Immigrant New York

I can’t believe that it is our last day together! Time went by so quick this truly is bittersweet. Of course on out last day it also had to be raining, but I knew I had to make the best out of the situation. We met in Penn for one last time then took the subway to Delancy Street and our first stop was to the Essex Street Market.

            Built in 1940, to house pushcart peddlers, the market offers food for all tastes-Latino, Jewish, and upscale urbanite. The market specializes in a wide variety of culinary products including gourmet cheeses, premium cuts of meat, fresh fish and general grocery items (BG, 123). The first thing I noticed when I walked inside was the smell. It wasn’t a very pleasant smell, but I guess it was the smell of all the different foods combined. Walking through the market I thought to myself with all the different variety of food there is something for everyone. 

One vendor I found the most interesting ended up being one that specialized in making unique, sometimes even a little “inappropriate” cakes.

            After the market we made our way to The Tenement Museum . The museum, a former tenement, was founded in 1988 to preserve the heritage of the nation’s immigrants, honoring millions who lived on the Lower East Side and in other immigrant ghettos. Five apartments in this six-story Italianate Brownstone have been restored to their 19^th century appearance (BG, 122). The Tenement Museum building is a pre-old law tenement, built when the law made no requirements of builders. The tenement we saw consisted of 3 small rooms, a bedroom, kitchen, and parlor. 

        The “bathrooms” were located outside; they consisted of 4 outhouses for everyone in the building to use. I could never imagine living in these conditions, with little or no privacy in my own home and filthy living conditions. We learned about the Moore family and what their experience was like living in this tenement. Bridget and Joseph Moore and their 3 daughters moved into this tenement in 1868. This area was a predominately German, so being Irish they faced even more discrimination then they normally would. Even though these tenement living conditions were bad the tenement conditions in the predominately Irish areas were even worse; this may be a reason why the Moore’s chose to live here. Rent was able 10 dollars a month, and joseph made about 20 dollars being a waiter. This left the Moore’s with not much money for food or if someone needed medical attention, which eventually their youngest daughter would need. Conditions in these neighborhoods were very poor all around. Swill milk from diseased cows, which street vendors ladled out of dirty vats and sometimes adulterated with chalk or ammonia were sold on the streets for people to buy for their families. This swill milk is what leads to the death of the Moore’s youngest daughter. When someone got sick in their options were to go to the doctors, which many did not have the money for, go to the hospital, which rarely helped at all, or buy remedies off the street that were suppose to cure one of their sickness. These remedies consisted of opium and alcohol, and this is what Bridget gave her baby to try and cure her. Needless to say it did not work and the baby died. Shortly after the Moore’s moved out of their tenements and moved to Elizabeth Street, one of the more Irish populated areas. After hearing this story I was in shock and disgust. I couldn’t believe that people actually sold something so deadly to families and got away with it. I cant even being to imagine myself living in these conditions.

       

 After hearing all of this information it makes sense how so many people died so young from these filthy living conditions. Overall I found this museum very interesting. It has been my favorite museum that we have visited in this class.

            After the Museum we stopped to get lunch at an authentic Chinese restaurant, Congee Village. I wasn’t as nervous for trying this food because I know I like Chinese food. I am proud to say I tried everything that was offered to me and ended up enjoying pretty much all of it, and that is a big deal to a picky eater like me! The only thing I did not try was the bubble tea, and judging by peoples reactions that did try it I was VERY happy I stayed away.

            Once lunch was over we met our tour guide and began our tour of immigrant New York. He started off by explain to us that out of the whole population there are 8 to 12% of immigrants in the United States, and out of the New York population 35% are immigrants.  When he told us these numbers I was expecting them to be higher especially percentage of immigrants in the United States population. We started walking down an area that used to have a very high Jewish population. I learned that there are 350 different types of Jews. I found this number to be shocking I had no clue it was that many. Our tour guide showed us a picture of the street we were standing on from the 1920’s. You could see all the terrible conditions and filth that lined the street, and how heavily populated the area was. I found it very funny when our tour guide told us how, because of gentrification a new wave of people are moving into these neighborhoods, some whose ancestors may have fought to get out of. 

             In 1892 immigrants from Kletz, Poland formed a brotherly-aid society whose purpose was to help new arrivals from their hometown. In 1911 they built a three-story building that still stands today. The name of the organization, the Kletzker brotherly aid association  stands on top of the building used today as a Chinese funeral parlor. I find it interesting how some things can change so dramatically over time. What was once a heavily populated Jewish area now seems to be populated by Asian Americans. We then looked at The Forward Building , which has now been turned into a high-class apartment building. 

The Forward is a Jewish-American newspaper published in New York City. The publication began in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily issued by dissidents from the Socialist Labor Party of Daniel DeLeon. As a privately owned publication loosely affiliated with the Socialist Party of America, it achieved massive circulation and considerable political influence during the first three decades of the 20th Century. The publication still exists weekly. Our tour guide told us that Yiddish is a language that is slowly dying out. We also learned that this building is one of the very few place in the city where you can see Karl Marx face depicted in front. 

Next we looked at The The Eldridge Street Synagogue, which is the first synagogue erected in the United States by Eastern European Jews. The synagogue looked like a lot of the churches we have looked at, and our tour guide explained to us the men who designed this synagogue were catholic so they did not know what it is suppose to look like. As time passed the synagogue got more and more run down and less used because many Jewish people were leaving the area. It eventually closed down, but was then fixed up and made into The Museum of Eldridge Street.

            We then made our way to China Town . While many of Manhattan's other ethnic areas are shrinking, Chinatown is expanding eastward beyond its original boundaries into the Lower East Side and northward into Little Italy (BG, 106). 

I learned that this area is the most populated illegal immigrant area, and the conditions that some of these people are living in have not changed much from back when people lived in the tenements. Our tour guide told us the process to get smuggled here from China is a very dangerous one, and the price you have to pay is very high. I could never imagine going through what some of these people go through just to come to America. 

   We passed by Confucius Plaza Apartment is a limited-equity housing in Chinatown. The building was the first major public-funded housing project built for almost exclusively Chinese Americans. The 44-story arc contains 762 apartments, the Yung Wing Public School, P.S. 124 (K-8), shops, community space and a day-care center. We learned that Yung Wing was the first Chinese man to earn a degree from Yale. We then walked along Doyers Street; one of the most crooked streets in NYC and was originally a cart lane (BG, 112). Our tour guide told us this road used to be a dead end so it was a popular hang out for the Chinese gangs. Before leaving China town we looked at the Church of Transfiguration . The church now serves a Roman Catholic parish, with masses given in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English (BG, 112). It originated as a Lutheran church, but when the Irish immigrants moved in, the church became Catholic in the 1850’s. Then, the Italians came into the area but the Irish would make them worship in the basement. Like I said before its crazy to think about how many changes have happened just in one area. We then walked to Columbus Park but previously named Mulberry Bend Park. This area, known as 5 point was the poorest area around at the time; populated by Irish and African Americans. The name 5 point was derived from the 5 point intersection, which no longer exists. Something good did come our of 5 points though, and that was Master Juba. He traveled the world, preforming tap for the rich and powerful. I found this information pretty amusing that someone from the poorest area in the city because world famous for a type of dance that is still learned today. We then made our way to Little Italy. Today Little Italy has become a tourist draw, attracting people for the food (BG, 114). Recently the Italian community is moving out and it is being taken over by the Asian community. After the tour ended I made my way across the street to Ferraral for some desserts.

            This class has taken me places I would have never gone on my own, and has taught me so much. I’ve never enjoyed taking a class as much as I have with this one. I am thankful I had the opportunity to do so.