Coming to America is a dream filled with an opportunities for a better life. Arriving from Europe, immigrants expected a new life that would allow them to live a life better than which they ran away from. Although the immigrants of Five Points may not have been dining out or even had a worry-free mindset, they were still always happy about being able to live in America.
Anbinder opens his discussion on the occupations of the people of Five Points by showing the statistics of the jobs that were held by New Yorkers and the people of Five Points. Although Anbinder seems to make a point of the disproportional job positions of New York men and the men of Five Points, to me, it doesn’t seem strange at all. Why should it be odd that New Yorkers, who speak English, are familiar with the people in the area (and visa versa), and did have access to education in the country they are working in shouldn’t be in the better paid jobs. Yes, the working conditions are bad for the immigrants, and in no way am I saying they were ok, but I don’t find it odd that there was a disproportionate amount of New York men in white collar jobs than the immigrants of Five Points.
It is interesting to see the power that a union of tailors had against their employers. In a time when worker’s rights were not necessarily the center of attention, the Journeymen Tailors’ Protective Union was able to strike resulting in an increase (yet minimal) wage increase. Even if not all the employers raised the wage, it still showed the growing power of a working force at a time that it seemed they were so expendable.
Although workers were vey much needed by their employers, they were at most times very e expendable. A menial labor worker could not risk missing one day, even because of illness, without fear of being replaced. People were so desperate for jobs that they had to travel far from home in search for jobs, while leaving only a little money for the family. Out of desperateness children had to resort in taking menial jobs in order to just make it by. None of the money made was extra. The women even had to put in a deposit to work, so the employer constantly had control of widows that needed money. Women would work as domestic servants, or seamstresses in order to get by. The only opportunity a woman would have to own a business is if her spouse has died.
Many families worked hard in order to send back to their family in Europe. It troubles me to think how they managed this task under such hard condition. It was hard enough to get by just supporting one’s own family, but to set a side money for family in Europe must have been detrimental to the welfare of the immediate family in America.
Although success was small, living in America was still better than life in Europe. Family in Europe would receive letters telling people that they should come to America. Even though the splendor of America seemed to have been exaggerated it still enticed people to immigrate to America. People in Europe received letters speaking of everyday feast like Christmas.
The impact of immigration in Five Points and Corona had different outcomes. Whereas in five points, the community seemed to have been all immigrants, there were no issues of a blending of cultures like that of in Corona. Sanjek talks about the influx of immigrants and the impact it had on the community. The great streaming of immigrants caused a demographic shift result in a smaller concentration of the white community. The change in demographics resulted in a mix of ethnicities in the school system. This new community resulted in a white flight, looking for a community they are more familiar with. The immigration that Sanjek talks about focuses more on a change in culture, while the immigration that Anbinder speaks of results of more of an impact on the working force than anything else. The different time periods resulted in a search for different rights and opportunities than what the immigrants respective country was offering at the point. In the 19th century work and money was the cause of immigration. While in the 20th century, basic human rights such as as religious freedom seemed to have been a cause for much of the fleeing from one’s home country.
Some things to think about:
What do you think gave the Journeymen Tailors’ Protective Union so much power, when unions themselves were weak at this time?
How much of a difference do you see of the treatment of workers between now and then?
Have we changed a lot as a people since this time, or we have remained static with just a different group of people being suppressed while masking it with other facades?
You could connect this with this weeks reading of The Future of Us All.
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