Write about a surprising or interesting thing that you learned from the segment of the New York documentary that you just watched that has not been mentioned in a previous response. Do this in the comments section below. Why did you find it striking?
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August 29, 2017 at 7:42 pm
The two hour documentary presented numerous historical facts about New York that I was unaware of beforehand. Even though the construction of the Erie Canal or the settlement of New York by the Dutch was interesting to watch, I found the history of Broadway to be the most captivating aspect of the documentary. The road was originally built by the Native Americans and became the main road when the Dutch arrived. I walk on Broadway almost every day, however, I was completely unaware of the rich history behind it. I never thought about how hundreds of years ago the road that I walk on existed and held such great importance. It gives me a bigger appreciation of the struggles the people had to go through in order to build the city I live in today.
August 30, 2017 at 9:19 pm
From this segment of the documentary, I learned more about the poet Walt Whitman. Although I have heard of him before, I never knew what he actually did. Whitman wrote many poems with imagery and successfully expressed his views on New York City and immigration. Whitman was able to see the benefits that the immigrants brought and appreciated that they were a contributing factor to the growth of the city. He would also be amazed at how the immigrants would work together to make something great despite the hardships they faced. However, his book of poems did not sell well because many disliked his style and possibly the fact that he supported immigration. Many citizens at that time didn’t approve of immigrants coming to the city because the citizens feared that the immigrants would take away their jobs. It surprised me that the book didn’t sell because I thought that some citizens would have shared the same viewpoint as him. I also believed that the readers would have looked at the content and his reasons instead of his style and beliefs. Walt Whitman was able to show his opinion on the matter without being concerned about the judgement he would receive which is a characteristic I find to be admirable.
August 30, 2017 at 10:22 pm
The most striking concept from the film, in my opinion, was the ironic history of Wall Street. In the 17th century, the wall was built by enslaved Africans to keep out hostile Indians and protect the Dutch settlements. Figuratively, the wall represented a barrier between different groups of people, cultures, thoughts and societies. Quite literally, the wall defined the northern boundary of the New Amsterdam settlement. However, the interesting idea from this documentary is that although Wall St. began as a boundary, it later emerged as a place of inclusion and diversity. Today, Wall St. facilitates exchanges between people of all different socio-economic backgrounds, cultures, races, and ethnicities. Whereas it began as a flesh trade system, today the institutions on Wall Street, such as the NYSE, give all people equal opportunity to trade stocks and earn a profit. Wall St. has arguably become the financial and economic capital of the world and facilitates the diversity that helps New York become the amazing city it is.
August 31, 2017 at 11:43 am
NYC is a safe haven filled rich multicultural history and land of prominent opportunities and desires. The diverse immigrant population remains the origin of NYC ever since it was established. This city is a jewel of economic opportunities, capital flow, and commercial urban transformation. Alexander Hamilton was an intelligent man who had vision NYC to be the place of manufacture, commercial production, banks, immigration, and the industrial revolution, for which these elements greatly shaped the current state of the city. I personally never heard of Dewitt Clinton, so I was shocked by his accomplishments in establishing the core foundation of the city with Manhattan grid plan and construction of Erie Canal. He altered the geographical island of NYC by creating artificial man-made streets and roads. The construction of the Erie Canal connected the Great Lake with the Hudson River that transformed New York City to be the nation’s economic capital and pulled the Middle-West and East Coast together.
August 31, 2017 at 12:13 pm
The most fascinating or striking segment of the video was the history of Phineas Taylor Barnum and his creation of the American Museum. As diversity amongst the inhabitants of New York increased exponentially, Barnum’s museum united the city in a time of such extreme social divide. During this period of New York’s history, civilians were unsure of who to trust. The towering differences in race and culture heavily segregated the people of the city, and resulted in a population of people with more differences than similarities. At the introduction of the Barnum Museum however, these differences began to dwindle. Against the backdrop of the human extremes that the museum advertised, the people of New York could unite. The magnetic interest of the museum was generated by its fascinating attractions, such as siamese twins, bearded women, and even a dog that operated a sewing machine. Although fascinating, the museum capitalized off of these rare and differently able people, exploiting dwarfs for their rare height and people of color for their characteristics, showcasing them as monkeys or animals. Despite its disturbing nature however, the museum was able to do what nobody since some would argue Stuyvesant was able to do: bring order to the city. This order was temporary, yet effective for the time being in New York’s history. Through the success of his museum, Barnum achieved status as the primary huckster of New York, using his showy details and attractions to earn himself over 42 million dollars in ticket sales over the course of 27 years. The legacy of the American Museum is its unification of New York in such a time of divide, but also the exploitation of differently abled and minorities. The American Museum can most easily be compared to modern day museums such as Ripley’s “Believe it or Not”, and will always be remembered as New York’s original attraction.
