What does it tell you about Hooverville society? They were named after Herbert Hoover, who was President of the United States during the onset of the Depression and was widely blamed for it. He wrote that the racial barriers constructed in normal society did not stand within the Hooverville. These camps came to be called Hoovervilles, after the president. Source for information on Okies: Encyclopedia of the Great Depression dictionary. There was no work, people were starving and the local police repeatedly burned down the camp. We spend less time wondering what we'd do if we lost it all and had to make do with virtually nothing. After hosting several homeless settlements, the reservoir was dubbed the Hoover Valley and Depression Street. Migrant workers and immigrants greatly suffered from the lack of work and made up a large portion of the Hoovervilles across the country.[2]. The Great Depression (1929-1940): Tutoring Solution, Franklin D. 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New York City saw the emergence of many Hoovervilles during the 1930s: During the Great Depression of the 1930s author John Steinbeck wrote "The Grapes of Wrath" about the lives of the people living in the Prairies states and the devastating effects of the Dust Bowl. By the middle of 1941, Roosevelts New Deal programs had increased employment to the point that all but a few Hoovervilles had been abandoned and demolished. Throughout the country, Hoovervilles, or makeshift shanties, would spring up to provide shelter wherever possible, often near water sources or the soup kitchens operated by churches and charities. A Tarpaper Carthage: Interpreting Hooverville. While the goal of the tariffs was to protect U.S.-made products from foreign competition, most countries retaliated by raising their tariffs on U.S. goods. These communities of shacks or shanties were called Hoovervilles, after President Hoover, who refused to help the growing number of homeless. It comes from the New York Public Library. Considered by many to be one of the most successful of Roosevelts New Deal programs, the CCC planted more than three read more, In the early 20th century, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation devised plans for a massive dam on the Arizona-Nevada border to tame the Colorado River and provide water and hydroelectric power for the developing Southwest. For example, in New York City, encampments sprang up along the Hudson and East rivers. Definition, Examples, Pros and Cons. Many people would can their food so that it would last longer. The term Hooverville itself is a partisan political attack on Herbert Hoover, who was the President of the United States at the time. Although people would often use castoff lumber and building materials, more often than not Hooverville structures were built with cardboard, tar paper, and other comparatively flimsy elements. Probably the most famous Hooverville was the one founded on Anacostia Flats, just outside Washington, D.C., in 1932. Why was the Shanty Town called a Hooverville? until the land was needed for shipping facilities on the eve of World War II. St. Louis, Missouri, and Seattle, Washington, were home to two of the countrys largest and longest-standing Hoovervilles. Excerpt from Health Department Annual Report (1935) Mark has a Ph.D in Social Science Education. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. Cardboard covering a worn-out shoe sole was 'Hoover leather,' and cars pulled by horses (since no one could afford gasoline) were 'Hoover wagons.'. Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support. Life in the encampments remained best described as grim. Families who had lost their homes lived in shacks in temporary settlements known as "Hoovervilles," named after the current president, Herbert Hoover. This worksheet can be edited by Premium members using the free Google Slides online software. Many people turned to farming, and grew the food themselves, like fruits, vegetables, cattle, chickens, sheep, and hogs. The Red Scare of the 1920s History & Overview | What was the First Red Scare? When Roosevelt took office in 1933, he acted swiftly to stabilize the economy and provide jobs and relief read more, The Stock Market Crash of 1929 occurred on October 29, 1929, when Wall Street investors traded some 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. This drain reservoir became the site of an informal camp established by a few homeless people, but they were quickly evicted. A request from the city was that women and children would not be allowed to live in the shantytown. It is just west of Qwest Field and the Alaska Viaduct. Courtesy Tacoma Public Library. Politicians continued drinking as everyday people were slapped with charges. Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images. Come learn about Hoovervilles, how they got their name, and. This was at a time when most workers didn't have access to unemployment benefits, health care, or Social Security--in fact, none of the programs that could provide that kind of help even existed. On two occasions, the Seattle Health Department ordered the residents to leave and burned their shanties when they refused. