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Hobos are homeless wanderers who travel from place to place, often by train. They may be homeless by choice or due to economic circumstances. The homeless lifestyle has been romanticized, but it is a difficult life with risks of injury, illness, and persecution. Hobos have developed their own society, including a code of ethics and a complex system of chalk marks to communicate with each other. In the 1800s, hobos formed their own union to avoid persecution during their travels.
A hobo is a homeless person who lives a wandering lifestyle, traveling from place to place. Hobos are also sometimes referred to as drifters, wanderers, or transients, depending on regional preferences, and some people use the term “hobo” to refer to a specific type of homeless wanderer. The United States is home to large numbers of vagrants, for a variety of reasons, although transient homeless people 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 find friendlier communities where they could receive assistance from charities, churches, or individuals. In the 1800s, many of these hoboes began riding trains, a practice in which people sneak onto trains to travel, and the term “hobo,” which originated in 1847, appears to have been connected specifically to passengers hopping trains in particular.
A vagrant may be homeless by choice, preferring an outdoor lifestyle, or may be forced into it by economic circumstances, mental illness, and other factors. Historically, vagrants often sought work in the cities where they landed, working as migrant laborers in the fields, washing dishes in restaurants, and doing other simple jobs in exchange for shelter, food, or money. Some modern wanderers continue to look for work as they travel, but many more are unemployed, relying on a variety of tactics to find food and shelter.
The homeless lifestyle has often been romanticized and idealized, especially by those who have not experienced homelessness. Images of drifters riding the railroad tracks to seek their fortunes were common in many early 20th-century novels, and drifters became especially high-profile during the Great Depression, when thousands were forced into transient lifestyles by the troubled economy American. Indeed, hoboes have a hard life, being at risk of injury, illness and persecution from local authorities, as most communities do not like hosting homeless populations.
In response to the hardships of hobo life, hobos have developed a very isolated society. They use a complex “hobo code” of chalk marks to message one another, using universal symbols to convey information about train routes, the friendliness of specific houses, and so on. Some hobos also abide by a code of ethics that stresses the importance of behaving in a respectful manner to ensure hoboes are welcomed into a community in the future, and places a strong emphasis on maintaining justice within the hobo community, with penalties for stealing from other vagabonds, lying and other infractions.
In the mid-1800s, hobos even formed their own union, Tourist Union #63, to avoid persecution during their travels. Union members tended to attract less scrutiny when traveling in the 1800s, with people assuming they were traveling for work, and hobos took advantage of the protections afforded union members by having their own independent union.
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