August 31, 2017 at 1:22 pm
One interesting thing I learned after watching this segment of the New York City documentary was that New York was the birthplace of modern journalism. In 1835, a Scottish man named James Gordon Bennet founded the New York Herald which would later become the most popular newspaper of the time. Newspapers prior to the 1830s were not widely distributed, were relatively expensive and were owned by one political party. James Gordon Bennet changed this trend by making his New York Herald cost only 1 penny, making it free of political affiliation and filling it with information readers would want to learn about. I find this information striking because I’ve been exposed to journalism of this style my entire life so it’s interesting to learn that it originated in New York.
August 31, 2017 at 6:38 pm
After watching the first episode of the New York documentary, we got to learn about the first 200 years of New York’s history from roughly about 1600-1800 in 2 hours. While watching this episode I learned about the creation and establishment of the Erie Canal by Governor Clinton in 1865. The Erie Canal is striking to me because before the creation of the canal, the longest canal was only 24 miles long and most other canals weren’t longer than 2 miles while the Erie Canal is 425 miles long. Also, the government didn’t want to help fund the creation of the Erie Canal and mostly banks helped pay the 5 million dollar cost of building it but these banks got their money back and more because after the completion of the Erie Canal, it brought in so much new profit, it was like striking a gold mine.
August 31, 2017 at 9:56 pm
The most striking thing I learned from watching the documentary on Thursday was the importance of Washington Irving in the formation of the culture of New York. He held the title of the first man in the new US to earn his sustenance solely through his pen and with that pen, he changed New York completely. He saw the great cities of the world and realized there was a common thread between them all that did not pass through his City: a rich cultural history. Thus, he did something very reminiscent of the New Yorker mindset and fabricated an intricate mythos that delved into the history of his city, even going so far as to create entire families with the last name Knickerbocker. This was so eventful that some rich families during Irving’s time decided to claim ancestry from those fictional Knickerbockers. Eventually, this term also became synonymous for a New Yorker, with the Ney York Knicks also deriving their name from that original term. He even gave the city its first nickname, Gotham, and is credited with inventing the phrase “the almighty dollar,” which in and of itself can be seen as embodying the essence of New York.
September 2, 2017 at 4:40 pm
While there are many facts that I was unaware of, I had previously believed that I had a better understanding of the concept of racism during the development of the United States. I was aware of not only slavery, but the prejudice that existed for Chinese, Irish, and basically any foreign body that posed a threat to the “original American people”. The video’s section on Irish immigrants however, opened my eyes to a newer perspective on the issues of racism in the U.S. and has even shifted my views of modern-day America. People are obliged to believe that racism and prejudice are often based on insignificant features and characteristics of a person in which they have no control over; things such as skin color. However it is evident that the same notion of fear and resentment existed between the American and the Irish people, who were both white. It’s interesting to note that it wasn’t the fact that these immigrants were Irish that the Americans feared them, it was because the American people believed that their ‘stake’ was being threatened.
We often see the media distort the views of its audience to push certain views and agendas, questioning whether or not that bottle of coke will really bring happiness to ours lives (an example). In the same way, we could see the same tactics being used by news outlets, utilizing satirical cartoons to portray the ‘enemies’ as specifically the Irish. Tying in images such as violent, ugly, and drunk in a way very much similar to the way Native Americans were portrayed as savages or African Americans deemed to be no more than property. And while many may think these tactics are rooted to some sort of evil nature found in humans, it’s more of a marketing tactic. Rather than convincing the American people that they have to work harder in a competitive nature against these new immigrants, it was easier to portray the competition as evil and therefore, an invader of sorts that deserved not even an opportunity in the ‘land of immigrants’.
It also points out the large issue of identity that the U.S. did and still is facing today. Many “Americans” seem to fail to understand that unlike other nations, the U.S. is uniquely a state of many nationalities. Founded as a refuge from religious and state oppression, it was funny, but sad that Americans saw the immigrants and said “these people do not belong here”. In the end, the video made me realize that in regards to racial tensions and prejudice towards minorities, the U.S. has been struggling with the same issues that aren’t any closer to being solved now as they were when the nation was in its early stages of development.
