From Hobo Code to Hollywood, Unhoused Voices Have Shaped Culture, Language, Art, and Advocacy in Profound Ways
Richard Rosario has an uncommon perspective on the world. He knows firsthand the strength it takes to survive homelessness.
As a youth, he was shuffled through the foster care system and prematurely criminalized. The vicious cycle led him from one institution to the next—juvenile detention centers to group homes to foster care. Eventually, he became a homeless youth.
Rosario claims it was the care of a social worker that led him down his path of advocacy, pushing him to pursue multiple degrees related to social work and mental health. Today, he draws from that experience as motivation to help other homeless and vulnerable folks.
As a mental health counselor and trauma responder for Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services, Rosario can relate to the people he is serving. He remembers being so hungry he had to swallow his pride and ask for food.
“It takes a lot of strength to humble yourself and ask a stranger for something to eat,” Rosario said. “Homeless and formerly homeless people have seen the world through a unique and valuable lens. In truth, homeless people actually believe more in your capacity for humanity than you believe in their humanness.”
Rosario’s journey—from homelessness to becoming an advocate who now uplifts others—is one example of the profound ways unhoused people contribute to society.
While often portrayed as “bums” or “criminals,” the truth is that homeless people have a long track record of making profound contributions across culture, language, infrastructure, journalism, and community advocacy. That is why today, we honor the homeless populations past and present for their awe-inspiring benefactions.
From Language to Infrastructure, Art to Journalism: Homeless Handiwork is an American Staple
Scribbled on the walls of the modern American landscape are many relics of the past. Graffiti swirls across the trains, echoing a revolutionary movement that took root in the 1970s. The vibrant bubble letters and spray-painted illustrations once served as the voice of a silenced urban youth.
Poetic inscriptions adorn the walls of the Angel Island Immigration Station. These musings tell the stories of detained Chinese immigrants surviving in the face of persecution.
And if you look through enough of American rubble, you’ll uncover a secret written language once referred to by “tramps” as hobo code. This was a language that belonged exclusively to people who were enduring homelessness, many of whom were transient workers relocating from one job to the next.
Hobo codes were used as a form of communication during the Great Depression, at a time when homelessness knew no bounds, a time not unlike the present day.
Common symbols could be found on street signs, fences, and the sides of industrial complexes. These symbols told homeless people of yesteryear where to find food, kindness, and employment, and where not to seek out such things. Today, they reveal a great deal about the struggles of homeless people in the past and the parallels that exist in modern times.
For example, an illustration of two interlocking circles warned that this was a place where you were likely to be arrested for being homeless. The criminalization of homelessness is equally prevalent today.
Homeless Creativity and Culture Have Shaped American Life
While many of these hobo signs have faded from the infrastructure, the meanings of those symbols greatly influenced American speech. Phrases like “flophouse”, “big house”, and “catching the Westbound train” entered mainstream media because of cryptic hobo hieroglyphics.
And it wasn’t just their art that came to influence the news. It was also their stories, words, lyrics, and gestures, all of which were eternalized in print, photography, and film.
Homeless people made an enormous impact on journalism by sharing their memoirs in influential publications like the 20th Century newspaper Hobo News, which gained popularity after World War I, setting the stage for comparable digital news publications like Invisible People. These authors were brave enough to face their tribulations head-on in literary form and are often credited with spawning the new age street newspaper movement.
In addition to journalism and early photography, a myriad of actors, musicians, screenwriters, and entertainers got their start while living homeless on the street. From silent film star Charlie Chaplin to Grammy award-winning singer Jewel, from George Orwell to Jim Carey, and so many more notable names, people who endured homelessness left legendary marks on society, and they continue to do so.
Homelessness and Advocacy: Homeless Voices Quietly Uplift Communities
Hollywood actors and prize-winning screenwriters garner a lot of glory for their inspiring lives and contributions, but quieter, unhoused voices have been equally important. Take, for example, the numerous tales of homeless people helping other homeless people through advocacy and volunteer work, leading to a lifelong path of championing human rights that sometimes becomes a career.
In 2022, Invisible People highlighted the motivational story of New York City native Brian, a homeless shelter resident who spent his spare time volunteering for an organization known as City Relief to help other unhoused individuals, even in his own time of need.
Then, there is the story of Blair Avitt, a formerly wealthy business owner who lost everything, including his home, when he suffered a health condition that led to multiple heart attacks. Unable to work, Avitt fell haphazardly into homelessness, but kept giving. He spent a great deal of his time volunteering at Joppa, the nonprofit organization that helped him get into housing. Avitt has been volunteering there for 13 years and finds it a rewarding experience that instills him with gratitude.
These aren’t rags-to-riches stories. They’re tales of how true humanity doesn’t stop when times get tough.
Homeless Voices Are Important. Tell Your Legislators to Stop Silencing Them
Surviving homelessness takes an insurmountable amount of strength and tenacity. Yet today, it is a crime according to more than 300 different laws.
What kind of society would punish the people who built its railroads, influenced language, art, architecture, and altruism by arresting them for surviving a harsh life on the streets? Talk to your legislators about embracing housing as a human right.