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ssc200.pptxHomelessness: historical overview
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Introduction
The topic of homelessness (e.g., wanderlust, begging, vagrancy, hobos, tramps, and skid row) has a rich documented history.
In this overview, we consider events and documents dating back over 2,000 years.
The earliest documents that we consider are from the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament, while the most recent is the 2003 U.D. Conference of Mayors’ call to end homelessness in 10 years.
The slides refer to sacred texts, laws, edicts, declarations, books, poems, ballads, traveler’s tales, social welfare surveys, social movements , political figures, sociological and anthropological reports, magazine articles, fiction and nonfiction writings, judicial briefs and decisions, videos, and public policy.
In this chronological overview, most events and documents focus on the United States and Britain, but some pertain to international efforts.
This overview is meant to provide some “highlights” during different historical periods to accompany your text, and this is by no means meant to be comprehensive.
In developing this overview, I followed the adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”
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Antiquity of Homelessness
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Biblical Passages Relevant to Homelessness
Notions of “cast out” and “caring for the poor” play prominent role in world religions (Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam).
Illustrative “Casting Out” Quotes:
Genesis 3: “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubins, and faming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
Genesis 4: “When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield until thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond [vagrant] shalt thou be on earth.”
Illustrative “Caring for the Poor” Quotes:
Deuteronomy 15: “For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.”
Deuteronomy 24: “Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within our gates.”
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Homelessness in the Middle Ages
(from approximately 5th century to approximately 16 century)
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“The Begging Friar and the Pardoner”
The wandering, begging
religious figure is common
to many religions. Geoffery
Chaucer’s (1383) Canterbury
Tales describes a Pardoner,
who gave indulgences in
return for contributions
to the church.
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Early Classification Schemes of Homeless People
Attempts to classify the homeless into categories has always been part efforts to explain, punish, or prevent and care for the homeless.
Early Examples:
Germany:
Martin Luther ‘s (1528), The Book of Vagabonds and Beggars.
England:
John Awdeley’s (1561), The Fratnitye of Vacabondes.
For more history, see: Ripton-turner, C.J. (1887). A History of Vagrancy and Beggars. London: Chapman & Hall.
This tendency to classify the homeless will be evident in other documents that we consider in our brief journey through history.
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“A Caveat or Warning for Corsetors, Vulgarly called Vagabones”
Thomas Harman’s (1566) A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursetors, Vulgarly Called Vagabonds.
His work provides rich descriptions of social life of the homeless, and is believed to have influenced the work Shakespeare and other dramatists and writers.
He provided a list of terms used by traveling and homeless people. Often referred to as argot, cant, or lexicon, the real or imagined unique languages attributed to vagabonds fascinated the public.
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Homelessness in the Early Modern Period
(from approximately 14th century to approximately 18th century)
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An Act for the Relief of the Poor (1601)
In England, population growth and famine in the late 1500s dramatically increased the number of wandering poor.
The 1601 Act distinguished between
“Deserving” (elderly, young, families)
“Undeserving” (criminals, beggars)
The Act codified the 1572 compulsory poor law tax, the 1576 idea of workhouses, and the 1597 post of “Overseer of the Poor.”
The laws did not alleviate poverty and, by the early 19th century, local communities could no longer cope with poverty and homelessness.
In 1834, a new law reformed the system, and when it was found to be inadequate, a newer system evolved over time in the 20th century.
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“The Cunning Northern Beggar”
This balled from northern England in the 1600s is an
Early example of homeless
Autobiography
“…I am a lusty beggar
And live by others giving
I scorne to worke
But by the highway lurke,
And beg to get my living…”
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Homelessness in America: From Colonial Times to Present
Homelessness is a national tragedy that has haunted our sociopolitical landscape since America's founding. It has been seen throughout our history. During the colonial period, large numbers of "vagabonds" were transported from England to the American colonies in the 18th century. So-called vagabonds were noted in urban areas in the wake of the Revolutionary War. New York City Mayor Richard Varick noted in 1784 that “Vagrants multiply on our hands to an amazing degree.”
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Workhouses and Poor Houses
Workhouses:
A British term dating back to the 1600s to describe a public institution that provided work and sometimes shelter to destitute people.
Poor Houses:
A U.S. term dating back to the 1700s to describe a public institution used to house the poor and needy. American Poor Houses were modeled after British Workhouses.
“Outdoor” Relief:
Refers to relief to people who were able to remain in their own homes or continue to live with friends or relatives. With an application to a “Poor Master,” food, clothing, firewood, or a “chit” (voucher) for medical care were provided.
