This week you are going to study photographs of the slum-life in New York City at the end of the 19th century.
Visit these two websites, read the article and look at the photographs.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/new-york-immigrants-photos
https://allthatsinteresting.com/jacob-riis-photographs-how-the-other-half-lives
For the comment section, write 200 words on your reaction to the things you saw this week. (Questions to consider: What would life have been like? How could it have been solved? What emotions bubbled up when looking at the photographs? Etc.)
It must have been hard to be an immigrant at this time period in America. Immigrants were flowing in like salmon and you just don’t know what to do with all of them. No one expected there to be this many immigrants. There were plenty of jobs just no where to stay. Just from looking at the pictures you could tell how many people were just living off the streets. It wasn’t there fault but there was just no more room for them. There were diseases everywhere. Some houses estimated 13 people a room which the rooms were only 13 feet in diameter. Families suffered from this only because they were out of room ,not wealth and that's such a great perspective to show you how crowded these HUGE cities were like. Calculations showed there was about 5,000 immigrants showing up each day.The opportunity to come to the free states was on the 17th of December in 1900. The numbers only reached a couple hundred thousand for a few years then the numbers erupted and by the end of it all there were a couple million immigrants in the United States of America.There were many crimes committed on the streets of these cities but what could the immigrants do when they had no homes.
ReplyDelete1) What would have life been like? I would say like living Hell, but for these people we can not really know how they felt or what they were thinking about during this time. I will bet that they wished to be in a different living situation than the way they were living. 2) How could it have been solved? I think the way President Theodore Roosevelt handled it is the best way to solve it, but sooner than he did. Although, I like how President Roosevelt stepped in to make living situations for these immigrants better and healthier by building playgrounds, homeless shelters and tearing down the small homes. What emotions bubbled up when looking at the photographs? My emotions were heartbroken for these children and adults that had to live beside and in dead, diseased and smelly areas on the streets. In one particular picture the kids were sitting on the sidewalk next to a dead horse and I thought that was disturbing to those kids to be near something that could get them severally sick. Immigrant during this time had it rough, not being in a clean home with comfortable living situations. (222)
ReplyDeleteIt should be 3) What emotions bubbled...
ReplyDeleteTo live in an area like this would be a very scary feeling and just over all terrifying knowing you live near the crime and the dirt and everything around. You would always feel unclean and overcrowded all the time. In your living situation you have no room to move or to even breathe it probably felt like that to a lot of the people who had to live like this. During this time the immigration was growing and they were all trying to go through Ellis Island and that would be difficult if you could not get in and if you did the population just blew up and places became even more crowded then they already were and then it was just a huge crowded dirty mess. People were probably miserable and it was just awful over all probably for everyone. I don’t think anyone would want to be that close to any person and then not be clean and you smell awful and look awful and no one just probably did not want to be around or have a part in it. The population kept continuing to grow while the immigrants kept coming over and it just kept getting crowded and growing . (204)
ReplyDeleteLife during his time must have been hard for people during this time because the streets were dirty and trashed. Many people lived near or in dumps, and the crime rates was so bad in New York at this time. It was so bad men stood on 59 Mulberry Street in little Italy, 1888. This place was a notorious spot for crime it earned the name “Bandit’s Roost”. This place was the most crime-ridden through out the city. Poverty was so bad little kids would cuddle up together and sleep on the floor. The trash was so bad in the street Teddy Rosevelt said it was impossible to clean New York City’s streets. After a while the “White Wings” were assigned the project to clean the streets. The man who engineered this whole plan was George Waring who did a great job at clean the city but didn’t fully solve it. The living conditions were bad too because people would live in the basements of large buildings and in dumpsters. In many of the pictures it was of kids by them selfs. Many of their parents were gone all day so there siblings took care of there younger brother(s) or sister(s).
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I can only imagine how difficult life would’ve been. These pictures look so lonely and so upsetting. I try to imagine in my mind how it would feel. But like I said, that’s all I can do is imagine. We are so blessed to have the things we have. We are so blessed to have our schools and churches. It breaks my heart to see these people getting their picture taken in such bad condition. I don’t know how I would react if I was walking down the street and saw something like that. I would break down. We tend to think that our world has come so far and there isn’t poverty like this. That mindset it so wrong. There are people living like this all over the world. We don’t see it all the time but it’s all throughout the world. Pregnant women don’t have the options of giving birth in a hospital. Children are dying after birth because the living conditions are so bad. There are people starving and living in little holes just like in these photos. Our world has lessened them as people. We say that they got themselves there so we shouldn’t help. In my opinion, I think everyone deserves a second chance. (Word count: 209)
ReplyDeleteI bet it was hard to live during this time in our history. Immigrants who came to the U.S had to go though many rough things just to become a citizen. Jacob Riis took pictures of the miserable people living on the streets with sometimes the people living in a house that was basically a smelly dumpster and very crowded that’s how bad it was. It makes me feel thankful of what we have today and that we have shelters that are not like a smelly dumpster. It would have been so hard to live like this and some people didn’t have homes which is very awful. If I had to even live in a place like this I would not be comfortable and I would also be very scared and nervous all the time. I would also be very sick as welling I could not even imagine being or even living in a place like this. I bet that Jacob Riis was uncomfortable visiting these horrid places and stepping in a town like this and much less even taking any pictures of these places would probably make the man uncomfortable. Life would be so difficult and different and scary if we as a country still lived like this. (210 words)
ReplyDeleteLife during this time ha to be hard with everything going on. People coming here from their native land is what I think the hardest part would have been because you have to live with people you never met or seen at Ellis Island, and you have to talk to others who don't speak the same language. Coming to America and having to find a job wasn't the hard part but what you were making probably wouldn't be enough to support your wife and kids. The only way things could be solved is if Owners paid more or people worked hard and got the owner attention and made them want to pay them more. Looking at the photographs was hard seeing kids sleeping outside and parents not able to supply them. This makes me so thankful that I have parents who can supply for me and not have to go through what they went through. Seeing the dirt on the road has me thankful for street cleaners and garbage men for cleaning up our trash and not just leaving it there on the road. Dirt on the road is hard for everyone with the odor, the space, and frustration with it not being cleaned.
