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Who were the transients or hobos?

Who were the transients or hobos?

During the 1920s people who rode the rails were either seasonal workers or permanent transients called hoboes (or tramps or bums). The hoboes were not in search of jobs; instead they sought a detachment from mainstream American society. They were content to live a life of aimless wandering.

What kind of people become hobos?

Hobos were the nomadic workers who roamed the United States, taking jobs wherever they could, and never spending too long in any one place. The Great Depression (1929–1939) was when numbers were likely at their highest, as it forced an estimated 4,000,000 adults to leave their homes in search of food and lodging.

What were hobos in the 1930s?

During the Great Depression, millions of unemployed men became “hobos,” homeless vagrants who wandered in search of work. Once-proud men, the hobos rode the rails or hitchhiked their way across America, in search of jobs and a better life.

Do we still have hobos?

Hobo culture is alive and well in the United States, but it’s a far cry from the sanitized Halloween-costume version most of us are used to — the patched overalls, the charcoal beard and the red-bandana bindle (that’s a bundle on a stick).

Why did people become hobos in the 1930s?

Riding the Rails during the Great Depression. Many people forced off the farm heard about work hundreds of miles away or even half a continent away. Often the only way they could get there was by hopping on freight trains, illegally. More than two million men and perhaps 8,000 women became hoboes.

What did hobos drink?

Alcoholic Hobo drink recipe made with Cranberry juice,Orange juice,Rum,Vodka,Root Beer,….Ingredients to use:

Non Alcoholic Eggnog View This Recipe!
The Alcoholics Root Beer Float View This Recipe!
Hobo Heater View This Recipe!

What is the difference between a hobo and a homeless person?

(North America) A wandering homeless person, especially (historical) one illegally travelling by rail or (pejorative) a penniless, unemployed bum. A hobo is a migrant worker or homeless vagrant, especially one who is impoverished. The term originated in the Western—probably Northwestern—United States around 1890.

What kind of history does a hobo have?

Hobos have a history dating back to the explosion of the railroad after the Civil War. Over this time, many have debated what defines a hobo. While there is still much disagreement over definition, there are a few consistencies.

Why did the hobos call themselves ” tramps “?

Throughout literature written on hobos, it consistently comes up that work was the essential factor for many hobos on a personal level (Raulerson 2011; Fox 1989; Vandertie 1995). They were always looking for work and never simply asking for handouts. This is why many hoboes take insult to being called tramps.

What did hoboes do on the fringes of society?

The other is a fantasy about living free on the fringes society: jumping boxcars despite the danger, wandering from town to town with no roots or commitments, sleeping under the stars with fellow hoboes who trade banjo tunes and wild stories.

How many hobos were there in the US in 1910?

By 1910, there were more than 3 million hobos and they wanted to distinguish themselves from tramps, whom they defined as travelers who did not work.