A Hobo Life in the Great Depression

A Regional Narrative from the American Midwest (Studies in American Literature)

by Edward C. Weideman

• 238 Want to read
• 40 Currently reading

Published December 2, 2005 by Edwin Mellen Press .
Written in

Subjects:

• American history: from c 1900 -,
• History: World,
• Fiction - General,
• History,
• USA,
• Middle East - General,
• General,
• Fiction,
• Depressions,
• Tramps

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The Physical Object
Format	Hardcover
Number of Pages	201
ID Numbers
Open Library	OL8077939M
ISBN 10	0773460241
ISBN 10	9780773460249

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  One of the most famous of these is the novel "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck, which tells the story of the Joad family and their long trek from Oklahoma's Dust Bowl to California during the Great Depression. The book, published in , won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize and was made into a movie in that starred.   The Difference Between Hobos, Tramps And Bums. The hobo population also increased during the Great Depression, as unemployed men took to train-hopping with the hopes of finding better prospects on the road. Although “hobo” is a slang word, its meaning was well known by the late 19th century and Funk and Wagnalls even listed “hobo.

  As such, back in the days of the Great Depression, the U.S. saw an increase in the hobo population. Walking along long roads or hitching rides on trains, these hobos would travel about, looking for a place where they could get lucky and find a better home.   In , as the phenomenon of children riding the rails grew, Minehan dressed as a hobo and rode with the kids. When we study the Great Depression much is statistical — I was riveted by Minehan's book that connected me to the lives of young people of . Walter Ballard was one young man who became a hobo. He remembers the Depression getting so bad that his family didn't have enough to eat. At least in the hobo jungles, they would share food with each other. Walter remembers the bulls. "I been hijacked by them railroad bulls in .

“People lost everything they had during the Depression, so they had to live the hobo way of life to try and find work to survive.” In , three Chamber of Commerce leaders in Britt, Iowa—Thomas A. Way, T.A. Potter, and W.E. Bradford—were looking for a way to put their tiny town on the tourist map, and give it the credentials of a big.   The hobo life originally began following the Civil War and the building of the first railroads. It was more of a novelty at the time, but after the stock market crash of , the Great Depression created new breeds of the gypsy: the transient, the tramp, the migrant worker and the hobo, and in great abundance. He was one of the founding members of the National Hobo Foundation. He also helped established the Hobo Museum in Britt, Iowa. Mr. Maurice Graham died due to complications from stroke at the Northcrest Nursing Home in Napoleon, Ohio. He was Books. Tales of the Iron Road: My Life as King of the Hobos. Marlowe & Co., Reprinted in