Ghettos, Tramps, and Welfare Queens: Down and Out on the Silver Screen

Kusmer, Kenneth L.

doi:10.1093/jahist/jay361

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…Attempts to exhibit a historical experience of American homelessness within this framework serve to place museums within a long and unsettled discourse, one that often seems to regard transient populations with equal parts envy and contempt. 74 In establishing distinctions within the language surrounding homelessness, Nels Anderson designated the "hobo" as a transient worker, as opposed to a "tramp" or a "bum," both of whom he labeled as nonworkers, respectively, transient and stationary. 75 He equated the hobo with the cowboy and other frontier workers, a quintessentially American institution that traveled to where "there was a labor market need for him."…”

Section: Shifting Cultural Representations Of Homelessnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been suggested that one of the harbingers of the coming Depression was the increasing numbers of transient people living on the road beginning in the late 1920s. 17 By 1931, the trickle had become a torrent, and homeless shelters, where they existed in major cities, reported that the numbers of those requiring assistance were rising at catastrophic rates. Shelters in St. Louis reported a 280 percent rise in the number of occupants from 1930 to 1931 while Minneapolis reported a 421 percent surge in a similar period.…”

Section: A Brief Introduction To the Homeless In The Great Depressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Only the Most Morbid Among the Rich Will Find It Entertaining”: Interpreting 1930s Urban Homelessness in Museums

Katz

2017

Journal of Urban History

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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) recent report on the relationship between culture and urban sustainability proposes that museums contribute to the larger civic project by “representing multicultural societies and giving minorities space within national narratives.”1 If, as the report suggests, cities rely on their cultural institutions such as museums to enable integration through narrative, then it is vital to consider how, and how well, this is actually being achieved. The American urban homeless of the 1930s present a viable case study as to the integration—or lack thereof—of one particular historical minority. Examining the interpretation of this select group allows us to then assess the forces at play in museum-based cultural and civic inclusion to draw some conclusions about the realities of this goal.

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Section: Shifting Cultural Representations Of Homelessnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Brief Introduction To the Homeless In The Great Depressionmentioning

confidence: 99%