Riding the rails Questions

1. Provide examples from the film why thousands of teenagers chose to ride the rails in the 1930s.

-some teenagers rode the train because they had to find jobs and earn money so that they can send it back home to their families
-some teenagers had to leave to fend for themselves because their family lost their jobs and wasn’t able to afford taking care of them any longer
-some teenager wanted to ride the rails because it was a passport to adventure

2. How did teenagers with no jobs find food and shelter in new cities?

-Kids who were homeless, without jobs and who came to the city turned to the missions or the Salvation Army. These missions were a place teenagers could get a free meal so long as they sat through the sermon.

3. Discuss some of the challenges black teenagers would face on the rails.

-Because city relief was inadequate, a lot of kids drifted into the hobo life. They relied on the charity of farmers and housewives to give them food. White teenagers were fed much better than the black teenagers. The black teenagers would not fare too well as some people would turn them down and some didn’t even want them on their premises to beg for food. But if you were white, you were treated much better as some people would let the white kids stay in the house with them.

4. Define the terms:

Bulls- the railroad police

Knee shaker- a knee shaker is when you would sit down on the back porch and someone would bring you a tray of sandwiches or something

Handout/lump- a handout also called a lump was something they would give you in a sack to take

sit down- is when they would ask you to come in and you could eat with the family

hobo jungle- a simple gathering, camping spot for hobos usually near rail-road lines

Jungle buzzard- sometimes in hobo jungles, there are actual residents that live there for weeks or months at a time. These people are referred to as “jungle buzzards.”

C.C.C- stands for the Civilian Conservation Corps, an innovative federally funded organization that put thousands of Americans to work during the Great Depression on projects with environmental benefits

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