What is a Hobo?
A hobo is a homeless person who lives a vagrant lifestyle, traveling from place to place. Hobos are also sometimes referred to as vagrants, tramps, or transients, depending on regional preference, and some people use the term “hobo” to refer to a specific type of vagrant homeless person. The United States hosts a large number of hobos, for a variety of reasons, although homeless transients can be found all over the world. Homelessness has been a perennial fact of life for human societies, and many homeless people have historically traveled to seek work or to find friendlier communities where they might get assistance from charitable organizations, churches, or individuals. In the 1800s, many of these vagrants started train hopping, a practice in which people sneak onto trains for travel, and the term “hobo,” which arose in 1847, appears to have been linked specifically to train hopping transients in particular. A hobo may be homeless by choice, preferring an open air lifestyle, or he o
Definition GO THIS WAY HOME – HoboTraveler.com HOBOIntroduction by Andy HoboTraveler.com Hobo Hoboes is a name coined for men and women, but almost exclusive men that travel as migrant workers or left their friends and family in the depression or after wars when there was no work for them in their home cities. They either in many ways left to go look for a job or just to avoid the stress and strains of life in a family where they could no support their families because there was no jobs. They would maybe jump on a train, and ride in a boxcar to the next city to find a temporary job where they was building a large building, or some other temporary job like picking strawberries for the season. Hoboes do not like to be labeled or to have people talk for them, they are an independent lot and they really do not fit into an categories. The ones that actually call themselves Hoboes have a sort of code of the road that they adhere to or are aware of, and this code is some ways enforced or not
The tramp, the hobo, the wanderer – the unemployed, uprooted American, or simply anyone who can’t rest easy without knowing what’s around the next bend in the road – have a social pedigree that runs from the wilderness and Walt Whitman’s “Open Road,” right through to the songs of Bruce Springsteen, and today’s news headlines about migrant workers, homelessness and economic upheaval. In a groundbreaking series of special events and special exhibits this May through July, the Main Street Museum will investigate and celebrate the American wanderer with readings, movies, concerts, cookouts, lectures and more. Read more about our symposium here!
