Immigrants came in search of the American Dream……

When they arrived in New York for most the reality was very different……..

After 1890 most immigrants were forced to live in SLUM or GHETTOS

Slum

part of the city where people live who have low-incomes and often many social problems

Ghetto

poor area of the city where people of a specific ethnic group live

Most new immigrants settled in areas what were both slums and ghettos

Separate areas of New York where new immigrants settled became known as

Little Italy

Little Russia

Little Poland etc

Little Italy, New York

To cope with the large number of new immigrants New York developed tenement houses

Problems

Usually only 1 or 2 rooms per family

Problems

Most new immigrants had large families

Problems

• Less than half of tenement had running water

• Few had bathrooms

• Single lavatory in hallway shared by many families

• Some only had backyard outhouse

Problems

Problems

Apartments had no heating. Running water was only available in the filthy hall. Toilets were in the basement, about 10 floors down from our room. The smell was terrible and in winter we froze. But we froze back in Russia so what’s the difference? At least now we had a dream to aim for.

• Over a thousand rooms in a tenement block

• Over 400 rooms had no window

• No fresh air passed through the houses

• Many people died from illnesses

• No heating

• On summer nights some slept on roofs or fire escapes or their buildings

Problems

Four to six stories high, with four apartments on each floor, they held two or three families in each apartment, all with no elevator or indoor plumbing. We used cesspools and outhouses for sewage. And people just threw their garbage in the street. 500,000 people per square mile living on the Lower East Side got awfully crowded and smelly!

In 5 years 32 people in our block had died from breathing problems brought on by the lack of heating and the damp rooms we lived in.

Problems

After the 1880's jobs were scarce….

Housing conditions were terrible and so were working conditions and that wasn’t surprising. Houses and work places were the same place! It is not unusual to find lots of people, from young children to old people, at work in the dirty rooms, sewing, stitching, making clothes to sell in the market stalls or repairing watches and clocks. Anything that would raise a few dollars.

Problems

Problems

Sorting coffee beans for resale

Making clothes

Problems

Selling bread on the street

Trash collectors

Problems

Construction workers

New York was not the only place scarred by the immigrant slums. Slums could be found wherever immigrants settled. With such bad conditions it’s hardly surprising that so many tried to escape by making easy money. Every block had its gambling dens, its prostitutes and its gangsters. Immigrant crime is a threat to the American way of life.

Problems

Kids played on the sidewalks and streets

Problems

School– Overcrowded and thousands were turned away

– School buildings were poorly heated, old and decaying

– Special needs of children who spoke foreign languages or had learning disabilities not taken into account

Problems

Work

• More than 100,000 kids worked in factories instead of going to school.

• Factories were dark, damp, dangerous and dirty

Problems

Was it really possible for New Immigrants to achieve their American Dream?

"that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement….. and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."