Immigrants and Urban Life

Objectives: Students will learn that …

1.Crowded urban areas faced a variety of social problems. 2.People worked to improve the quality of life in U.S. cities.

VocabularyJacob Riis, settlement houses, Jane Addams, Hull House, Florence Kelley

URBAN PROBLEMSEven with new technology, many cities were not ready for the population growth of the late 1800s.

There was a shortage of affordable housing which led to overcrowding and poor living conditions.

Many poor families were squeezed into tiny tenement apartments.

Jacob Riis became famous for his articles and photographs that exposed the horrible conditions in the tenements.

The overcrowding caused sanitation problemsand unsafe living conditions.

Garbage collection systems were not efficient, so garbage piled up in the cities.

Indoor plumbing was scarce, and water supplies became polluted. Fires could spread rapidly, but fire escapes were often blocked.

These conditions caused the spread of disease causingbacteria. There were outbreaks of diseasessuch as typhoid, cholera, influenza, and tuberculosis.

As a result, about half of the babies born died before the age of five.

The overcrowded living conditions and the manufacturing industries also caused serious air pollution problems.

City governments worked to reduce these problems by hiring firefighters and police officers.

New sewage and drinking water purification systems helped reduce the sanitation problem.

Reformers worked to improve living conditionsin the tenements. In 1901, new laws in New YorkState required better ventilation and running waterin new buildings. Other states followed New York’slead.

IMPROVING CITY LIFE

Private organizations also helped the urbanpoor.

Some people developed settlement houses in neighborhoods to provide education, recreation, and social activities. These settlement houses had professionals and volunteers on staff, including educatedwomen from wealthy families. Some of thesehouses are still active today.

Jane Addams founded Hull House in Chicago,the most famous settlement house. Addams and Ellen Gates Starr moved into a rundown building and turned it into Hull House. The staff served the needs of immigrant families. It provided English classes, day care, cooking and sewing classes, and other services.

The Hull House staff also worked for reformsto improve conditions for poor families. Florence Kelley visited sweatshops and wrote about the problems she saw there. She helped convince lawmakers in Illinois to pass a law limiting work hours for women and preventing child labor. She later became the chief factory inspector for the state and helped enforce the law.

CHALLENGE ACTIVITY

Critical Thinking:

Analyze As the cities grew rapidly, crowded conditions created many problems.

Why didn’t the people just move awayfrom the cities to find better conditions?

Jacob Riis journalist and photographer who exposed the horrible conditions in New York City tenements

settlement houses neighborhood centers in poor areas that offered education, recreation, and social activities

Jane Addams founder of Hull HouseHull House Chicago’s most famous settlement house

Florence Kelley Chicago reformer who worked to pass child labor laws