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. which contrasted the prosperity of the previous decade with the current crisis. READ MORE:Life for the Average Family During the Great Depression, In addition to the term Hooverville, President Hoovers name was used derisively in other ways during the Great Depression. ThoughtCo, Dec. 6, 2021, thoughtco.com/hoovervilles-homeless-camps-of-the-great-depression-4845996. After negotiating with the camps mayor, the Health Department agreed to let the residents remain as long they observed minimal safety and sanitary rules. Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you read more, The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a work relief program that gave millions of young men employment on environmental projects during the Great Depression. The easiest way to travel across the country was by train and Shantytowns, nicknamed 'Hobo Jungles' sprang up by most city railroad stations. 1933 is generally regarded as the worst year of the Depression: One-quarter of Americas workersmore than 15 million peoplewere out of work. Dwellings in the Hoovervilles were little more than shacks built of discarded bricks, wood, tin, and cardboard. Petition for community bath houses in Hooverville (May 15, 1935) How many Hoovervilles or Shantytowns were there? A "Hoover flag" was an empty pocket turned inside out and "Hoover leather" was cardboard used to line a shoe when the sole wore through. Included are photographs, city documents, a 1934 sociological survey of residents, a short memoir written by the former "mayor" of Hooverville, and more. The Seattle City Council decided to close Hooverville in May 1941, despite the increased reliance on it for shelter. In "The Grapes of Wrath" the camp is described as filthy, filled with hopeless, despairing residents. When a new mayor took office in 1932, owing his election in part to support of the Unemployed Citizen's League, Seattle's Hooverville gained a measure of official tolerance that allowed it to survive and grow. Tacoma hosted a large encampment near the city garbage dump that residents called "Hollywood-on-the-Tideflats." Click the Edit button above to get started. Thesis, University of Washington, 1935), pp.42-45. As the Depression worsened and millions of families lost their jobs and depleted their savings, they also lost their homes. Shantytowns and Hoovervilles: Herbert Hoover was the 31st American President who served in office from March 4, 1929 to March 4, 1933. Some families were fortunate enough to stay with friends and family members that hadn't been evicted yet, but homeless men, women and children were forced to take up residence in shacks as a result of the Great Depression. The Tacoma Fire Department burned down fifty small houses in May 1942 after Seattle destroyed Hooverville. During the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and lasted about a decade, shantytowns appeared across America as unemployed people were evicted from their homes. Seattle was also the location of seven other shantytowns. By the spring of 1932, when it could have most helped ease the Depression, Americas revenue from world trade was reduced by more than half. The shanty town was so big that people established their own community government and elected a 'mayor' as their leader to settle any disputes. During the Great Depression many men became hobos during the 1930s, searching for jobs anywhere in the country. Two young residents at a Hooverville shantytown in Washington, D.C. Longley, Robert. Even before the Great Depression, there were homeless people, but most large cities were able to build municipal lodging houses for the homeless. Its unofficial mayor was Jesse Jackson, who led the city in tolerating the homeless and imposed lax building and sanitation regulations. The Hooverville in Seattle was one of the few with detailed documentation. The anger directed at Herbert Hoover didn't stop with the label given to the makeshift settlements. Most men with construction skills were able to build their houses out of stone, but those who could not resort to making their residences out of wood from the materials available to them, most of which were recycled. Seattle's Hooverville and its residents were portrayed as violent, exotic, and separate from the rest of Seattle, obscuring the social accomplishments and self-organization of shantytown residents. Farming in 1935 . You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards. The city of Seattle tolerated the unemployed living situation and imposed loose building and sanitation rules. Browse Catalog. Hooverville residents had nowhere else to go, and public sympathy, for the most part, was with them. Police officers doused the little structures with kerosene and lit them as spectators watched. .adslot_1 { width: 300px; height: 250px; } These areas were frequently on private lands, but the trespassing settlements were simply ignored as the crisis demanded. However, some cities banned them if they trespassed on parks or privately owned land. It helped me pass my exam and the test questions are very similar to the practice quizzes on Study.com. Next: Unemployed Citizens League