September 3, 2017 at 4:19 pm
Something I found fascinating in this segment of the documentary was the sheer rate at which New York was growing. I remember the documentary mentioned the city as being home to a mere hundred thousand by 1800 and expanding to nearly five million by the following century! I was surprised to learn that before this huge influx of population, New York was mostly a rural area. The documentary also mentioned it having few public schools, no public transportation, and a poor sewage system. The documentary even described the streets as being empty after dusk, contrary to how New York is now considered “the city that never sleeps.” This is not how I pictured New York, especially nowadays. I realize now how much time and effort was put in to make our city great.
September 3, 2017 at 6:41 pm
One of the most intriguing parts of the documentary to me, was that New York was one of the first industrialized commuter cities of the modern era. With the conversion of lower manhattan into an almost exclusively commercial area, the rich left this epicenter of economic activity, expanding the city’s reach further outward. This stimulated the growth of public infrastructure including a system of public transportation. This closely mirrors the way New York is structured to this day, with downtown and the financial district being heavily commercial areas, with little residential buildings, and a huge converging point of almost all major subway lines within blocks of each other. This movement of the rich further out of downtown, also gave rise to slums, or what we may now more often call “inner- city” areas, often densely populated by underserved communities of African Americans and new immigrants. Within those slums, New York saw the subdivisions of some of the first ethnic enclaves for which it is so well known.
This demographic shift, to me closely resembles the so-called “White flight” of the post war era, which saw mass movement of whites out of cities and into the suburbanized communities so populous around New York today. Cities were left to the poor, who had little means to establish strong leadership and thus saw an uptick in pollution and neglect. It is somewhat opposite to what we are seeing now, with the general trend being that cities are only accessible to the financially well off, and those with lesser income are moving further out and enduring ever more arduous commutes.
September 4, 2017 at 1:03 pm
I found the documentary to be so interesting because it explained the birth and evolution of yellow journalism. In a city growing so fast and diverse, New Yorkers were desperate for some medium that could quench the chaos and make some order of what was happening throughout the city. Throughout the 1830s and 40s, the overwhelming social and economic diversity threatened to tear the city apart. When the New York Herald was founded by James Gordon Bennett, modern journalism began to flourish; the concept that there could be one publication to supply people with the catching stories of crime, vice, sex, and death in the city enticed people. However reporters didn’t merely serve to entertain, they traveled the breadth of the city in order to inform people of the events occurring around them. Telegraphs and photographs also became tools for people to make sense of the constantly changing city. In some ways, New York was and still is a microcosm of America, as it is composed of immigrants, all who came different reasons with strikingly vast backgrounds, values, and cultures; despite their differences, all flocked to this wonderful city for the similar hopes of a better life. Soon, New York became the center of news for the entire nation. Additionally, I found the response to immigration in the documentary very interesting. There were political parties that rose to popularity in opposition to new comers, such as the No Nothing Party. Some politicians used the immigrants to gain votes, as they promised jobs to those seeking opportunities. Literature depicted the turmoil and beauty that immigration introduced to the city; poet Walt Whitman envisioned the immigrants as an integral force for future for America. The documentary portrayed the growth of New York City as a simultaneous time of confusion and beautiful chaos for the nation as a whole.
September 4, 2017 at 4:50 pm
After watching this segment of the New York documentary, I have a greater understanding of the origins of New York City. The incredible aspect of New York City is its ability to contain so much diversity and differences in one place. With so many different people from different backgrounds, there is bound to be disorder from all directions. However, out of all the disorder, New York City has found a way to create order from this madness. That is what makes New York City such a magnificent spectacle. It has withstood the test of time as one of the greatest cities in the world and it is remarkable that it has not fallen into total chaos. Especially when they mentioned there wasn’t any regular police force, fire department, or public transportation during the beginnings of the city, makes this an even greater feat. I also found the ingenious idea of the newspaper to be surprising because of the extensive impact it had on the city. It was a great solution to the disorder because it helped bring the people together. In addition, I was surprised to learn how much discrimination the Irish immigrants had faced when they arrived to New York City. They were called the “Blacks of the 19th Century” and not considered to be white. This documentary illuminated the hardships that the Irish faced in New York City during the Irish famine. Through all the struggles that New York City has faced, it is impressive to see that there is still order amongst all the confusion.
