Hooverville

While some Hoovervilles created a sort of government, most were unorganized collections of shanty houses. This lack of organization has made it difficult to identify the populations within Hoovervilles. Some claim to have been made up of men, women, and children, while others claim to only have had men. One exceptional Hooverville of Seattle, Washington held a structured government and collected extensive documentation. This Hooverville had its very own unofficial "mayor", Jesse Jackson. The city of Seattle tolerated the unemployed living situation and imposed loose building and sanitation rules. A request from the city was that women and children would not be allowed to live in the shantytown. This was supervised by "mayor" Jackson, who also led the Vigilance Committee. Regardless of the gender of the residents, Hoovervilles served as a common ground for many nationalities and ethnicities. Economic disparity in the United States during the 1930s was not limited to American born individuals. Migrant workers and immigrants greatly suffered from the lack of work and made up a large portion of the Hoovervilles across the country. Roy's 1934 census in Seattle’s Hooverville provides a breakdown of the population by ethnicity and nationality. His records show populations of Japanese, Mexican, Filipino, Native American, Costa Rican, Chilean, and Black men. Nearly 29 percent of the population was non-white. Among the white population, nationalities included English, Irish, Polish, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Scandinavian. A few of the whites in Seattle’s Hooverville were poor migrants from the Midwest and Southern states. Roy documents a unique spirit of tolerance and amiability between ethnic groups. He wrote that the racial barriers constructed in ‘normal’ society did not stand within the Hooverville. Black and white men would share homes out of convenience and, likewise, exemplify camaraderie and friendship. Roy noted that only the Filipinos and Mexican men were segregated, generally due to language rather than racial discrimination. ==Notable Hoovervilles==

marchers confront the police in Washington, D.C.|alt= Police with batons confront demonstrators armed with bricks and clubs. A policeman and a demonstrator wrestle over a US flag. Among the hundreds of Hoovervilles across the U.S. during the 1930s were those in: • Anacostia in the District of Columbia: The Bonus Army, a group of World War I veterans seeking expedited benefits, established a Hooverville in 1932. Many of these men came from afar, illegally by riding on railroad freight trains to join the movement. At its maximum there were 15,000 people living there. The camp was demolished by units of the U.S. Army, commanded by Gen. Douglas MacArthur. • Central Park, New York City: Scores of homeless families camped out at the Great Lawn at Central Park, then an empty reservoir. • Riverside Park, New York City: A shantytown occupied Riverside Park at 72nd Street during the depression. • Seattle had eight Hoovervilles during the 1930s. Its largest Hooverville on the tidal flats adjacent to the Port of Seattle lasted from 1932 to 1941. • St. Louis in 1930 had the largest Hooverville in America. It consisted of four distinct sectors. St. Louis's racially integrated Hooverville depended upon private philanthropy, had an unofficial mayor, created its own churches and other social institutions, and remained a viable community until 1936, when the federal Works Progress Administration allocated slum clearance funds for the area. ==See also==