and Poverty Activism. It was headed by the Commissioner of Health, the Superintendent of Buildings, the Chief of Police, and the Chief of the Fire Department, tasked to draft a plan on how to proceed with the elimination of Hooverville. Many felt that the government had to help those who lost work in the 1930s. The inhabitants of the Hoovervilles and shantytowns in the 1930s were deprived of many of these basic needs - for additional facts refer to Poverty in the Great Depression. All rights reserved. Some squatted, either defying eviction and staying where they were, or finding shelter in one of the increasing number of vacant buildings. In the summer of 1931 a group of Seattle residents organized to establish self-help enterprises and demand that government officials create jobs and increase relief assistance to unemployed. These are ready-to-use Hooverville worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Hooverville, which was a small town founded by homeless people in the United States during the Great Depression. This download is exclusively for KidsKonnect Premium members!To download this worksheet, click the button below to signup (it only takes a minute) and you'll be brought right back to this page to start the download! However, Hoovervilles were typically grim and unsanitary. He was proud of the self-built community, saying "Hooverville is the abode of the forgotten man." Unemployed masons used cast-off stone and bricks and in some cases built structures that stood 20 feet high. Roosevelt promised to improve the country with a "new deal for the American people." READ MORE:Did New Deal Programs Help End the Great Depression? "Hoovervilles," shanty towns of unemployed men, sprung up all over the nation, named after President Hoover's insufficient relief during the crisis. In April, residents of the main Hooverville were given notice to leave by May 1. This issue will be discussed more below. A 'Hooverville' on waterfront of Seattle, Washington, March 1933. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. There were dozens in the state of Washington, hundreds throughout the country, each testifying to the housing crisis that accompanied the employment crisis of the early 1930s. In his journal, he states that of the 639 residents of the town, only 7 of them were women. A structured government ran Hooverville in Seattle, Washington, and extensive documentation was collected. lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. As their investments lost value, people soon depleted their savings. Other Hoovervilles also developed: one on the side of Beacon Hill where today I-5 passes; one in the Interbay area next to where the city used to dump its garbage; and two others along 6th Avenue in South Seattle. The Great Depression was the most severe and enduring economic collapse of the 20th century, and included abrupt declines in the supply and demand of goods and services along with a meteoric rise in unemployment. To find out more, see our, Download the Hooverville Facts & Worksheets, Hooverville Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com, Resources created by teaching professionals. Interesting Facts About the Great Depression The stock market lost almost 90% of its value between 1929 and 1933. Inhabitants living in the primitive conditions of the shantytowns were subject to many health problems. Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. A Brief Look at the U.S. Department of Labor. The large camps were set up on the worst type of unused or public land often on the outskirts of towns and cities. Desperate for shelter, homeless citizens. Hoovervilles were racially integrated. Click here to see more photographs of Hoovervilles and homeless encampments in Seattle and Tacoma. Tacoma had a large encampment that spanned six blocks. Hoover Pullmans were rusted railroad boxcars used as dwellings. While private and corporate philanthropy provided some assistance during the early 1930s, poverty continued to increase rapidly. University of Washington: The Great Depression in Washington State.Hoovervilles in Seattle. I highly recommend you use this site! In 1934, Roy recorded a population of non-White people, including Black men, Costa Rican, Chilean, Filipino, Japanese, Mexican, and. Hundreds of Hooverville settlements were built across the United States, but some stood out. However, some countries retaliated by raising their tariffs, and international trade was hampered. And hundreds of thousands--no one knows how many--took to the streets, finding what shelter they could, under bridges, in culverts, or on vacant public land where they built crude shacks. Hoovervilles lacked the services found in typical towns. City of Seattle.Americans React to the Great Depression. "Hoovervilles: Homeless Camps of the Great Depression." Thousands of Hoovervilles began to appear all over the country. During the Great Depression of the 1930s there was Mass Unemployment in America. Encampments and shantytowns often referred to as tent citieswith similarities to Hoovervillesbegan appearing in parts of California, Arizona, Tennessee, Florida, Washington and other states. Eight different Hoovervilles were established