Lower East Side

saying that all things, miniscule or monumental, are bound to become subject of change. Change can be caused by a number of things, but for the women who’s tales were recanted in Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars: Life and Culture on the Lower East Side 1890-1925 written by Elizabeth Ewen, change was especially imminent as they were forced to exchange the “old ways” of their native countries for the “new ways” of America. Immigrant women’s lives were completely altered, as they had to adjust

Case study 3: Social action at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum Ruth J. Abram, who wanted to create a museum centered upon an experience common to the majority of Americans, founded the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. Abram believed that the immigrant experience was something that diverse groups of people could relate to and unite together on, moving Americans “to participate in a national conversation with similarly situated, contemporary immigrants and other ‘outsiders’”(Abram 2005:21). As

Lower East Side Travel Guide Situated in the southeastern section of Manhattan, the Lower East Side neighborhood has long stood as an immigrant, blue collar region. Spanning the area from Canal Street to Houston Street, between the East River and the Bowery, this once semi-dilapidated neighborhood has been renewed in the past years to include many tourist attractions. Along what is known as restaurant row, on Clinton Street, there are now a number of fine and casual dining establishments, as well

The Lower East Side formerly once joined with the East Village is home to many working class families, many of whom are foreign born. Over the past 50 years, this neighborhood has gone through many changes, both negative and positive. Located in Manhattan, the Lower East Side is surrounded by 14th street, the East River, Bowery, and the Brooklyn Bridge. This area today has faced gentrification and has also faced many housing developments that threaten the character of the community. The LES has gone

primarily the Dutch, whose control was supplanted by the British in 1664 (Haberstroh, Web). Not until the mid-19th century did New York City see immigrants settling in great numbers. One of the earliest immigrant populations to settle on the Lower East Side in masse were the Germans. By the 1850’s the massive population

in a largely populated city like New York. In Neil Smith's book The New Urban frontier the reader learns about riots, homesteads, storefronts, and populations affected by gentrification, in his examples he expands on the class struggles of the Lower East Side. Not coincidentally, similar situations have occurred distributed though New York City, and the first example that comes to mind is, Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. For this reason it is easy to observe similar situations in neighborhoods that display

aspects of life that the poor population of New York City, during the Guilded Age, experience. COmbined with actual photo evidence, Riis writes to inform those who don’t realize (the wealthy, politicians, people above the Lower East Side) just how terrible the living conditions were to lower class families. He explains that most people of particular wealth and prestige ignore the problem, partly because of the lies the politicians are feeding them about the conditions the others live in. I will

Referred to as the “Cinderella of the Tenements,” Anzia Yezierska (est.1880-1970) is best known for writing about Jewish immigrants, specifically women, and the challenges they faced assimilating to life in the United States. An immigrant herself, Yezierska and her family moved to the United States to escape Eastern Europe’s poverty, and rising antisemitic attitudes. She ultimately chose a career in writing, and published several short stories and novels (Kent 144). Yezierska’s most popular novel

Rockefeller, and more. On the other hand, middle to lower class citizens struggled to pay their bills, lived in houses of fifteen people, worked in mine shafts from the age of twelve, and had miserable lives in the city. The lives of the lower class was captured by Jacob Riis. Jacob Riis was an American journalist most famously known for his photographs of the slums of New York City. He compiled his photograph into a book called, How the Other Side Lives. This set of photographs inspired the social

had to go through many experiences in order to progress as a journalist. Contributions Jacob Riis had a major role in American History due to the fact that he contributed greatly to the cleansing of the New York slums. “Toiling in New York's Lower East Side before the turn of the last century, the crusading newspaperman used the newly developed breadbox-size camera to shine light on overcrowding, poverty and squalor in the tenements.”(The Washington Post). Jacob Riis managed to exploit the tenements