1
10
52
-
Article/Essay
Text
Any textual data included in the document.
<p>The potato famine of the 1840s and 1850s spurred the migration of thousands of impoverished Irish to the United States. The new immigrants—rural, Catholic, and starving—settled in the poorest districts of large cities in the East, including in New York’s Five Points neighborhood in downtown Manhattan.</p>
<p>The story of Five Points sheds light on a number of important themes in nineteenth-century U.S. history. It is a window into a period—the 1850s—that marked the start of rapid change in American society, as the country became more urban, more industrialized, and, because of changes in transportation and communication technologies, more connected. Immigration is an important part of this story, both because immigrants contributed to the growing urban population and because their cheap labor fueled the factories and built the roads, canals, tunnels, and rail lines of the emerging industrial order.</p>
<p>Immigrant groups employed a number of strategies to survive in new homes and to challenge discrimination. Five Pointers were destitute when they arrived and settled in one of New York’s poorest and most run-down neighborhoods. On top of this, Irish Five Pointers worked for some of the lowest wages in the most dangerous and unstable jobs in the city. Statistics attest to the dire and exceptional conditions of the neighborhood: 66% of patients being treated for bone fractures in one downtown hospital were Irish, a third of children in the neighborhood did not live past their fifth birthday, and, because Irish men worked in such dangerous occupations, nearly one out of every five households in Five Points was headed by a woman. Irish immigrants arrived in the United States in an era before formal governmental aid, when private charities provided the primary—and inadequate—relief funds, meals, and training. Yet Five Pointers built strong community institutions, such as churches, saloons, and fire companies, to support each other, gain some say in local government, and shield themselves from prejudice and poverty. They created a vibrant working-class culture that helped them survive and eventually helped shape American culture as a whole.</p>
<p>A recurrent theme in U.S. history is the tension between Americans’ need for labor and their anxiety about new immigrant groups. Nativists in the 1840s and 1850s feared that Irish Catholics could not be assimilated. They believed immigrant culture, religion, and social customs degraded “real†American society and feared immigrants’ growing political power. Political cartoonists often expressed this fear by depicting the Irish in demeaning, stereotypical, and sub-human caricatures, similar to those that portrayed African Americans. While the Irish had more political power than other poor ethnic groups in the 1850s (African Americans were subject to property requirements in order to vote in New York) they were victims of discrimination, prejudice, and violence.</p>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Background Essay on Life in Mid-19th Century Five Points
Description
An account of the resource
This essay introduces Manhattan's Five Points neighborhood and the people who lived there.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Antebellum America (1816-1860)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Immigration and Migration
Five Points
Irish Immigration
-
https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/files/original/e27b3a84cdefc090b8445a89a610b8c4.notebook
2a733ab241c322d9c52b288018a8e9ed
Teaching Activity
Objectives
<ul><li>
<p>Students will understand how race and national origins affected immigrants' access to political and economic opportunity throughout United States history. </p>
</li>
</ul>
Materials
1881, 1882
Lesson Plan Text
<p><strong>Note:</strong> The teacher should print out and cut apart the game cards before play. The teacher should also project the attached gameboard (if using Smartboard) or draw a gameboard on the chalkboard. If drawing, the "path" of the gameboard should have at least 20 spaces. </p>
<p><strong>Step 1:</strong> Pose, in turn, each of the following discussion questions to the class. Ask students to share out possible responses:</p>
<ul><li>
<p><strong>Why do people come to the United States?</strong> <em>(the "American Dream", for a better life and to improve their children's opportunities and welfare, to work and to make money, for freedom or to escape political or religious persecution, some are forced to come)</em></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Why does the United States want people to come?</strong> <em>(to fill labor needs [agriculture, factories]/don't want people who can't work, need mixture of unskilled and skilled workers, increase diversity, promote democracy at home and abroad)</em></p>
</li>
</ul><p>Discuss with students: One might say there is an implicit deal being made--now and historically--regarding immigration: if you come to the U.S. to work, you will improve your standard of living for you and your children, and enjoy the rights and freedoms of citizens. Some call this the American Dream; we're going to call it "Let's Make an Immigration Deal"!</p>
<p><strong>Step 2:</strong> Divide students into four or more groups; assign each group one of four immigrant identities (it is okay if some groups have the same identity): African female, Irish male, Chinese male, and Russian Jewish female. </p>
<p>Tell students that there will be four rounds; each round is a different era in U.S. history: the colonial era, the mid-1850s, 1910, and 1925. Explain that not every team will move every round. Â </p>
<p>Explain that in every round, each team will be dealt a Liberty card (what rights and freedoms you have) and a Labor card (what kind of job you have and how well it pays). Each card has dollar signs or torches to represent how much of either wages or rights the character has in each era.</p>
