Urban Life

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Urban Life
Click on this symbol

• New York City 1911

Dont click on this symbol in the corner
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In this lesson you will learn what these peoples
lives were like before the fire that killed them.
Police removing victims who jumped from the
Triangle Shirtwaist fire
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Immigration to the US
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• Push factorsno jobs, no food, being punished for
  your religious or political beliefs.
• Pull factorslots of jobs, plenty of food,
  religious and political freedom
• DiversityDifferences
• EthnicWhere your family originally come from

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Religious Diversity

• Roman CatholicChurch on Sunday, Jesus Very
  important, the Pope is very important, symbol
  Cross, no special clothes, most Italians are
  Roman Catholic.
• JewishSynagogue on Saturday, Jesus Not
  important, Symbol Star of David, Prayer shawls,
  yarmulkes and long beards for men.

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Ethnic Diversity
Jewish rag sellers
Italian field workers

• ItalianMen dominate the family and make all
  decisions. Do not get involved with American
  politics. Come to America for jobs.
• Russian JewsMen absorbed in religious study so
  women make many decisions. More involved in
  politics. Come to America for freedom.

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New York City in 1911 was VERY crowded.
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Dumbbell Tenements

• 3 rooms 400 square feet
• Airshaft in the middle
• Coin operated gas valve for kitchen stove
• 2 bathrooms for 4 families
• Air shafts used as garbage shoots

Photo by Louis Hines
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Use the 1 foot square floor tiles as a guide and
measure out 400 square feet in this room.
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• 800 people per acre
• In 1909 there were 100,000 tenement buildings in
  NY City

Each tenement apartment had two windows facing
the street. If each apartment had one family,
how many families lived in this building?
These were converted to kitchens
Floor plan of a dumbell tenement
10
Tenement Museum in NY City
If you get a chance to do this it is great. You
get to go through a dark, dirty hallway, see the
tiny bathroom. Then you go inside an apartment
that has an actor portraying an immigrant from
the 1890s-1920s. You ask them questions about
their life, family, jobs etc. Its really well
done. I went in 2009 and it was great. MrD
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Recreation
Outside of an Arcade

• Penny Arcades a business that
• has entertainment games people
• can play for a penny. (like a video
• arcade now)
• Nickelodeons would show films which were
  typically ten to fifteen minutes in length, and
  in a variety of styles and subjects.

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This is the type of film you would pay 5 cents to
see in a nickelodeon
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More Recreation

• DancesJust like school dances (probably
  different music)
• Lectureswhen you cant go to school because you
  work sometimes learning can be fun.
• English Language classesLearning the language
  gets you better jobs and more money.

13
146 people that died in the Triangle Shirt Waist
Fire. What where their lives like before the fire
that killed them?
5 people died at the hospital after this headline
was written.