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An Example of British Workhouse Rules
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A Workhouse Dining Hall
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Belfast City Workhouse
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Residents of Workhouses
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Residents in Workhouses
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Residents of Workhouses
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Residents of Workhouses
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Residents of Workhouses
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A Lack of Privacy in Crowded Workhouses
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An American Poorhouse (A Building Later Sold to Brown University)
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American Revolutionary War
As we will see in this historical account, wars contribute to homelessness, and veterans often have post traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse disorders, and physical disabilities due to combat.
Famous Quote From George Washington:
"The willingness with which our young
people are likely to serve in any war, no
matter how justified, shall be directly
proportional to how they perceive the
Veterans of earlier wars were treated
and appreciated by their nation."
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Homelessness in the Modern Period
(from approximately 18th century to approximately 20th century)
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James Chamber’s The Poor Poetaster” (1820)
This poem provides much detail about the lives of the poor and homeless in 18th and 19th century England. A “poetaster” is defined as an inferior poet.
“…I, the poor Poetaster, bewail my hard fate,
Sad losses and cares have depress’d me of late,
My case is dispers’d, friends seem to turn foes,
I’ve walk’d till I’m weary, and worn out my cloths,
My stockings are torn as I walk in the dirt,
And some months I’ve existed without any shirt…”
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The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 An Act for the Amendment and better Administration of the Laws relating to the Poor in England and Whales
This act did away with a mix of poor laws dating back 500 years and replaced them with a unified strategy.
This stipulated that the poor receiving parish assistance (orphans, widows, unmarried poor women, the aged, infirm, homeless) had to live in workhouses and perform work (as opposed to receiving so-called “out-door relief”).
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This was about the time when Charles Dickens’ (1843) wrote “A Christmas Carol”
“I have endeavored in this Ghostly little
book, to raise an idea, which shall not
put my readers out of humor with
themselves, with each other, with the
season, or with me. May it haunt their
Houses pleasantly…”
Their faithful Friend and Servant,
C. D.
December, 1843
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Henry Mayhew’s (1861) “London Labour and the London Poor”
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Henry Mayhew’s (1861) “London Labour and the London Poor”
Mayhew, one of 17 children in a wealthy London family, was unable to sustain a career, he moved to Paris to develop Punch (1841), a satirical magazine.
His writings about London poor (e.g., Morning Chronicle newspaper) were collected in four volumes (London Labour and the London Poor”).
His controversial writings were based on an ethnographic research approach (visiting and interviewing the poor), providing a venue for them to tell their stories in their own words.
Mayhew wrote: “…Hence all society would appear to arrange itself into four different classes:”
I. Those that Will Work
II. Those that Cannot Work
III. Those that Will Not Work
IV. Those that Need Not Work
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Skid Row
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“Skid Row” derives from “Skid Road,” the rough-and-tumble waterfront street in 19th century Seattle where logs where skidded to the sawmills. Many transient men work at this job and lived in nearby cheap lodging houses. This is associated with American’s westward expansion.
Civil War in America and Homelessness
Homeless Veterans
Freed Slaves: Some were roaming and homelessness
Devastated South and economic relocation
“Riding the Rails” became a common practice for hobos
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“Fugitive” Homeless Slaves
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“Fugitive” Homeless Slaves
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“Fugitive” Homeless Slaves
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“Fugitive” Homeless Slaves
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“Fugitive” Homeless Slaves
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“Fugitive” Homeless Slaves
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“Fugitive” Homeless Slaves
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“Fugitive” Homeless Slaves
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“Fugitive” Homeless Slaves
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Jacob Riis’ (1890) “How the Other Half Lives”
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Jacob Riis’ (1890) “How the Other Half Lives”
Jacob Riis (1849-1914) was a Danish Immigrant who settled in New York in 1870.
He lived in poverty and was homeless, often sleeping in police station lodging houses.
In 1877, he secured work as a police reporter for the New York Tribune and devoted his career to documenting life of the poor.
IMPORTANT: Riis may have been the first reformer to view the poor as victims rather than as the cause of their own poverty.
His work became a classic and led to the closing of the worst of police lodging houses.
Riis was an innovative photographer, and used this skill to fully illustrate the lives of the poor.
Major works:
How the Other Half Lives (1890)
Children of the Poor (1892)
The Battle with the Slum (1902)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
Police Station Lodging Houses
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
Police Station Lodging Houses
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
Police Station Lodging Houses
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
Police Station Lodging Houses
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
Police Station Lodging Houses
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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Photographs by Jacob Riis (1849 – 1914)
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The “Vagabond Philosopher”
“Beggar with a Duffle Coat (Philosopher)”
(1865/67) Édouard Manet
Source:
The Art Institute of Chicago
Charles Booth’s (1902-1904) “Life and Labour of the People in London”
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Charles Booth’s (1902-1904) “Life and Labour of the People in London”
Booth (1840-1916) was a British businessman, politician, and social reformer who organized and directed a major survey of the poor and working class in London.
