For many Americans during the Great Depression, life got incredibly difficult. With mass layoffs, banks going under (causing some people to lose all the money to their name), and a lack of opportunity when everyone was looking for jobs, many had their houses forcefully foreclosed by the banks that did remain functioning. While lodging houses were available for the homeless, evictions and foreclosures were so pervasive that these places filled up quickly.
With no house and no easily acquired jobs, people weren't sure where to go, and many resorted to building their own little shacks on areas of public land with whatever materials could be found, such as cardboard, tin, and glass. Multiple families, sometimes thousands of people, would clump in these shantytowns, sharing whatever resources they could find and making "soups" by putting anything edible and accessible into pots, which everyone would eat from. For drinking water and bathing, most would go to the river, and this is one of the reasons most were built so close to city rivers.
These "Hoovervilles", as they came to be called, were named for the man they blamed for having to live there; while most people didn't think Hoover was the cause of the Depression, they were angry because they felt he saw these bad things happening and wasn't taking action to help anyone.
In cities across America, these Hoovervilles appeared, full of people, cynical at the thought of help ever coming.
A Hooverville in Portland, Oregon
The Seattle Hooverville, one of the largest, had at least 1,200 people at one time.
Overall, these shantytowns represented two things: the resourcefulness and perseverance of these Americans who kept trying no matter how bad things got, and the feelings of great frustration with the government for not doing more to help the American people, feelings which likely caused such great support for FDR, the savior for these residents of Hooverville.
http://depts.washington.edu/depress/hooverville.shtml
http://www.history.com/topics/hoovervilles
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/depwwii/depress/hoovers.html
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/29/realestate/streetscapes-central-park-s-hooverville-life-along-depression-street.html
Kenneth - The legacy that Hoover left that you clearly addressed is disheartening for anybody but it shows the impact (or lack of impact) Hoover had during the 1930s. In stark contrast to the roaring '20s, the '30s was met in tandem with the Great Depression and because of such a deep decline, it took years until the "powerful" United States was ever to recover. Your use of images supported your writing because it showed us visually the harsh reality that people had to live through. I thought it was interesting how you mentioned the popular and classic musical "Annie" and their ridicule at Hoover. It only pushes on the idea today that the legacy the president left and with songs and words such as these, it only solidifies his future representation to future Americans.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-politics-of-annie
I found your post super interesting, especially with the present-day connection to Annie the musical! I think we often overlook how history and public opinion is expressed through art (for example: "Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher" from Billy Elliott talks about the hundreds of British workers that were laid off right before Christmas). Hoovertowns represent the public distaste for the president, as well as just how dire the economy had become -- there were enough homeless people for them to form their own towns.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to check out this (https://www.workers.org/2008/us/anti-eviction_struggles_0221/) article. It details how the American people tried to fight against evictions, as well as ending with a present-day connection to our economy now.
A source I found interesting (albeit for a younger audience) that connects to the broader social effects (social class) of the Great Depression:
http://www.american-historama.org/1929-1945-depression-ww2-era/social-effects-of-great%20depression.htm
Kenneth, your post was very interesting. It is depressing to read about the negative portrayal of Hoover and the vast discontent, sadness, and poverty that struck the nation at that point. However, Hoovervilles were such a large part of that time in our history that we must acknowledge them and see the lasting effects. One of the interesting things that I read about is how many veterans were forced to live in them. After the Bonus March had stopped the first time, many veterans went to live in these "Hoovervilles". However, in an ironic twist that I found interesting, the government troops ended up burning these settlements down.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ushistory.org/us/48c.asp
The conditions that the residents of Hoovervilles had to endure are astonishing. "Squatters' shacks" were rickety structures that popped up everywhere, and the Depression affected the poor so much that many felt nothing but hopelessness. Several attempts were made to eliminate the Hoovervilles during the 1930s, but government officials couldn't do much about the health issues and the scattered mess tat these small "villages" created. Finally, in 1941, a shack elimination program was put into effect, and shantytowns all over the country were torn down. By this time employment levels had begun to rise, which provided shelter and security to many formerly homeless Americans.
ReplyDeleteSource:
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1642.html