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I felt like life during this time period was very difficult. There was so much trash and waste on the side of the streets and people just had to walk over or around it. It had to be super crowded on the streets trying to get to work or the destination you’re going to. There must have been a lot of homeless people begging for money on the streets and they just sit out there all day, and some days it would get very cold. In one image shown, there was a dead horse on the side of the street and kids shown beside it. I felt like kids had it rough growing up with their parents making not a lot of money. Not a lot of people had a home or anywhere to live at, so they just slept on the side of the street or in the alleys. It is honestly heartbreaking to see and know life was actually like this back then. It is very sad to know people did not make a lot of money back then and when you walked past a homeless person you weren’t able to give them much because you didn’t make much either. (202 words)
ReplyDeleteWow, I’m very blessed to be living in the period God put me in. Like, it boggles my mind to think of what my life would be like if I was born in the time period of all the immigrants from Ellis Island are from. I still have to wait hours to go on a plane, but it’s nothing compared to waiting days upon days, weeks upon weeks, months upon months. I thought the pictures were really cool, but bless the women in the pictures. They all looked like they did not want to be there. I understand that’s just how people pose for pictures, but some of them had the real expression of, “ I need to get out of here before I lose it” type of look. Like, the face a real annoyed mom has when their kid is flipping out, having a full on out tantrum, is being disrespectful and their in an environment where they can’t discipline them for example, in line at Walmart. No, but for real it would have to be the Lord telling me to go somewhere for me leave my country permanently. I have respect for those types of people. The process they had to go through is insane; I’m very thankful we no longer have to go through that type of process. Thank you, Lord. (224)
ReplyDeleteIt seemed very difficult to be an Immigrant in America, especially at this time. The poverty and crime was so high and the technology was not yet very advanced. Immigrants probably felt hopeless. They were so desperate to escape the terrible times of poverty and having no rights that they would give up their whole life to take the risk of maybe having nothing with the hopes of it being better. In the second link, the images really hit my heart. A young girl with a baby sitting by a trash can, it’s so heartbreaking to me that so many people were easily homeless and had no money.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that stuck out is that in both websites they were struggling with small things like the temperature. A lot of times I forget to be thankful for the smallest things like air conditioning and heat. Looking at all these pictures is definitely a reminder of not only how thankful we should be but how loving and caring we should be to everyone around us. The people that are shown in the images are probably so thankful to be in freedom even though they are still struggling. Life definitely would’ve been difficult. It’s hard to put myself in their shoes but I think it’s definitelt eye opening. (216)
Oh my Goodness, I cannot even fathom living like the poor people from that Era. God has blessed me with great things in my life and I have never had to worry about my next meal. This poor people didn’t only have to worry about their next meal but also their health and if they were going to get a good night's rest from maybe being to cold or to hot. Immigrants came to the United States thinking that they would have a better life; but they honestly did not with the poor conditions they had to live in and the unfair treatment and pay that they got. Sometimes we think that this “Era” is gone but there's still places around the world that people still live in this conditions.
ReplyDeleteFor example in Central American countries there is places that people are dying because they might not have a good clean place to live in or they might have to worry about being able to feed their family. I in fact know from past experiences. Going on mission trips to Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic have helped me grow and mature. Families in this places have to work hard to be able to feed their families. It’s so sad. This summer I was blessed with having the opportunity on going on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic it was a life changing trip. One thing that was so memorable is counting my blessings because what might seem something small to us is a great blessing for someone else this trip taught me to appreciate what I have and who I have in life. The kids from the Dominican Republic would ask me for food because they were hungry, it was so sad that the kids had to suffer hunger. It amazed me that the kids in an empty stomach and with not many things they would still be joyful, in things that might seem little to us.
I believe that as a country we have lost joy from small things because we are always expecting the next big thing. We aren’t pleased with what we have and we just want more. In our own country that we live in the United States there is also people suffer their not much because we have been blessed with having organizations that are willing to help people in need, but it still exist. Looking at all this pictures it made me want to cry. Just looking at how horrible the people’s living conditions were. Some houses estimated 13 people a room. The sick kids, died people, died animals, and dirty environment. Just made me realize that I have to thankful for everything I have. I believe everyone should be more thankful for what they have. This is for sure personally an eye opening lesson.
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Seeing images of the slums in New York City at the end of the nineteenth century and reading about what it was like for those living there sounds completely horrific. I could never even come close to imagining living in conditions like these millions of people did. The photos taken clearly show how awful the living situations and conditions were. Almost everyone in these conditions were crammed, had little space, were dirty, povertous, hungry, and much more. There are even horrific images of young children and kids bundled up together, looking miserable. I can not imagine the amount of not only physical suffering and pain, but also emotional suffering and pain suffered by everyone who lived in these conditions. Because everyone living in these conditions were poor, it was extremely difficult for them to support their families and provide for them. Getting out of this area of the "social/economic pyramid" would have been nearly impossible due to what these people had to work with. Not to mention basically everyone living in these conditions were immigrants, and they had just come to a whole new country with new land, people, experiences, and more. Looking at these pictures shows me how much I have and how much I take it for granted. (Word Count: 211)
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