Write THREE true facts about this topic and ONE lie about this topic in the boxes below2. What became the city's main Hooverville started as a group of little huts on land next to Elliott Bay south of "skid road," as the Pioneer Square area was then called. 361 lessons. In 1932, a new mayor was elected based on his support for the Unemployed Citizens League. This Hooverville thrived because it was funded by private donations. City officials alternately tolerated and tried to eradicate the shack town. Seattle's developed into a self-sufficient and organized town-within-a-town. 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. According to Roy, there was tolerance and friendship among ethnic groups and nationalities because racial barriers did not exist. Roys 1934 census provides a breakdown of the population by ethnicity and nationality. As the optimism of the 1920s gave way to fear and desperation, Americans looked to the federal government for relief. Life in these Hoovervilles was difficult and caused many people to migrate throughout the United States in search of better opportunities elsewhere. More often than not, Hoovervilles were tolerated. By 1932, Herbert Hoovers last full year in office, the U.S. unemployment rate had soared to 25%, with more than 15 million people without jobs or homes. A Tarpaper Carthage: Interpreting Hooverville, by Joey Smith, When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. We are grateful to the Seattle Municipal Archives, King County Archives, and the University of Washington Library Special Collections for permission to incorporate materials in their collections. Many features of life during the Great Depression were given bitter connotations with Hoover's name. As elsewhere in the country, Washington State's Communist Party helped to organize the unemployed into active political and social formations. But they eventually returned because they had nowhere else to go, and they were soon allowed to stay, owing to public sympathy. 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. Hooverville shanties were constructed of cardboard, tar paper, glass, lumber, tin and whatever other materials people could salvage. READ MORE:Did New Deal Programs Help End the Great Depression? When the government failed to provide relief, President Herbert Hoover was blamed for the intolerable economic and social conditions, so the shantytowns that cropped up became known as Hoovervilles. We spend less time wondering what we'd do if we lost it all and had to make do with virtually nothing. The Hoovervilles varied in size from just a few shacks clustered together to communities of over 1000 rickety shacks covering acres of unused or public lands. Who lived in a Hooverville or Shanty Town? Desperate for shelter, homeless citizens built shantytowns in and around cities across the nation. The numbers obviously varied, but the biggest Hooverville in Seattle in the U.S. state of Washington served as the home to 1200 people. Unit densities soared in the early 1930s. Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors. Protest against Hooverville evictions (October 10, 1938) For one thing, Hoover was a believer in the power of the free market and in the value of perseverance. Homelessness followed quickly from joblessness once the economy began to crumble in the early 1930s. Black and white Americans and immigrants from all over the world shared the camp sites. This is especially clear from the lyrics which included this line: 'They used to tell me I was building a dream, with peace and glory ahead; why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread?'. Probably the most famous Hooverville was the one founded on Anacostia Flats, just outside Washington, D.C., in 1932. As the Depression worsened in the 1930s many looked to the federal government for assistance. Home Facts Privacy About Blog Contact Terms. They posed health risks to their inhabitants as well as to those living nearby, but there was little that local governments or health agencies could do. Banks closed, and factories shut down; thousands and then millions of jobs were lost. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was an ambitious employment and infrastructure program created by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935, during the bleakest days of the Great Depression. https://www.thoughtco.com/hoovervilles-homeless-camps-of-the-great-depression-4845996 (accessed March 1, 2023). Families who had lost their homes lived in shacks in temporary settlements known as "Hoovervilles," named after the current president, Herbert Hoover. Regardless of the gender of the residents, Hoovervilles served as a common ground for many different nationalities and ethnicities. Roy noted that the only Filipinos and Mexican men were segregated, generally due to language rather than racial discrimination. Not ready to purchase a subscription? Twelve million Americans, about 25% of the normal labor force, were out of work and many suffered poverty, deprivation and homelessness. Herbert Hoover was president during the start of the Great Depression. Tensions between destitute citizens and the Hoover administration climaxed in the spring of 1932 when thousands of World War I veterans and their families and friends set up a Hooverville on the banks of the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. 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. President Herbert Hoover lost the election in 1932 to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Request for removal of Interbay shacks (April 24, 1937) Hoovervilles are very similar to refugee camps. Residents of the previous Hooverville in Tacoma rebuilt homes on the same site they occupied throughout. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images). The numbers, as mind-boggling as they are, tend not to reflect the actual state of suffering caused by the greatest economic catastrophe in U.S. history. During WWI, this area belonged to the Port of Seattle but was occupied by the Skinner and Eddy shipyard. 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. The reaction to all of this was often characterized by a grim sort of humor, sometimes represented by popular songs like the 1930's 'Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?' "; He wrote that the racial barriers constructed in normal society did not stand within the Hooverville. Advertisement. 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. Interesting Facts About the Great Depression The stock market lost almost 90% of its value between 1929 and 1933. "; Thesis, University of Washington, 1935), pp.42-45. The Great Depression caused social upheaval and political unrest. WATCH VIDEO: How Artists Helped End the Great Depression. This worksheet can be edited by Premium members using the free Google Slides online software. 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. 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". Unemployed masons used cast-off stone and bricks and in some cases built structures that stood 20 feet high. A "Hooverville" dweller, Circleville, Ohio, c. 1938. Desperate for shelter, homeless citizens. This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about Hooverville across 20 in-depth pages. In Seattle, Washington, stood one of the country's largest, longest-lasting, and best-documented Hoovervilles, standing for ten years between 1931 and 1941.Though several were located about the city, this Hooverville was on the tidal flats adjacent to the Port of Seattle. Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you Roosevelts recovery program, known as the New Deal, eventually reduced unemployment, regulated banking and helped turn the ailing economy around with public works projects and other economic programs. Follow the Great Depression Project/ Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project on Facebook. This site uses cookies to improve your experience. Chapter 1: The Great Depression Strikes Pennsylvania Chapter 2: Political Change and the New Deal Coalition Chapter 3: The New Deal in Pennsylvania: Public Works and Organized Labor Chapter 4: Popular Culture and Society in the 1930s Learn More Story Details Historical Markers In the Story Original Documents Story Credits Story Bibliography Americas longest lasting Hooverville in Seattle, Washington, stood for ten years, from 1931 to 1941. Why was the Shanty Town called a Hooverville? 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. Browse Catalog. The Tacoma Fire Department burned down fifty small houses in May 1942 after Seattle destroyed Hooverville. How many Hoovervilles or Shantytowns were there? (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); By 1932, between one and two million American people were homeless. 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. After hosting several homeless settlements, the reservoir was dubbed the Hoover Valley and Depression Street. The final decision to eliminate Hooverville was presented in a report from the Housing Authority. The shanty town was so big that people established their own community government and elected a 'mayor' as their leader to settle any disputes. About this quiz: All the questions on this quiz are based on information that can be found on the page at The Great Depression - Hoovervilles . var months = new Array(12); Soup Kitchens in the Great Depression | Bread Lines, Characteristics & History, Gilded Age Politics: Political Machines & Civil Service Reform, Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 | Overview, Summary & History, Massacre at Wounded Knee | Summary & History, AP US History Syllabus Resource & Lesson Plans, AP English Literature Syllabus Resource & Lesson Plans, DSST A History of the Vietnam War: Study Guide & Test Prep, DSST The Civil War & Reconstruction: Study Guide & Test Prep, Glencoe U.S. History - The American Vision: Online Textbook Help, High School US History Syllabus Resource & Lesson Plans, Prentice Hall America: History of our Nation: Online Textbook Help, DSST Environmental Science: Study Guide & Test Prep, Create an account to start this course today. 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