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Hobo Graffiti
Be careful not to call a vagrant or homeless person a hobo — although this is exactly what the word means, it’s considered an offensive term. The end of the nineteenth century brought the start of the word hobo in the Western US. No one is certain where hobo originated. One possible origin is the English word “hawbuck”, meaning “country bumpkin,” while another is the common working man’s greeting or call during the building of the railroads “ho, boy!”
Hostility against hobos was high across the nation. Teen hobos were discriminated against, as they were widely viewed as bums, liabilities, and bad influences. Most parents forbade their children to speak with the teen wanderers, and most people shunned them and turned them away.
Furthermore, hostility toward African American hobos was even higher. Residual prejudices, especially in the South, played a role in aggressive acts against black hobos. Lynchings still occurred, and it was risky for African American hobos to travel through southern states.
“If it was white kids, they fared better. If it was black ones, you did not,” states African American hobo boy, Clarence Lee. “Some [landowners] would turn you down and some of them didn’t want you on their premises to go ask for nothin’. But a white one [teenage hobo] was treated much better. They might let them stay in a house with them, but me, I could sleep in a barn with the mules and hay… My worst fears was bein’ shot by some farmer who didn’t want you around.”
Hobo Ben Fowler wrote, “These three fellas started working a con game so I told them to leave us alone. One of them jumped up and gouged me with a big, long pocket knife and then they took off. If the wound in my chest had been a quarter of an inch deeper I would have died right there.”
December 1938 Napa Valley CA
Five men in a “hobo camp,” 1913
Depression 1929, Hard Time, “Hobo Nickle”
Hobo life during the great depression Library of Congress
A railroad worker with a club called a “hobo nightstick” straddles train cars
Hobo Camp 1935
Atlanta Georgia
Read more about Hobo Life
ORIGINAL HOBO NICKEL SOCIETY A Dictionary of Old Hobo
http://www.hobonickels.org/alpert04.htm
THE AMERICAN HOBO – RIDING THE RAILS DURING AMERICA’S GREAT DEPRESSION, 1929 – 1942 by Mandy Youngguist
http://www.mandymnewman.com/2012/05/american-hobo_3202.html
Let Our Voices Echo 
The two boys described as teen wanderers and hobos in the great Depression article of 2016 are anything but!! They had the sweetest gig in town. I know because my 12 year old father “sold them the territory” and hired them. As the son of the Town Council President and Coal Mine Check Weigh Man he was given this perk. The other kids used to call the boys “chipmunks” because they made enough to help their families AND stuff their pockets with bubble gum… Only as a slag picker could a ten year old boy make almost s as much as a 19 year old man. Now Google image search Lou Mc Hugh, Find the picture of the sailor posing with the high school football team. They are giving my father, “King of the Heap” the big send off to Atlantic fleet convoy duty seven years later. It is probably the only other photo known to exist of the two boys together. The blond boy is on the right of my father, the sailor. The boy that had the cap on is now front row, second from right… You may also see the 1943 picture of the sailor posing with the deck gun, “Nanty Glo” painted on it. Subtract six years from a 19 year old sailor and yo get a thirteen year old boy..
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Thanks for this I posted it to FB.
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