September 4, 2017 at 5:40 pm
“Penny papers” were locally sourced, inexpensive newspapers created by different and independent groups of people. They attempted to serve to all niches and interests, not just certain political groups or types of people. Unlike papers in the 1830s and prior, these papers were not owned by big political parties or corporations who wrote to their agenda. Rather, these penny papers wrote of titillating and peculiar events that were not typically publicized, such as murders, sex, and scandal. I found this particularly interesting, because it reminds me of modern day magazines and blogs that write of similar sorts. They’re a bit more light-hearted and relatable to the everyday reader. Penny papers were like the original tabloid news that are maybe not as important, but equally necessary for the mere joy and entertainment of life. It was refreshing to see, in addition to all the serious events and news going on at the time, that there was still fun and eclectic pieces of writing circulating throughout the city. It shows that even in New York’s history, New York City has always had that edge of non-mainstream, against the grain type of people that truly make New York unique and revolutionary.
September 4, 2017 at 7:56 pm
I knew that New York was a commercial capitol, however I didn’t know why our political capitol in the U.S. was where it was. Before watching this documentary, I didn’t know that the Continental Congress had their headquarters on wall street following the revolutionary war or that George Washington was sworn in as our first president in New York City. The fact that Jefferson wanted the political capitol in a rural setting instead of the more diverse and populated cities surprised me, but I also understand his reasoning. The energy of the city due to it being the commercial capitol would’ve grown too large if it were to be the political capitol as well and it would actually cause it to run less efficiently. I don’t think that New York City would’ve been able to cope with being both a commercial and political capitol.
September 4, 2017 at 11:58 pm
One thing that I found interesting from the documentary was the profound impact that the “Great Migration” of Irish immigrants had on the city of New York. One million Irish immigrants came to New York to escape the potato famine in Ireland: nearly one-eighth of Ireland’s total population. The influx of impoverished Irish immigrants was an unprecedented humanitarian crisis that no city had ever experienced before. They lived in horrendous overcrowded slums that were ravaged by death and disease, and they roamed the streets of New York as beggars. The Irish had a significant social impact on the city. The overrun of Irish immigrants was viewed by those in the middle and upper classes as the breakdown of traditional society in New York as traditional institutions of authority such as religion lost their influence and control. In addition, the influx of impoverished Irish immigrants sparked conflict with African-Americans who were forced out of their jobs and neighborhoods by the newcomers, as well as conflict with Protestants who resented the new Irish Catholics. Along with their social impact, the Irish might have had an even greater political impact. They helped to elect Fernando Wood as Mayor of New York City and brought power to the political machine of Tammany Hall. The massive number of Irish immigrants in New York gave them significant political influence that frightened the middle and upper classes that had held power for a long time. They proved how the immigrant population of New York could wield significant political influence in the future and revolutionize city politics.
September 5, 2017 at 1:31 am
An interesting notion mentioned in the documentary was the trend of immigrants leaving behind a familiar lifestyle and cramming themselves into ships with thousands of other people in hopes of leading a better life, yet the majority failed to chase the so-called “American dream.” An alarming number of immigrants had died on the ships in the midst of the journey, which begs the question of how low their chances of survival were in their home countries to be willing to move to a land about which they knew next to nothing. The trend of collectively despising the “new” group to enter the city, with the previous “new” group having a target on which to prey, was the manifestation of fear at the looming threat new immigrants posed. In the minds of those already living in New York City, the new immigrants were exactly the type of labor for which their employers were looking—capable of doing the same work at a lower price.
The city’s diversity stems from the immigrants’ response to the need for workers in its developing industries. However, to the established residents, this diversity was just a means of identifying the enemies. The African Americans and the Irish were equally at a disadvantage, having been the groups with the lowest economic statuses, but they were pitted against each other by business owners whose only motive was to increase their own wealth. The Irish were initially preferred by business owners because they were willing to work for less money than the African Americans, but the latter would be subsequently hired when the Irish requested higher wages. In showing the two groups that they were expendable, the businessmen elevated the conflict until the immigrants were on the verge of a civil war. These people had left behind everything they knew on the assumption that their burdens would be eased in a new country, but there was no guarantee of a better life, and even less potential for success to the degree for which they had hoped.
