshift homes.

Three photos of a “Squatters Colony” in Brooklyn in 1934

After the worst of the Great Depression was over, Hoovervilles remained active for years later. They remained surrounding major cities for years as a reminder of the everlasting effects the Great Depression had on the lives of those who lived there.

A Dense Hooverville Community in Downtown Seattle

A short Clip on the Impact of Hoovervilles

Bibliography:

Lives of the great depression. (2020, July 23). from https://www.npr.org/transcripts/893672249

Homeless shantytown known as HOOVERVILLE, foot of S. ATLANTIC ST. near the Skinner and Eddy SHIPYARDS, Seattle, WASHINGTON, June 10, 1937. (n.d.). from https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/lee/id/83/rec/13

https://historydaily.org/hoovervilles-during-the-great-depression

Hoovervilles of the Great Depression. (2020, June 24). fromhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXgrmXeKjOU

Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library. “Squatters Colony – Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn – [View of Gowanus Squatters Colony from Clinton Street.]” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1934. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47dd-a386-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

“Lives of the Great Depression”

Date: July 23rd, 2020 URL: https://www.npr.org/2020/07/21/893672249/lives-of-the-great-depression

This was a podcast about the Great Depression which included real accounts from three different people.

This podcast used oral histories from three different accounts of the Great Depression, an Asian American living in San Francisco’s China town, a college aged women who escaped her small town to go to New York City for college, and a traveling man who describes himself as a “hobo”.

The podcast uses bleak piano music as a backdrop which was a perfect addition to set the scene of the oral histories being used.

In addition to using the oral histories of the three individuals the podcast uses other real audio clips from the time as well as a narrator to describe what this time period was like for men and women.

This podcast did an incredible job of painting a picture of not only the Great Depression but also the real accounts of the three very different individuals and their experiences with the Great Depression.

I felt the podcast could of also included the life of a family, a child, a mother.. these experiences were missing and I felt it could of made the podcast even more elaborate.

Overall, I enjoyed listening to the real life accounts of the three individuals and learning a little more about the history and the government’s involvement with the Great Depression.

Oral History Interview

I listened to the Interview with Fountain Hughes, in Baltimore, Md which took place on June 11th 1949.

Hughes is over one hundred years old, and states he was born in Charlottesville, Va. The first thing Hughes discusses is staying out of debt. He talks about not spending money until he has money.

It’s obvious Hughes was greatly effected by the Great Depression by how important saving money and paying in cash for everything.

After discussing money, the interviewer than asks Hughes how far back he remembers..

He discusses having nothing after he was freed from slavery. Not having any education or home. He compares being freed to freeing cattle.

He remembers very little about the civil war, except the soldiers passing by and stealing everything they had.

He compares being a slave to being nothing but a dog. He said he would end his life if he had to go back to slavery.

This interview is about 30 minutes long and is available in audio only. An audiotape reel was used to record this “field interview”

One direct quote that stuck out to me:

“If I thought.. that’d I’d ever be a slave again I’d take a gun and end it all right away”

This quote was profound because he discusses beforehand that some freed slaves would rather go back to slavery as they had nothing and nowhere to go when freed.

URL: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/afc1950037_afs09990a

Interviewer: Norwood, Hermond