Name: Betty June Randolph Born: 1924 Age: 90
“The thing that I noticed most, that I remember most, was how many people needed jobs. They call them bums that came on the railroad, and they bring what they had on their backs, and come and ask for a day's work; and if you fed them, they'd work for nothing, so you'd just feed them. You could hire all kinds of men for a dollar a day. And some of them would say, "If you keep me, I'll stay for the winter." (Ruth Hansen)
Ruth Hansen was eleven at the beginning of the great depression. Like so many others Ruth’s family were poor farmers.
“I remember it was awful hard times," another teenager recalls, "and it was hard to get a hold of enough to buy a sack of flour and we made our own breads, cooked our vegetables, bottled our fruits, raised our gardens. We did most of our own cooking and pastry, pies, whatever. Did it all ourselves; we hardly ever bought anything.” ()
Most families earned little. Homeless people wandered the streets and settled in Hoovervilles.
“I live in a shack. I try to keep my shack as clean as possible. I don’t love living in a place like that. But what can I do when I can’t get any other place? They tell me I am too old when I ask for work. I don’t want to put a pack on my back and hit the highway. I don’t want to live in a boxcar. I’d leave my shack if I could get another place.”
Amazingly, most people adapted to poverty well and continued to be optimistic. Hoovervilles were unpleasant places to live. There was crime, disease and starvation. Most scorned Hoover. A "hoover blanket" was no more than an old newspaper and "hoover leather" was cardboard lining inside a shoe whose sole had worn out.
Education was also a major problem. According to Roy’s collected census of 1934, only eleven percent of the men of Hooverville had reached high school, and “A third of a million children were out of school during the Great Depression.”
“At the height of the Great Depression, two hundred and fifty thousand teenage hoboes were roaming America.” () Young boys and men left there families in hope for a better life style. “Some left home because they felt they were a burden to their families; some fled homes shattered by the shame of unemployment and poverty.” () Most homeless left without telling there family.“Some left because it seemed a great adventure. With the blessing of parents or as runaways, they hit the road and went in search of a better life.” ()
Homeless traveled in groups of ten to twelve. Girls were rare in the groups, and almost always traveled with a male.
Ruth Hansen was eleven at the beginning of the great depression. Like so many others Ruth’s family were poor farmers.
“I remember it was awful hard times," another teenager recalls, "and it was hard to get a hold of enough to buy a sack of flour and we made our own breads, cooked our vegetables, bottled our fruits, raised our gardens. We did most of our own cooking and pastry, pies, whatever. Did it all ourselves; we hardly ever bought anything.” ()
Most families earned little. Homeless people wandered the streets and settled in Hoovervilles.
“I live in a shack. I try to keep my shack as clean as possible. I don’t love living in a place like that. But what can I do when I can’t get any other place? They tell me I am too old when I ask for work. I don’t want to put a pack on my back and hit the highway. I don’t want to live in a boxcar. I’d leave my shack if I could get another place.”
Amazingly, most people adapted to poverty well and continued to be optimistic. Hoovervilles were unpleasant places to live. There was crime, disease and starvation. Most scorned Hoover. A "hoover blanket" was no more than an old newspaper and "hoover leather" was cardboard lining inside a shoe whose sole had worn out.
Education was also a major problem. According to Roy’s collected census of 1934, only eleven percent of the men of Hooverville had reached high school, and “A third of a million children were out of school during the Great Depression.”
“At the height of the Great Depression, two hundred and fifty thousand teenage hoboes were roaming America.” () Young boys and men left there families in hope for a better life style. “Some left home because they felt they were a burden to their families; some fled homes shattered by the shame of unemployment and poverty.” () Most homeless left without telling there family.“Some left because it seemed a great adventure. With the blessing of parents or as runaways, they hit the road and went in search of a better life.” ()
Homeless traveled in groups of ten to twelve. Girls were rare in the groups, and almost always traveled with a male.