<p>The teacher should use the key to determine which card to assign in each round. </p>
<p><strong>Step 3:</strong> Begin play. A dollar sign or a torch represents one space on the game board. A representative from each team should move his player card forward (or backward) depending on the number of points indicated on the card in each round. </p>
<p>After Rounds 2 and 3 (mid-1850s and 1910), announce that each immigrant group can come up with a "survival strategy" to play in response to the cards they have been dealt. Survival strategies are whatever actions they might take in the year (mid-1850s or 1910) to improve their fortunes. They should write down their strategy on the cards provided and share it with the teacher/judge. The teacher should evaluate and award up to three spaces (moving forward on the gameboard) depending on the historical plausibility and its likely effectiveness of the strategy presented. Â </p>
<p><strong>Step 4:</strong> After play has concluded, lead a discussion of the following:</p>
<ul><li>
<p>Who has moved forward the farthest? Â Who has not moved very far? Â </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Describe your experience...what kind of deal did you make? How did the deal for your immigration group change over time? Which do you thik was more important to your immigrant--labor or liberty?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Think about the "survival strategy" cards you played. Were there any common strategies among the different groups? </p>
</li>
</ul><p>Think about the following historical understandings and discuss how game speaks to these ideas:</p>
<ul><li>
<p>How have tensions between the nation's need for labor and its anxiety about new immigrant groups played out in different times and places?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>In what ways has race (and racism) played a key role in the nation's immigration history?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>What strategies did immigrant groups use to survive in a new home and challenge discrimination? </p>
</li>
</ul>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Language
A language of the resource
English
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
Title
A name given to the resource
Let's Make an Immigration Deal
Description
An account of the resource
In this game, students are assigned different immigrant identities and advance based on their access to economic opportunity and religious, political, and social liberties at different times in U.S. history.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2011.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2011
Subject
The topic of the resource
Immigration and Migration
Slavery and Abolition
Chinese Immigration
Interactive Knowledge Building
Irish Immigration
Jewish Immigration
Smartboard
-
Teaching Activity
Objectives
<ul><li>
<p>Students will synthesize data presented in charts, tables, and graphs to write a narrative about the immigrant experience in the Ellis Island era. </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Students will develop skills for reading and understanding quantitative data. </p>
</li>
</ul><p style="text-align:left;">This activity supports the following Common Core Literacy Standards in History/Social Studies:</p>
<ul><li>
<p>RHSS.6-8.7. Integrate visual information with other information in print and digital texts.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>RHSS.9-10.7. Integrate quantitative or technical analysis with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.</p>
</li>
</ul>
Materials
1855, 1852, 1848, 1850, 1854, 1853, 1851, 1849, 1860, 1858
Lesson Plan Text
<p><strong>NOTE: </strong>The directions for this activity include modifications for elementary students. "MS/HS" denotes when sources or strategies are suggested for middle school and high school students only.  "Elementary" indicates that the strategy or source is designed for elementary students. Depending on the level of the students, the teacher may want to use some or all of the charts and strategies conveyed, regardless of grade level. </p>
<p><strong>Step 1: </strong>Tell students that today they will be using graphs, charts, and tables to understand the lives of Ellis Island immigrants in the first decade of the 20th century. All of the information that they will be using is taken from the 1910 census and a special Congressional report compiled in 1911. (As needed, explain what the census is and what types of information it records.) At that time in U.S. history, the largest proportion of the population was either foreign-born or the children of foreign-born residents (about 1/3 total; by comparison, in 2010, about 23% were immigrants or children of immigrants). </p>
<p>Begin by passing out "Immigrants by Nationality and Gender." Note with students the color-coding of the charts (German=orange, Irish=green, etc.) Read the description out loud and then discuss the following:</p>
<div>
<div>
<ul><li>
<p>What information in conveyed in these charts? Â <em>(Which groups were arriving between 1899 and 1910, the relative number of men and women arriving in five different immigrant groups)</em></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>What observations about this wave of immigration can you gain from this chart? What were the biggest groups arriving? Which groups had more men than women? More women than men? What is new or surprising? Â </p>
</li>
</ul><p><strong>Step 2:</strong> Next students will learn more about the immigrants who arrived here.  Pass out "Immigrants' Connection to the United States" and "Money Shown on Admission to the United States" <em>(MS/HS only). </em>Examine charts together and discuss the following:</p>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<ul><li>