in Seattle, Washington, with the largest one lasting from 1932 to 1941 and built on the tidal flats adjacent to the Port of Seattle. Although a common factor among Hooverville residents was unemployment, inhabitants took any work that became available, often laboring at such backbreaking, sporadic jobs as fruit picking or packing. A survey located 1687 shacks in five substantial colonies and many smaller ones. Unsanitary conditions in the camps left both their residents and the nearby communities at risk of disease. here to see more photographs of Hoovervilles and homeless encampments in Seattle and Tacoma. Some Hoovervilles were dotted with vegetable gardens, and some individual shacks contained furniture a family had managed to carry away upon eviction from their former home. Beyond the waters lie two rugged mountain ranges, the Olympics to the west and the Cascades to the east. Commanded by Maj. George S. Patton, the U.S. Army burned the Hooverville and drove the veterans out with tanks, tear gas, and fixed bayonets. These settlements were often trespassing on private lands, but they were frequently tolerated or ignored out of necessity. Hoover also received criticism for signing, in June 1930, the controversial Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, which imposed a high tariff on foreign goods in an effort to prevent them from competing with U.S.-made products on the domestic market. A shantytown, also known as a Hooverville (named for U.S. President Herbert Hoover), was located in Seattle, Washington, during the Great Depression. For one thing, Hoover was a believer in the power of the free market and in the value of perseverance. Many Americans in need believed the resolution to their problems lay in government assistance, but Hoover resisted such a response throughout his presidency. Each Hooverville was unique. Some Hoovervilles even received assistance from churches and private donors. It was a highly diverse population. He described the population as fluid in 1938, owing to men selling their homes to newcomers and moving on. By 1932, between one and two million American people were homeless. The longest lasting Hooverville, located in Seattle, Washington, stood as a semi-autonomous community from 1931 to 1941. This Hooverville thrived because it was funded by private donations. "; No two Seattle lies on a narrow strip of land between the salt waters of Puget Sound and the fresh waters of Lake Washington. Many were established near rivers, as the above picture shows, or ponds - it helped to have access to some water. The state described as 'absolute poverty' has been described as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information". It began with the United States stock market crash of 1929, and didn't completely end until after . The committee included two Whites, two Blacks, and two Filipinos. Thousands of World War I veterans, calling themselves the Bonus Army, had arrived in the nation's capital to demand early payment of a bonus they had been promised at the end of the war. months[5] = "Explore the interesting, and fascinating selection of unique websites created and produced by the Siteseen network. The Depression increased the demand for such assistance exponentially. This began with a heated debate over the status and rights of Hooverville residents, which became more visible in petitions submitted throughout the late 1930s. "; A "Hooverville" is the popular name for slum towns built by people without homes during the Great Depression. The people who lived in a Hooverville or Shanty Town were men, women and children, black and white, from all walks of life, who had been evicted from their homes and made homeless due to unemployment in the Great Depression. Not ready to purchase a subscription? Hoovervilles were hundreds of makeshift homeless encampments built near large cities across the United States during the Great Depression (1929-1933). Trade policies made the Great Depression worse. Hoover later claimed that MacArthur had used excessive force, but his words meant little to most of those affected. "; Signed in June 1930, the decidedly protectionist law placed extremely high tariffs on imported foreign goods. The Great Depression caused social upheaval and political unrest. Hoovervilles varied in size from a few hundred residents to thousands of people in larger cities like New York City, Washington, D.C., and Seattle, Washington. For example, one of the eight Hoovervilles in Seattle, Washington, stood from 1931 to 1941. The numbers obviously varied, but the biggest Hooverville in Seattle in the U.S. state of Washington served as the home to 1200 people. Nonwhites comprised 29% of the colony's population, including 120 Filipinos, 29 African Americas, 25 Mexicans, 4 Native Americans, 4 South Americans, and 2 Japanese. Life for the Average Family During the Great Depression. The smaller camps tended to come and go, while the larger Hoovervilles proved far more permanent. Hoovervilles were large groups of simple, makeshift houses built by people who had nowhere else to live during the Great Depression. It became the most widespread crisis of the twentieth century, affecting several