Danielle Hernandez

Ms. Geraghty

American History

February 14, 2010

Reforms on Behalf of the Urban Poor in America

Urbanism and industrialization, especially poverty of working classes, inspired a new

social consciousness among members of the middle classes. Through the works of various

individuals and groups, a number of movements and services began to come into the picture

during the late 19th century and early 20th century.

During the 1800’s and early 1900’s, American cities saw an immense influx of people.

Both immigrants and rural Americans began to crowd into a few urban hotspots to try to find

work and the hope of a better life. However, things were not as enchanting there as they had

made them out to be. Immigrants faced persecution and discrimination. The streets of cities were

violent and filthy. The urban poor lived in tenements where the landlords pushed as many people

into one house as they could. In these small, foul, unventilated, living quarters, fires were

constant dangers and diseases were contracted easily. Tuberculosis, cholera, malaria, diphtheria,

and typhoid were some of the highly contagious diseases that frequently plagued slums and

ghettoes.

There were a number of journalists who took action and exposed the lives of these

impoverished people. For example, a journalist in 1905 named Eleanor McMain quoted a student

who vividly described the “death trap” tenements in urban New Orleans. One of the most

important journalists was Jacob Riis, though. Jacob Riis, a Danish immigrant who knew what it

was like to begin as a part of the urban poor, was able to poignantly convey these conditions to

the middle class who would otherwise be completely blind to them. The reason that he was so

important to this awareness is because he made use of the new form of flash photography. He

was able to display his photographs at lectures and he also included drawings based on them in

his various writings. The most important of his writings was his book, How the Other Half Lives

which successfully shocked the public with its portrait of the dreary future of New York.

Though many groups were very much against mass immigration and the growth of the

poor working class, there were a few groups who acted to help these people survive and

assimilate. Reform groups such as the “Purity Crusaders” who tried to rid urban slums of their

“vices” (drinking, gambling, prostitution, birth control, etc.) and the Charity Organization

Movement (the COS) that tried to teach immigrants American ways and virtues often received

mixed reviews. Although some immigrants and many members of the middle class were thankful

for their advice, most saw it as a pushy attack on their culture. More effectively, the Social

Gospel Movement of the 1880’s to the 1890’s aimed to act charitably and seek justice and labor

reforms for the urban poor instead of just condemning their behaviors. Organized by the

Christian Church and, later, various other religious institutions, they wanted to find the root of

their “vices” and fix that instead. Many reformers, such as Richard T. Ely, condemned the weak

and corrupt government as the root of these problems. In 1889, he wrote The Needs of the People

in which he states that the vices of the poor are the result of peoples’ dependence on a poor

government system. In his opinion, people needed to be taking a personal action.

Another individual who took great strides in the reforms of the urban poor was Jane

Addams. An educated woman and a college graduate, she and Ellen Gates Starr were inspired by

British settlement houses to start one in America. In 1889, they founded Hull House in Chicago.

In the beginning, she had simply aimed to offer her help whenever someone needed it, but

eventually, she began expanding her institution. Eventually it became a center of community

activity where poor immigrants could come to seek not only help but educational classes,

cultural events, child-care, health-care, and legal-aid services, as well as a variety of recreational

activities. News of Jane Addams’ success at Hull House rippled across the nation and by 1910,

there were over 400 settlement houses founded in America.

In addition to beginning this boom of settlement houses, Jane Addams was also known

for her position on the education of the poor working class and their children. She felt that

America’s teachers were not suited to teach immigrant children. When she addressed the

National Education Association in 1897, she stated that these teachers were not taking into

account the diverse backgrounds and family situations of each student. Addams believed that the

focus of their education should be on basics that were needed to survive (such as the English

language) rather than abstract subjects. She understood that a working class immigrant family

often depends on this child for their survival.

From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, the growing cities and industries in

America made for an incredibly impoverished working class. Through the actions taken by a

number of these individuals and groups, a new overall social consciousness arose among

members of the middle classes in the nation.