Elissa’s Spark for March 13 – How They Lived

Tenements, tenements, tenements. It is no doubt that I have read the word “tenement” at least a hundred times while reading Sanjek, Foner, and especially Anbinder. This week’s readings were focused on what type of living conditions the immigrants of the late 1800s and early to mid 1900s experienced: extremely small, extremely crowded, and extremely filthy tenements.

Anbinder describes the Five Points tenement buildings as unimaginable habitats in which dirt, murder and disease were all too common, especially on Baxter and Mulberry Street. Incoming immigrants of nearly every race settled in these run-down buildings due to the cheap rent and the proximity of the buildings to workplaces. Landlords of the tenement housing would divide up a building that was not so large to begin with, into countless rooms that would house one, two and even over three families at a time. These “apartments” were as small as 225 square feet, and contained rooms the size of closets as small as 5 X 6 square feet. The fact that these room were so small and their location in the middle of the building, meant that in many apartment rooms there were no windows or doors. The darkness of these “bedrooms” paralleled the pitch black hallways and stairwells in the building. The fact that the landlords utilized as much space, and every inch of that building as they could, proved for very steep stairways in which many residents fell down or obtained various injuries while bringing groceries, laundry or water to and from their second, third, fourth or fifth floor apartments. One might think that living on the first floor of these apartments might be more ideal, however when it came time for laundry the women had to deal with dirt and filth falling from above clothes lines. In these tenements there was no winning.

Also a problem was the lack of privacy these people had while living in these tenements. Because of the small rooms and the close proximity of the apartments, these immigrants were literally piled on top of one another all the time. I remember reading that one visitor to these tenements recalled a number of women sleeping in a “heap.” Even if the tenents did have more breathing room, they would only be breathing in the putrid air and odors of the outside cesspools, in which the smell of excretion is most unbearable, especially when it rains and the fluids run in to the buildings. Consistent with all the recounts of tenement life, was the odor amongst these poverty stricken immigrants and the filth and grime in which they had to live.

Foner states that “three-quarters of Mahattan’s residents in 1900 were tenement dwellers,” in which many lived in a rear tenement: a building erected behind another in that light and ventilation were especially horrible. Toilets were outside, there was no running water, and people bathed, if at all, in the kitchen. During the cold, there was no heat. During the hot, residents slept on roofs and fire escapes.

What was also common among all immigrants was the renting out of the little space they had to borders and lodgers in order to gain a little extra money to pay rent. However with more people comes less space, more dirt, and problems of jealousy and thievery. Manhattan, Harlem and Brooklyn all experienced these types of housing, which became the reality for most newcomers.

Many immigrants today also face substandard living conditions. “10,000 – 50,000 immigrants live in cubicles illegally carved out of the basements of private homes and apartment houses, with little light or ventilation and inadequate means of escape.” Although many immigrants still live like this, “most newcomers are bypassing the old ghetto neighborhoods.” This is due to the fact that most new immigrants arrive with a higher skill set than their historic counterparts therefore they begin in the middle of the labor market, more than one family member works therefore money is pooled and in some situations money is brought from abroad. Although descent housing and living spaces are available, European, Russian and Asian immigrants do not face the same living conditions as Blacks and Hispanics do, specifically Dominicans. Dominicans fare the worst in household ownership and household income. This is due to the better education and English skills, and higher rates of female employment amongst European and Asian immigrants.

Although we can never really grasp how these immigrants lived and just how horrible conditions were, I find it very amazing (not in the good sense) that people actually lived like this, in closets filled with dirt and other people.

Yes, here come the questions I think would be interesting to talk about…

1) Many journalist, photographers and organizations such as the Tenement House Committee examined and documented these conditions. Everyone knew how bad it was. With all this evidence and with all the disgusting things people discovered, did anybody do anything to stop it or reform these housings? Were these documentations purely for historical or entertainment reasons? The government knew how bad it was because of all these records, did they try to do anything to help these people besides the “new laws” for tenement housing which didn’t even require baths? Did they care or did many people have that capitalist mind set in which people should get themselves out of poverty?

2) Say during this time all these buildings were torn down, and new, roomy and clean buildings were erected in which the rent was the same. Would the crime and behavior of these people change? Or is the openly sexual and violent behavior of residents in Five Points tenements due to other factors beside their lack of livable housing?