These Articles look at the recurrent problems of epidemics and a beginning consciousness of the role of government in fighting them. Note the credentials and parts of the country from for each of the authors. Does that seem to effect their points of view?
The illustration represents the boy's ward at the hospital at Tuskegee Institute. Not hospitals were this immaculate: not all children this fortunate, especially African American children, who would not be allowed in "white" hospitals. The image is from a National Institutes of Health History of Medicine Exhibit, Cholera Online. Finds some time to view the parts of the exhibit. Note that not everything is from the United States nor is everything from the Gilded Age, so be careful what you note. I'd like you to put URLS from some into your resource folder
The last of this day's readings provides a brief overview of 19th century attitudes toward death and dying. Give yourself some time with the last of these. Nineteenth Century attitudes toward death were very different from our own, and mourning practices were far more ritualized.
We're going to switch to Jacob Riis, but I need to know which version you have before I post pages. The version I'm going to use is the online version at Authentic History.Com. You can reach it by clicking on the illustration below.
Read, from the Internet,or from the copy you purchased: from How the Other Half Lives
As I mentioned, Jacob Riis might well be called "the First Photojournalist". You'll see much of what use he made of the new Thomas Edison paper film. The small images in the text on the online version can be expanded. by clicking on the link. You might want to down load some of them to place in your resource folder so you can add them to your journal if you wish. You alter ego may come in contact with "the other half" in many ways--he might wind up among them through the great depression of 1893, or he might have to pass through the area going to or from work. He or she might also be a social worker or a member of a religious order trying to do some good for the persons living under these awful conditions.
In the Introduction, concentrate a little on his reason for writing this, his second edition of the book. Kindly, he numbers them for you.
In Chapter One, he explains how tenements began in New York. Look for causes such as economic growth and also population growth. Does he spot some villains? What do you think? Are slums inevitable?
In Chapter Two, Riis goes into efforts to reform the tenement district, beginning with the Tenement-House Act of 1867. You can find that by clicking HERE, and in the same Archive.org book, other reform efforts during the gilded age.
in Chapter Three Riis discusses the effects of immigration on the district. One might call the tenement district multi-ethnic when considered as a whole, but when considered with a closer view, one sees that the various immigrant groups did not get along. Turf wars are not new in our day. See what Riis has to say, and also think if he shows any bits of prejudice against certain ethnicities.
There is a Tenement House Museum on the Lower East Side of New York City. I've visited it. The Organization has a website. There are tours and talks given on a regular basis. The YouTube video below is from one of the talks about tenement houses "back in the day".