Booth lived among the poor as a method of developing pertinent questions.
As a politician, he was less successful in initiating programs for the poor, but he did lay the groundwork for a universal pension system.
Booth’s “Life and Labour of the People in London” is of the same genre as the work by both Mayhew and Higgs, as illustrated in earlier slides.
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Mary Higgs’ (1907) “Glimpses into the Abyss”
Higgs (1854-1937) was a social reformer in Victorian England.
As a college graduate, she worked as a teacher, but gave up teaching in 1891 for work to improve the live of poor and homeless women.
She posed as a poor woman seeking employment in order to better understand the situation of poor women.
As a social activist, she founded a women’s lodging house, founded (along with others) the National Association for Women’s Lodging Houses, and opened a school for mothers.
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Major Writings by Mary Higgs:
Glimpses into the Abyss (1907)
Three Nights in Women’s Lodging Houses (1906)
Five Days and Nights as a Tramp (1905)
How to Deal with the Unemployed (1904)
Mother Wareing (190?)
Where Shall She Live? (1910)
Quote from Glimpses into the Abyss (1907):
“…In Christian England a friendless girl should never want a friend and a home. And to guard our girls is to preserve our nation from the worst of evils—the corruption of a ‘trade’ based on greed and dishonour. Yet how else can a destitute girl get her living without a friend? When all else is sold she sells herself to live…”
Mary Higgs’ (1907)
“Glimpses into the Abyss”
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Stuart Al Rice’s (1918) “The Homeless”
Rice, the superintendent of New York’s Municipal Lodging House, wrote an article (“The Homeless”) that lead to significant advances in social policy.
He used a four-tiered classification system and advocated a different approach for each type of homelessness:
1. The Self-Supported
2. The Temporary Dependent
3. The Chronically Dependent
4. The Parasitic
Rice’s called for a farm colony outside the city came to be in 1934 with the establishment of a work camp at Camp La Guardia (see later slide describing this camp).
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World War I (1914-1918) Veterans and Homelessness
As the Great Depression developed (see next several slides), many WW I veterans were out of work and many were homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
In 1932, the “Bonus Army” was an assemblage of 43,000 marchers (17,000 WW I veterans, their families, and affiliated Groups) that gathered in Washington D.C. to demand immediate cash redemption of service certificates.
Local police confronted the protesters who were armed with bricks and clubs. Then, the U.S. Army stepped in to remove the protesters by force and set their shanties on fire.
This became known as the “Battle of Washington.”
Ultimately, the veterans did receive their bonuses in 1936.
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The “Bonus Army” and the “Battle of Washington”
Bonus Army marchers gather on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on July 4, 1932.
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World War I (1914-1918) Veterans and Homelessness
The “Bonus Army” and the “Battle of Washington”
World War I veterans camp out on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol in July 1932. (Library of Congress).
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World War I (1914-1918) Veterans and Homelessness
The “Bonus Army” and the “Battle of Washington”
This Bonus Army shack was located behind a building at 336 Pennsylvania Ave. (Library of Congress).
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World War I (1914-1918) Veterans and Homelessness
The “Bonus Army” and the “Battle of Washington”
Bonus Army members fight with local police.
(National Archives and Records Administration)
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World War I (1914-1918) Veterans and Homelessness
The “Bonus Army” and the “Battle of Washington”
Bonus Army marchers throw stones and bricks.
(Courtesy The Associated Press)
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World War I (1914-1918) Veterans and Homelessness
The “Bonus Army” and the “Battle of Washington”
U.S. Army troops hurled tear gas grenades into this encampment.
(Courtesy The Associated Press)
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World War I (1914-1918) Veterans and Homelessness
The “Bonus Army” and the “Battle of Washington”
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Douglas MacArthur, left, directs
Bonus Army evacuation. (Library of Congress)
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World War I (1914-1918) Veterans and Homelessness
The “Bonus Army” and the “Battle of Washington”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkmo4ygPTjc
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World War I (1914-1918) Veterans and Homelessness
Great Depression (1929 – Early 1940s)
The stock market crash in 1929 marks the beginning of the Great Depression.
As business failure and unemployment mounted, millions lost housing through evictions and bank foreclosures.
Dust Bowl: During this time, the great plains were hit by a drought and dust storms, and so farmers also greatly suffered.
Homelessness greatly increased in number and in variety, including women, men, families, different races, and previously middle class people.
