A Reflection on "how the Other Half Lives" by the Other Half

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American History II

04October 2007

A Reflection on "How the Other Half Lives" by the Other Half

The author of "How the Other Half Lives", Jacob Riis, inscribes on the deplorable living conditions of the Progressive Era from a first-person perspective. Riis, an immigrant, police reporter, photojournalist and most importantly: a pioneer and social reformer, tells a very captivating yet appalling experience of the lower class life in New York City beginning in the 19th century. Migration and the standardization of establishments are the attributing factors to overpopulation distribution and overcrowding of living arrangements in the city.

With the ever growing craze of coming to America and starting a new and better life many immigrants had to start from the bottom, and many stayed there. Ethnic groups tended to stick together and in result "claimed" their own territory; many worked low-wage jobs and were poverty-stricken. The only affordable shelter in close proximity to work and their community were overcrowded housing tenements, overcrowded being an understatement. From 1869 to 1890 tenement housing almost tripled to over 37,000 tenements in use.(p204 Riis) Houses and blocks were turned into barracks, giving a whole new meaning to overcrowding, and the expense unjust compared to living conditions. Tenements were the equivalent of coal mines; in early developments there were no safety standards, just the quickest way to make the most amount of money, with lack of sunlight and air ventilation.

The epitome of poor management regarding the lack of attempt of turnabout in the nature of tenements by landlords were shown through model tenements; the care and up-keeping focused mainly in the facade of buildings rather than continual care within the walls of confinements. Mortality rates in the city rose to one-in-twenty-seven persons in 1855 due to the severe lacking living conditions and negligence of owners, landlords and agents.(p11, Riis) Any case of disease that arose within the walls of a tenement was a formula for disaster. Typically the disease-stricken tenants were a lost cause, and the source of plague throughout other blocks. The mortality rate didn't lie, but the landlords did not see that because of the ill-paced illnesses, which led to a citizen movement that resulted in the organization of the Board of Health. The Health Department began to educate the public more than help the public; however, in years to come they ordered tenements to be ventilated by way of air shafts and ordered the installation of windows, which slowly led to the declination, and soon thereafter extinction of the "dark room".

There were more propositions made by the Health Department, including the banishment of rear tenement-housing, and a less attempted, but more successful idea was a housekeeper assigned to tenement housing with ten or more families in the living quarters. The police also had a little hand in ousting tenements by the expulsion of tenants during midnight raids. Aside from many legal actions taking place, establishments of business were the leading cause in the overturn of the worst and poorest flats. Business was the most successful preventative measure against the continuation of slums and contributed to its steady decline by tearing down tenements or converting the buildings. Despite the despairing tone of the communities throughout the slums, and lack of public attention, philanthropists and neighborhood guilds were aware and made a difference in few tenement buildings. A positive start to an ongoing process that is problematic in modern day.

Throughout the years, the standard of living has changed immensely, but social classes have remained. With inventions such as quicker and more effective ways of transit, the Utopian suburbia