SIDE LIGHTS.* Homeless people have always been part of the American scene. At all times in U.S. history there have been vagrants, drifters, and mentally disturbed persons surviving as well as they could without permanent housing. The first skid rows--rundown sections of cities with cheap hotels--began appearing across the country in the years following the U.S. Civil War The U.S. Civil War, also called the War between the States, was waged from April 1861 until April 1865. The war was precipitated by the secession of eleven Southern states during 1860 and 1861 and their formation of the Confederate States of America under President Jefferson Davis. (1861-65). They got their name from Seattle's Skid Row skid row a run-down area frequented by alcoholics. [Am. Culture: Misc.] See : Alcoholism Skid Row district of down-and-outs and bums. [Am. Usage: Brewer Dictionary, 1008] See : Failure , a street along which horses skidded logs to a saw mill. The street was inhabited by a number of down-and-out Seattle residents. * During the economic prosperity of the 1920s, the number of homeless people declined. But the next decade plunged the nation into its worst depression in history. Thousands of Americans found themselves in bread lines and soup kitchens, or dependent on other charities for food. In the cities, many wound up living in subway corridors, abandoned construction sites, or "Hoovervilles"--makeshift shantytowns named after Herbert Hoover, who was president when the depression hit. * A major figure in helping the poor and homeless in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. was Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 – May 21, 1935) was a founder of the U.S. Settlement House Movement and the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. (1860-1935). Addams (above) helped found Chicago's Hull House in 1889. By 1907, Hull House included 13 buildings and took up an entire city block. Addams organized the first public playground in Chicago, the first juvenile court juvenile court Special court handling problems of delinquent, neglected, or abused children. Two types of cases are processed by a juvenile court: civil matters, often concerning care of an abandoned or impoverished child, and criminal matters, arising from antisocial in the nation, and one of the first kindergartens in the United States. In 1931, Addams was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish and Norwegian: Nobels fredspris) is the name of one of five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. . |
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