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Hoovervilles During The Great Depression

462 Words2 Pages

Imagine living in a refugee camp. Every day you work really hard trying to get a job, and provide for your family, but to no avail. Every night you are extremely tired, but have a hard time sleeping because it is freezing cold. You wake up again, and go through this cycle of trying to get a job, house, and sleep. Hoovervilles are very similar to refugee camps. They are crowded, dirty, miserable, and they are places where the homeless gather to build temporary homes.

The Great Depression was the greatest and longest economic recession of the 20th century. It began with the United States stock market crash of 1929, and didn't completely end until after World War II, in 1946. During the Great Depression there was a mass unemployment in America. …show more content…

Unlike many of the towns and cities Hoovervilles weren't very segregated. The people who lived in Hoovervilles included everyone: men, women, children, blacks and whites, from all walks of life. Hoovervilles were filthy, tiny, and poorly built. They were built out of anything and everything. Some things they were built out of include: wood, stones, loose boards, cardboard, old bricks, boxes, crates, and tar paper. They weren't very warm during the winter and often didn’t keep out the rain, snow or hail. They did not have bathrooms; therefore, they were very unsanitary. A second reason why the sanitation was so horrible was because most Hoovervilles didn’t have access to clean water. Without clean water you cannot bathe, wash your hands, wash clothes or dishes, or have safe water to drink. You would have to bathe and wash your things in dirty water, or else not wash them at all. People who lived in Hoovervilles did not have access to medical facilities and the living conditions were prone to sickness and disease. Inadequate sanitation, lack of clean drinking water and poor nutrition lead to a variety of diseases and illnesses such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, diarrhea, rickets, influenza, pneumonia and skin diseases. When someone got sick, which was very likely, it spread like

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