The evolution of tenement design, from Pre-Law to Old Law to New Law, an illustration from the Tenement House Commission Report of 1895.
The evolution of tenement design, from Pre-Law to Old Law to New Law, an illustration from the Tenement House Commission Report of 1895, 1895. NYC Municipal Library.
Jacob Riis, In the home of an Italian Ragpicker, Jersey Street.
Jacob Riis, In the home of an Italian Ragpicker, Jersey Street, 1888-89. Jacob A. (Jacob August) Riis (1849-1914), Museum of the City of New York.
A visiting nurse visits an Irish family in one of New York’s tenement apartments.
A visiting nurse visits an Irish family in one of New York’s tenement apartments, ca. 1907. Via Irish America Magazine.
Jacob Riis, Family Making Artificial Flowers.
Jacob Riis, Family Making Artificial Flowers. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Background
Between 1890 and 1905 about fifteen million immigrants arrived in the United States. The majority were from Southern and Eastern Europe, including Italy, Poland, and Russia. Many chose to settle in New York City after coming through the federal immigration station at Ellis Island.
New York City could not expand fast enough to safely accommodate so many new arrivals in such a short time. Without any legal regulations that would require them to provide safe buildings, property owners built tenement buildings instead. In tenements, landlords crammed as many living spaces as they could into a single building. This meant the spaces often lacked adequate plumbing and ventilation. To make matters worse, many immigrants shared the tiny living spaces with their extended families to save money. Others took in boarders who helped contribute to the cost of the rent. Landlords also neglected the upkeep of the buildings to maximize their profits. Pollution, noise, and disease were constant realities of life in the tenements of New York.
Life in the tenements was particularly challenging for women. As the primary caretakers of home and family, women spent the majority of their days performing their duties in cramped spaces without access to fresh air. Whenever illness swept through a building, it was the women who were responsible for nursing their children. And because of their status as newly arrived immigrants, most of the women also had to take on additional work to help support their families. It was a grueling existence with very little chance of relief.
About the Resources
The first illustration shows how tenements evolved to meet the needs of the immigrant population boom. The remaining photographs are by Danish-born photographer Jacob Riis. Jacob was an immigrant himself and knew how challenging life in the tenements could be. In 1889 he began photographing the tenements to inform the general public of their overcrowded, unsanitary, and dangerous conditions.
The first photograph of an Italian woman and her baby shows how the very poorest immigrants lacked even basic amenities like beds. An entire family of Italian immigrants lived with the woman in this single, windowless room. The second photograph of a nurse visiting a family of Irish immigrants captures the large families that were crammed into small spaces. The third photograph shows a mother overseeing her children in the work of making artificial flowers. With so many children to care for, the woman could not take a job outside the home. The meager income from this work would help support her family.
Vocabulary
- boarder: A person who lives in a single-family apartment, receives meals, and pays rent, but is not part of the family.
- tenements: Poor-quality, unregulated apartment buildings that housed the majority of immigrants in New York City in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Discussion Questions
- After examining these images, what do you think daily life was like in the tenements?
- Why do you think immigrants were willing to live in conditions such as these? How could immigrants improve their situation?
- Why did Jacob Riis take these photographs? Do you think they achieve this goal?
- Why are these photographs an important historical record?
- What do these images tell us about the landlords who ran buildings with conditions like these?
Suggested Activities
- Teach this resource together with Medical Exams on Ellis Island for insight into the experience of newly arrived immigrants to the United States.
- Pair this resource with Life Story: Jessie Tarbox Beals to consider how photography can be an activist tool.
- Pair this resource with Industrial Work for Women, Life Story: Mother Cabrini, aka Maria Francesca Cabrini, and Life Story: Clara Lemlich Shavelson to learn more about the labor opportunities afforded to immigrant women.
- For a more comprehensive study of visual art and social activism, pair this resource with any or all of the following:
Themes
IMMIGRATION, MIGRATION, AND SETTLEMENT
