Filthy Cities In The 20th Century

“Filthy Cities” stresses the nightmare that was life for New York’s European immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th century. “New York City was a magnet for European immigrants” (Robins) and this migration from countries such as Ireland was one of the biggest mass migrations in history. The Irish were one of the first groups of immigrants to arrive due to their 1840s potato famine. 1/3 of the immigrants died on the ships on the way to NYC but for those that did arrive safely, more struggles and challenges awaited. As described in the video some of the issues included population (overcrowding), power consumption, wealth, and diseases, all of which would continue to rise throughout the 20th century. One unambiguous issue was population, which had direct a influence on the unfair quality of life of non-wealthy citizens as well as contributing to necessary progressions that drove NYC to become the successful city it is today. Population was an aggressive issue for late 19th century NYC with no financial incentive to make changes to
With the overcrowding and filth issue came a direct correlation with disease. Indeed, the 19th century was a time for many epidemics including the 1832 outbreak of cholera, rooted from the intake of contaminated water. People living in slums were naturally the last to be deemed worthy of clean drinking water or indoor plumbing. The image associated with this outbreak was that dead “bodies were piled up in the streets” (Robins). Another disease that spread due to overcrowding was body lice. With a dozen people sleeping side by side in one tiny apartment, the spread of these pesky insects was inevitable and caused the infectious disease, typhus. It is strange to think that something today as minor as lice was fatal in 19th century NYC. “More than half of those being infected died within two weeks of being bitten”