Glossary |
SOURCES: [Historical Dictionary of the Gilded Age, Shmoop, The Tenement House Problem, Tenement.org, MoMa, How the Other Half Lives, NYC Gov. Parks, Student Email Interview with Tyler Anbinder, Documenting Jacob Riis, Hawaii.edu, History.com]
A
Air Shaft - “Along each side of the building...The ostensible purpose...is to provide light and air to the five rooms on each side of the house which get no direct light and air from the street or yard; but...instead of fresh air and sunshine, foul air and semi-darkness.”
C
Castle Island - “[New York’s] first official immigrant processing center...[Replaced by] its more famous successor, Ellis Island.”
D
Dumbbell Tenement - “Named for the shape of their floor plans...While [they] were supposed to be more healthy than their predecessors,...the dumbbell tenements often became badly overcrowded with immigrant tenants crowded into tiny living spaces in unsanitary conditions.”
E
Ellis Island - “The United States opened its largest immigrant-processing center on this island in New York harbor [on January 1 1892.]...shifted immigration processing power from the states to the federal government.”
F
Five Points - “The roost of gang members and criminals of all types...primarily an Irish neighborhood.”
G
Gilded Age - “Mainly characterized by...urbanization, industrialization,...the rising middle class and increasing immigration. The wealth was not distributed equally among classes, races, or genders...”
Gotham Court - “Up to 1880, its record for disease, disorder, drunkenness, and crime was almost unparalleled...The tenants are mostly Irish.”
Gotham Court - “Up to 1880, its record for disease, disorder, drunkenness, and crime was almost unparalleled...The tenants are mostly Irish.”
H
How the Other Half Lives - “This book by Danish immigrant journalist, Jacob Riis helped usher in the Progressive Era...led to the abolition of some of the worst settlement in New York, helped generate a reform movement..., and served as a prototype for later muckraker exposes of the Progressive Era...Riis’ book brought desperately needed...attention to one of the most serious social problems of the Gilded Age.”
Hell's Kitchen - "Impoverished groups of Irish, African-Americans, Scots and Germans moved to shacks and tenements in the area to work at the nearby factories. Many formed gangs and fought to assert themselves in the growing neighborhood, making for frequent violent clashes that earned the area its nickname."
Hell's Kitchen - "Impoverished groups of Irish, African-Americans, Scots and Germans moved to shacks and tenements in the area to work at the nearby factories. Many formed gangs and fought to assert themselves in the growing neighborhood, making for frequent violent clashes that earned the area its nickname."
J
Jacob Riis - “Jacob Riis (1849–1914) was a New York [muckraking] journalist and reformer. In 1890, Riis published How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York...inspired public outcry for urban reforms.”
Jane Addams - “[Jacob Riis] made an impact on...[her] at Hull House in Chicago...Founder of Hull House, a ‘settlement house,’ on Chicago’s Halsted Street as a haven for needy immigrants.”
Jane Addams - “[Jacob Riis] made an impact on...[her] at Hull House in Chicago...Founder of Hull House, a ‘settlement house,’ on Chicago’s Halsted Street as a haven for needy immigrants.”
L
Lincoln Steffens - "Journalist...Jacob Riis [w]as his mentor [and] Steffens sharpened his skills as an investigative reporter and as a student of corruption, reform, and urban politics...wrote The Shame of the Cities"
Lower East Side - "[Immigrants] concentrated themselves on the Lower East Side, moving into row houses that had been converted from single-family dwellings into multiple-apartment tenements, or into new tenement housing built specifically for that purpose...Nowhere for the tenement situation become as dire as it was in...the Lower East Side."
Lower East Side - "[Immigrants] concentrated themselves on the Lower East Side, moving into row houses that had been converted from single-family dwellings into multiple-apartment tenements, or into new tenement housing built specifically for that purpose...Nowhere for the tenement situation become as dire as it was in...the Lower East Side."
M
Mulberry Bend - “Where the worst slums and tenements were.” “Where Mulberry Street crooks like an elbow within hail of the old depravity of the Five Points, is "the Bend," foul core of New York's slums.”
Mulberry Bend (Columbus) Park - “Mulberry Bend was torn down and made into a park so that the children who lived in the surrounding tenements could have a clean and safe place to play.”
Mulberry Bend (Columbus) Park - “Mulberry Bend was torn down and made into a park so that the children who lived in the surrounding tenements could have a clean and safe place to play.”
P
Panic of 1873 - “The most serious economic crisis in American history...Led to a national economic downturn.”
S
Sea Breeze Hospital - "Clinic for poor children with tuberculosis...Riis [organized] for the relocation and expansion of [it]."
Small Parks Act of 1887 - “A pioneering law that enabled the city to acquire new small parks in crowded neighborhoods...including Mulberry (Columbus) Park.”
Stephen Crane - “[Jacob Riis] made an impact on [him]...He lived among the poor and downtrodden in an overcrowded tenement neighborhood on the lower east side of Manhattan [and] gained a perspective on the harsh realities of life in an urban slum, which provoked him to become a pioneer of literary realism or naturalism. In 1893, he published his first novel, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets.”
Street Arab - "Homeless children...They are to be found all over the city...The Street Arab has all the faults and all the virtues of the lawless life he leads. Vagabond that he is, acknowledging no authority and owning no allegiance to anybody or anything, with his giving fist raised against Society whenever it tries to coerce him..."
Small Parks Act of 1887 - “A pioneering law that enabled the city to acquire new small parks in crowded neighborhoods...including Mulberry (Columbus) Park.”
Stephen Crane - “[Jacob Riis] made an impact on [him]...He lived among the poor and downtrodden in an overcrowded tenement neighborhood on the lower east side of Manhattan [and] gained a perspective on the harsh realities of life in an urban slum, which provoked him to become a pioneer of literary realism or naturalism. In 1893, he published his first novel, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets.”
Street Arab - "Homeless children...They are to be found all over the city...The Street Arab has all the faults and all the virtues of the lawless life he leads. Vagabond that he is, acknowledging no authority and owning no allegiance to anybody or anything, with his giving fist raised against Society whenever it tries to coerce him..."
T
Tenement - “A run-down and often overcrowded apartment house, especially ina poor section of a large city.”
Tenement House Act 1867 - "[Required that] Every sleeping room had a ventilator or...window,...a proper fire-escape...approved by the Building Inspector;...[and] proper banisters [for stairs]..."
Tenement House Act 1879 - "All rooms now had to open onto the street, the rear yard, or an air shaft."
Tenement House Act 1901 - “Outlawed dumbbell tenements...Mandated that one bathroom be installed inside the building for every two families. This finally brought plumbing into...housing...Set up the Tenement House Department to inspect these buildings and enforce the new regulations.”
Tuberculosis - "The leading cause of death in the [New York.] The disease caused roughly 10 000 deaths per year at this time, with a mortality rate of 280 per 100 000 population...The poor were disproportionately affected..."
Tenement House Act 1867 - "[Required that] Every sleeping room had a ventilator or...window,...a proper fire-escape...approved by the Building Inspector;...[and] proper banisters [for stairs]..."
Tenement House Act 1879 - "All rooms now had to open onto the street, the rear yard, or an air shaft."
Tenement House Act 1901 - “Outlawed dumbbell tenements...Mandated that one bathroom be installed inside the building for every two families. This finally brought plumbing into...housing...Set up the Tenement House Department to inspect these buildings and enforce the new regulations.”
Tuberculosis - "The leading cause of death in the [New York.] The disease caused roughly 10 000 deaths per year at this time, with a mortality rate of 280 per 100 000 population...The poor were disproportionately affected..."