Hoovervilles in the Great Depression

Mr. Jensen: "I owned a farm that had been owned by my pa and his pa before him, but after the depression hit I couldn't make a profit selling my grain at the market, and then the bank came after my land, my barn, my animals, my house, and they would've taken the close off our backs if they could."

Reporter: " How are you and your family living now?"

Jensen: " We live here in what folks call a Hooverville. We have a one room shack made out of plywood and tin scraps we were able to salvage before they chased us off our land.

Reporter: "What about food and water?"

Jensen: "Well water comes form a community well not to far from here, but there's talk that it's starting to dry up. As for food we take whatever we can get sometimes we get a rice from some government agency, but most of the time we just live off what we can scrounge up."

Reporter: “How do you feel about living in this community?”

Jensen: “There are some nice folks around here who share our situation but there are also criminals in our midst, which scares my poor wife and the little ones.”

Reporter: “Who do you feel is responsible for your situation?”

Jensen: “Hoover”

Reporter: “Why?”

Jensen: “Well I could be mad at the market or the bank but they ain’t a person to be mad at, but Hoover is in charge of it all so are problems must be a result of his bad choices.”

by Matthew Atha, Charesse James, & Kerry Valdez