September 5, 2017 at 8:12 am
This segment of the documentary greatly helped me in understanding the history of New York. I was fascinated to learn about the effect of the Erie Canal on fostering the growth of Manhattan. Prior to the Erie Canal, Manhattan was relatively slow in development. However, as the Great Lakes were connected to the Hudson, New York saw tremendous growth. Ten miles of street front were being developed per year and the city was rapidly industrializing. This caused parts of lower Manhattan to become strictly commercial zones and the demand for workers in these factories caused an influx of immigrants. This led Manhattan to become the greatest industrial city in America at the time of the Civil War and the greatest city in the world thereafter.
September 5, 2017 at 9:26 am
Through watching this two hour documentary about Manhattan, I learned much more about the poet Walt Whitman and the development of our city. I was amazed by how fast New York was changing and I was fascinated by it’s advancements. I never really pictured New York to start so much as the way that it did. This documentary opened my eyes about how everything really started and I also learned much more about immigration and how immigrants took upon jobs in thriving industries. I came to know how the Irish impacted the growth of New York City. I was shocked at learning as to what conditions they lived in and how they were segregated. I never really understood that racism was built into the very structure of the city but through watching this video I was able to clearly see how divided everything was. The Irish and African Americans had many similarities in the way that they were both at a clear disadvantage and were given low paying jobs. These two groups struggled to make a living yet benefited greatly to the birth of what Manhattan is today.
September 5, 2017 at 4:11 pm
Dear Mr.Hoffman,
I just wanted to write a comment to let you know that, unfortunately due to a limit of the technology where I currently am, although I can do the rest of the assignment for this lesson, I’m unable to open this video to post a response to it. I’m terribly sorry and I look forward to attending class as soon as possible!
September 5, 2017 at 10:46 pm
The diversity of New York City was certainly an aspect that allowed economic and cultural prosperity. With the growing demand for industrialization and expansion, the greatest city in America was developing. The Erie canal was built, museums were constructed, markets expanded, and the media was established. Behind that greatness, however, people struggled to make a living. New Yorkers, mainly immigrants, lived in slums filled with vermin and diseases. Death rate in the slums was as high as three times the death rate in other parts of the city. Most importantly, it was the children who suffered from the rapid industrialization and growth. Not only did young children face unbearable living conditions, but were forced to participate in gangs. In addition, it was estimated that almost ten thousand children grew up to be prostitutes. Worst of all, most didn’t even have a home. Conditions slightly improved when Charles Loring Brace took action. With his help, the children’s aid society was established. Children were able to live in a home for as low as 17 cents per night. He described in his memoir, The Dangerous Classes of New York and Twenty Years’ Work Among Them, that it was the economic diversity that created these living conditions for the children. He valued the education of children, and the chance to provide them every opportunity to learn and grow. He believed that simply putting them into labor is not near enough to improve their conditions. His belief has carried on to today’s societal ideals, where youth education is the utmost importance of not only their own success, but the future of the our world.
October 17, 2017 at 3:40 am
One section of the documentary that I found particularly interesting was its description of Irish immigration to New York in the mid 19’th century. As demand for workers in the city grew, the influx of immigrants from countries in Western Europe grew. A large number of Irish immigrants arrived and quickly found work, as they were willing to take on the most grueling, difficult, and labour intensive jobs, such as sewer work. By 1842, over 100,000 Irish immigrants had entered the city, and native born workers began to sense that they faced greater competition for available jobs. This created a massive wave of anti-Catholic and anti-Irish sentiment. The Irish were portrayed as a lazy, violent, heavily drinking people incapable of being loyal to the United States because of their loyalty to the Catholic church. The American Party, also known as the Know-Nothing party grew, on a firm anti-immigrant stance. The Irish became known as the Blacks of the 19th Century, and were regarded as an inferior race. Relations were not improved by the sudden onset of famine in Ireland in 1845. Over 1 million Irish died and 2.1 million Irish left the country, saturating the city with foreign, impoverished workers even more. It is interesting to note that the Irish sailed across the Atlantic on sailing ships, taking a 30-day long passage, as opposed to the 7-day trip future immigrants would take on steamships. These sailing ships were often called “Coffin Ships” because of the high rates of fatality on the passage. By 1854, so many immigrants had entered the city that an old concert hall had to be repurposed to contain impoverished newcomers, and the slums of the city were teeming with 5 times as many people as the city planners had originally intended.