In 1929, America's once-booming stock market completely crashed, thus triggering the largest economic crash of US history: The Great Depression. By 1933 it put more than 1/4 of American workers out of their jobs.
Desperate for shelter, people who had recently lost their jobs, money, and homes began to build communities on the streets called "shanty towns", or better known as "Hoovervilles". This name was inspired by the current president Herbert Hoover, who had passed several acts that had greatly contributed to the rise of Great Depression.
What was life like in these Hoovervilles? People generally constructed their "homes" from cardboard, tar paper, glass, composition roofing, canvas, and other materials that they could get their hands on. Some were not even structures- people who could not get their hands on materials would dig holes into the ground and cover it with makeshift roofs. Dinner would come from scraps of food people would find throughout the day, often thrown into a cooking pot to create a community-wide "Mulligan Stew".
Hooverville civilians generally camped out near rivers for a water source. Unfortunately, due to their unsanitary habits, this raised some major health concerns. Without any government help or health agencies nearby, sanitation facilities were a complete mess (for example, latrines were dug in ditches, "fresh" water came from the rivers, which were often polluted, etc.). Because of this, tuberculosis, diphtheria, diarrhea, rickets, influenza, pneumonia, and skin diseases were common in the shanties. People were constantly starving, their shelters were filthy and unclean, and police often came to burn down these communities.
However, not all shanty town inhabitants were completely barbaric. In fact, as these communities grew, some actually established loose forms of government. For example, according to History.com, the St. Louis Hooverville even had its own mayor, churches, and social institutions. Though its success was partly due to private donations, the organization and hard work put into building the community showed optimistic dedication throughout these economically-dire times.
In the end, most shanty towns were torn down around the early-1940s, after Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "New Deal". However, Hoovervilles made a significant impact on American society. John Steinbeck's famous novel, Grapes of Wrath, was inspired by shanties. The establishment of these communities not only represented the destitution of the country, but also drew social and political attention to the outcomes of the Depression. While the United States has not since experienced an economic crash as devastating as the crash of 1929, the living conditions of Hoovervilles serves as a significant reminder of the country's missteps, and why must not make the same mistakes again.
Sources:
A Hooverville in Seattle, Washington (source: Mashable)
Children in a Hooverville (Source: American Historama)
This was a really good article, I especially like how you kept the flow and the way you described people's houses. Your use of examples helped your article flow and provided good context for the reader!
ReplyDeleteThis article was good at accurately describing how shanty towns were. The addition of pictures adds to the quality of your blog because we can actually see how shanty towns were and not just imagine them. Its interesting how large scale communities sprung up during the great depression as opposed to isolated families spread throughout the city. Also, why didn't the government help the people as opposed to hurting them, like the example you gave above of the police burning down Hoovervilles.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you used detailed evidence to describe their "structures" for houses and the meager food. Not only did you just give us information about these shanty towns, you also provided specific examples of their background and impact.
ReplyDeleteI found the fact about the Louisville Hooverville mayor to be really interesting. I did some extra research and found that other shanty towns also had unofficial mayors. In particular, the mayor of Seattle's shanty town is pretty well known. His memoirs are published in an edition of "Social Trends in Seattle". You should check it out!
ReplyDeleteThis was a really interesting read on the life of people living in Hoovervilles. Adding on to what you mentioned about how some hoovervilles had little versions of a government, I wonder if the governments in Hoovervilles achieved anything or positively contributed to the lives of others who lived in the Hooverville. After reading an article on various Hoovervilles in Washington, I learned that in a Tacoma hooverville, city "leaders" tried to help improve some of the housing conditions.
ReplyDeletesource: http://depts.washington.edu/depress/hooverville.shtml