Jo-Anne Foley
Child, Family and Community
April 16, 2013
Socialization Paper
What is socialization? What impacts the way we are socialized from early on to our last days? What events can affect the way we are socialized? I could go on with questions about socialization because every single aspect of our daily life affects how we are socialized and are continuously being socialized as we advance in age. War, famine, and simple things such as home schooling all affect how humans are socialized.
On October 24 1929 America was hit with one of the hardest economic downfalls it had ever seen in its 150 years. My grandmother remembers this day well. I loved hearing stories from her past so learning about how The Great Depression affected her was educational and heartbreaking. We spent a few hours talking about how my great grandparents were affected as well as my grandmother. The Great Depression left many families without basic necessities.
My grandmother’s family lost their house, leaving her parents, her sister Sudie and her brother
John homeless. She told me how they had to give up everything and leave the city to find somewhere to live. They became squatters in a makeshift housing encampment near a small stream about 15 miles from town. She said these small areas were referred to as Hoovervilles, but she couldn’t remember why. I researched it. Hoovervilles were small housing camps built
outside of the city in vacant lots in a bitter tribute to Herbert Hoover, the president at the time of the stock market crash. The houses were made from scrap materials such as cardboard, packing crates and anything else that could possibly keep the elements out. I just couldn’t imagine the pain these families felt during this time. My grandmother spoke of how they had community dinners and everyone shared what they had. She said dropping out of school was normal for the boys so they could seek employment and the younger children had make shift schooling taught by