I agree with both Liz and Rebecca when they describe their disgust with the conditions of the town of Five Points. It’s absolutely awful that immigrants came to New York with the idea of living a better life, and instead faced an outbreak of cholera. The streets of the city were unsanitary, and the tenements were so much worse. Anbinder explains that tenement dwellers tracked dirt into the tenements from the street, and often worse the same clothing for many days. They did not have proper bathrooms and plumbing, The outhouses were so dirty, and no one wanted to be responsible for cleaning the bathrooms, so people often decided to use chamber pots instead; however, they weren’t frequently emptied.
In Brownsville, Brooklyn, Pritchett shows another side to immigration. Sure the land was wanting and expensive in Brownsville, and as a result, people were cramped into small buildings. On the flip side, however, Brooklyn was referred to as the suburbs when compared to Manhattan. Contrary to Anbinder’s negative point of view towards the living conditions of immigrants, Pritchett chose to focus on the activities and institutions of the neighborhood. He describes the first synagogues erected, and the organizations formed, for example, Sanger’s Birth Control Clinic and the Hebrew Educational Society.
As Liz and Rebecca mentioned, the dwellers of Brownsville, Brooklyn, adopted socialist, rather than capitalist, ideals and practices. Although the “remote” location of the neighborhood allowed the tenement owners to evade inspection, unions became rampant in the neighborhood. These unions worked to ensure proper living and working conditions. Although the socialist politicians of the area promoted the rights of the lay people, the neighborhood had its fair share of crime. Abe Reles and his gang of friends were notable criminals, forming a mob of people arrested many times.
It was also interesting to note the effect of religion on the lives of the Brownsville immigrants. Pritchett notes that many Jews ceased to observe the Sabbath as it interfered with their work schedules that they felt were essential to their success in America. Still, they came and settled in the neighborhood together since new immigrants looked to meet up with people they know from their countries back home. In later years, other groups joined the Jews in Brownsville, although the intergroup relations were not always amicable.