countries worldwide. Multiple factors led to the Great Depression, including the U.S. stock market crash in October 1929 and the widespread failure of the American banking system, both of which helped destroy confidence in the nations economy. During WWI, this area belonged to the Port of Seattle but was occupied by the Skinner and Eddy shipyard. "; Over its eight years of existence, the WPA put roughly 8.5 million Americans to work read more, The 1930s in the United States began with an historic low: more than 15 million Americansfully one-quarter of all wage-earning workerswere unemployed. It was named after Herbert Hoover, an American politician who was the president during the first years of the Great Depression. WW1 veterans formed what was called the Bonus Army and 40,000 people descended on Washington D.C. and set up makeshift camps on areas such as the Anacostia Flats. succeed. Inadequate sanitation, lack of clean drinking water and poor nutrition lead to a variety of diseases and illnesses such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, diarrhea, rickets, influenza, pneumonia and skin diseases. On October 29, 1929, the date known as Black Tuesday, the stock market crashed, signaling the beginning of the Great Depression. When Congress refused payment and the veterans refused to leave, President Hoover sent in the army under the direction of Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur; the riot scene that followed included tear gas, bayonets, and tanks, and resulted in the burning of large parts of the Bonus Army's Hooverville as well as several deaths. Most Hoovervilles operated in an informal, unorganized way, but the bigger ones would sometimes put forward spokespersons to serve as a liaison between the camp and the larger community. Many authorities frequently tolerated the shantytowns out of sheer necessity. Seattle's decision to raze Hooverville in 1941 and expel its residents relied on a discourse of "otherness" that set Hooverville economically, socially, and geographically apart. Lessons from Hooverville still have not been learned today. An error occurred trying to load this video. Definition and Summary of the Shantytowns and HoovervillesSummary and definition: The Shanty Towns, known as Hoovervilles, sprang up across the nation during the Great Depression (1929 - 1941). They were built by unemployed impoverished Americans that had been made homeless and had nowhere else to live. Some of the homeless found shelter inside empty conduits and water mains. A look at how people lived, especially in the makeshift dwellings they constructed, gives a better sense of this, as does an understanding of the bitter humor behind the naming of these dwellings, known as 'Hoovervilles'. Protest against Hooverville evictions (October 10, 1938) [9], Regardless of the gender of the residents, Hoovervilles served as a common ground for many different nationalities and ethnicities. The Great Depression drew to an end with the outbreak of WW2 and municipal programs aimed at "eradicating" shantytowns destroyed all the Hoovervilles. This photo shows a team of two work horses hitched to a wagon with farm house visible in the background in Beltsville, Md., in 1935. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. The Great Depression rolled on, and people got caught in a vicious cycle. As people increasingly relied on credit to buy homes filled with new conveniences of the day, like refrigerators, radios, and cars, many Americans were living beyond their means. Life in these Hoovervilles was difficult and caused many people to migrate throughout the United States in search of better opportunities elsewhere. As Secretary of Commerce, Hoover presided over the economic boom times of the 'Roaring Twenties,' and when he entered the White House in early 1929, it seemed clear that the nation was in good hands. He wasn't a particularly warm, charismatic individual; he had won the presidency on the strength of his record and his character, but very few people would have described him as sympathetic (though by all accounts, he agonized over the suffering of the Great Depression). It is a city built on hills and around water, in a mild marine climate that encourages prolific . [2] Among the white population, nationalities included English, Irish, Polish, Spanish, Italian, and Russian. As the Great Depression worsened, so too did people's moods. [2] Donald Francis Roy, a citizen of Seattles Hooverville, took detailed recordings of the population during his time there. Hooverville was the popular name attributed to shanty towns that sprung up throughout the United States during the Great Depression. Black and white Americans and immigrants from all over the world shared the camp sites. There were dozens in the state of Washington, hundreds throughout the country, each testifying to the housing crisis that accompanied the employment crisis of the early 1930s. % of its value between 1929 and 1933 it helped to have access to some water longest Hooverville... Trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners tolerated or ignored out of necessity, they also their. 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