Title: The History Of Homelessness In America
What I Already Know:
From my experience with knowing those who live, or have lived on the streets, homelessness is much more than just not having a place to live. Homelessness is a world of fear and violence, hunger and emptiness; a place where the unknown is inevitable. Many of the people living on the streets of any particular city are veterans, husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, etc. Homelessness is a world that is not a respecter of person nor principle, and many times, is the result of poor decision-making, an economic meltdown, or mental illness.
One day, as I was driving through downtown Tulsa, I saw a classmate of mine from high school. He looked as if he did not have a stable place of
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My Search Journey: To understand this epidemic of homelessness, I needed to know how or when it started. Throughout my research, I came to the knowledge that, in America, homelessness has been documented since the 1640’s. Because of religious beliefs, many Americans did not see this as a problem, as they felt that those who were homeless were, in some way, being punished because they were outside of the grace of God. Those whose needs were being met, they felt that they were those who adhered to the Christian beliefs and values. In the 1820s-‘30s, during The Industrial Revolution, many Americans started migrating into the cities for jobs. Due to there not being many jobs available, many resorted to pan-handling, which prompted the government to enact pan-handling ordinances. City jails were to become shelter systems to house the homeless, which resulted in sickness, disease, and death. The illnesses and deaths of the men left the women with no way to feed or care for their families. This resulted in the first documented cases of homeless youth, which occurred in the 1850s. This was due to the family’s inability to raise them, so they were kicked out of their