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Great Depression (1929 – Early 1940s): “Hoovervilles”
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Great Depression (1929 – Early 1940s): “Hoovervilles”
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Great Depression (1929 – Early 1940s): “Hoovervilles”
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Great Depression (1929 – Early 1940s): “Hoovervilles”
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Great Depression (1929 – Early 1940s): “Riding the Rails”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOjQFyvqGTg&feature=player_embedded
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Great Depression (1929 – Early 1940s): “Riding the Rails”
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Great Depression (1929 – Early 1940s): “Riding the Rails”
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Great Depression (1929 – Early 1940s): “Riding the Rails”
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Great Depression (1929 – Early 1940s): “Riding the Rails”
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Great Depression (1929 – Early 1940s): “Riding the Rails”
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Dean Stiff’s (Nels Anderson’s) (1930) “The Milk and Honey Route”
Anderson was a sociologist who used a combination of ethnography and survey research to study hobo and tramp culture and the Chicago and New York Skid Rows.
In his writing, he provided a glossary of hobo terms (compare to earlier slide on “hobo terms” from Thomas Harman’s writings).
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945)
“New Deal Reforms”
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Shortly after taking office, President Roosevelt and the newly elected Democratic Congress created the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, which included the first federal program specifically for the homeless: the Federal Transient Program (FTP).
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President Roosevelt and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration
President Roosevelt Signs Social Security Act (August 14, 1935)
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President Roosevelt Signs Social Security Act (August 14, 1935)
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FDR’s Statement Upon Signing the Legislation
“This social security measure gives at least some protection to thirty million of our citizens who will reap direct benefits through unemployment compensation, through old-age pensions and through increased services for the protection of children and the prevention of ill health.
“We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age.”
” … The law will flatten out the peaks and valleys of deflation and of inflation. It is, in short, a law that will take care of human needs … “
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Philip Gibbs’ (1935) “England Speaks”
As a British journalist, Gibbs (1877-1962) wrote about WW I and social issues.
In England Speaks (1935), he described England through the lives of people in different circumstances, including homeless people.
His writing about homelessness were based on his participant observation research at two Salvation Army facilities, a shelter, and a Rowton House Lodging.
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Philip Gibbs’ (1935)
“England Speaks”
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Ben Benson’s (1937) “How to Go to California Without a Dollar” from the Hobo News
The Hobo News was published in New York City from 1936 to 1948.
The publisher was Ben (Hobo) Benson, the “Coast Kid” who had been on the road since 1898.
Each issue provided:
advice for hobos (e.g., what places to avoid or what trains to ride)
opinion pieces supporting the hobo lifestyle and railing against government restrictions
Cartoons
Poems
Personal accounts of life on the road
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Document 16: Ben Benson’s (1937) “How to Go to California Without a Dollar” from the Hobo News
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Camp La Guardia (Camp News Report, 1937)
Following Stuart Rice’s earlier recommendation (see earlier slide), Camp La Guardia opened as a work camp for poor and homeless men from New York in 1934. Prior, it had been a women’s prison.
Located on 260 acres in Chester and Blooming Grove, Orange County (60 miles north of New York City.
After WW II, the camp was used for men with alcohol abuse.
In 1981, the camp was classified as a hospital, accepted individuals with substance addictions or mental illness, and became New York City’s largest homeless shelter.
Since the 1970s, it has been known as Project Renewal (formerly Manhattan Bowery Corporation), and it is a residential and rehabilitation center with a large farming operation that supplies New York City’s markets.
The camp was closed in 2006, as Mayor Bloomberg, with a plan for the funds to be used for prevention and reduction of dependence on the shelter system.
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Camp La Guardia
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World War II (1939-1945) Veterans and Homelessness
Five U.S Marines
and a U.S. Navy
Corpsman raising
the U.S. Flag during
the Battle of Iwo
Jima On February 23,
1945.
The homelessness crisis of the Great Depression was abated in the early 1940s by the enlistment of so many Americans in the armed forces and by the wartime economic upswing.
Many individual who, otherwise may have been homeless, joined the military or were able to obtain jobs.
With the end of WW II, however, homelessness re-emerged as a major problem in cities, with a great demand for emergency shelters.
The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (G. I. Bill) helped by providing a range of benefits, including low-cost mortgages, loans to start a business or farm, payment of college tuition and living expense, high school or vocational education, and unemployment compensation.
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World War II (1939-1945) Veterans and Homelessness
President Roosevelt Signing the G.I. Bill in 1944
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Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948): Relevance to Homelessness
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On December 10, 1948, the
United Nations adopted the
Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. In this
picture, Eleanor Roosevelt
holds a copy of the document
that she tirelessly promoted.
As former First Lady of the
United States, Eleanor
Roosevelt was a human rights
champion, a United States
Delegate to the United
Nations, and the Chairperson
For the United Nations
Human Rights Commission.
This document is clearly relevant to homelessness. For example, Article 25 reads in part:
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
The document also promotes and encourages community service, since Article 29 reads in part:
Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
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Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948): Relevance to Homelessness
Korean War (1950 -1953)
Though often not mentioned, the Korean War also contributed to the number of homeless veterans in our country.
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