<p>What information do these charts convey? </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>What is surprising or new information from these charts? What other observations can you make? </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>What do these charts convey about the challenges and opportunities for Ellis Island immigrants? </p>
</li>
</ul><p><em>MS/HS only:</em> Pass out "Immigrant Household Relationships by Gender and Ethnicity" and discuss:</p>
</div>
<div>
<ul><li>
<p>What information do these charts convey? What is new or surprising? Other observations?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>How does work and family account for the differences between different ethnic groups and genders? (Polish and Italian men arrived by themselves and thus were more likely to live as boarders; Jews tended to migrate as families and so did not live as boarders; Irish women were much more likely to live as servants in someone else's home; etc.)</p>
</li>
</ul><p><strong>Step 3:</strong> Next students will look at the types of jobs immigrants worked. Pass out "Chart of First Generation of Male/Female Immigrant Occupations." Discuss the following:</p>
</div>
<div>
<ul><li>
<p>What kind of information is being conveyed in these charts? </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>What is new or surprising information from these charts? Other observations?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><em>KEY IDEA: Many immigrant women did not work; this chart only measures the occupations of working women.</em></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><em>KEY IDEA: Workers in the 1910 census were anyone ages 10 and older.</em> How would this be different today? Â </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>What factors might have accounted for such stark concentration among certain groups in certain industries? <em>Â (Chain migration and family/friend connections to help getting a job; immigrants' skills or lack of skills for an industrial economy; niche markets)</em></p>
</li>
</ul><p><strong>Step 4:</strong> Finally, students will look at educational attainment. For MS/HS, pass out "Comparison of School Enrollment..."; for elementary, pass out "Percentage of Teens Ages 14-18 Enrolled in School." Discuss:</p>
</div>
<div>
<ul><li>
<p>Who was most likely to attend school? Who was least likely?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>How does immigrant educational attainment compare to native-born white Americans?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>What factors might account for these differences? <em>(Need to work, different ideas about the necessity of educating women, etc.)</em></p>
</li>
</ul><p><strong>Step 5:</strong> Now students will synthesize this data.</p>
</div>
<div>
<ul><li>
<p><em>For MS/HS:</em> Pass out "Immigrants by the Numbers Situation" sheet. Read through the directions together. Randomly pass out immigrant identity cards to each student and assign them to write a narrative (length depending on level of students) in the voice of their character based on the information gleaned from the charts. Teachers can modify this activity by asking lower-level students to answer only some of the items listed under "The Task" and limiting the charts the student works from. When finished, ask students to share their narratives with a partner or with the whole class. </p>
</li>
<li>
<p><em>For elementary:</em> Pass out the "Immigrants by the Numbers I Statements" sheet, the immigrant characters sheet, scissors and paste to each student. Students should read each statement and decide for whom it was true. Students then cut out that immigrant's picture and paste it under the statement. Teachers may want to tell lower-level students how many "correct" answers go with each statement. </p>
</li>
</ul></div>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Language
A language of the resource
English
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
Title
A name given to the resource
Immigrants by the Numbers
Description
An account of the resource
In this activity, students work with quantitative data (charts, graphs, and tables) from the 1910 census and the 1911 Dillingham Commission Report to understand the lives of immigrants in the Ellis Island era. The activity includes an option designed for middle school and high school students, as well as a suggested strategy for elementary students. After studying the data, students write a narrative in the voice of an immigrant in 1910, incorporating the information gleaned.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2011.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
<div><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.</div>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2011
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Industrialization and Expansion (1877-1913)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Immigration and Migration
Gender and Sexuality
Common Core Reading
Delving into Data
Irish Immigration
Italian Immigration
Jewish Immigration
Reading Supports
-
https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/files/original/chart-of-first-generation-immigrant-men’s-occupations_55e32b5ae9.pdf
0ed8cb1c97708e043ede04f211ee8bbb
Quantitative Data
Statistics, Census Data
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Chart of First Generation Immigrant Men’s Occupations, 1900
Language
A language of the resource
English
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
Description
An account of the resource
In 1907, Congress formed the Dillingham Commission to investigate the origins and effects of the massive wave of immigration then underway. The Commission compiled a variety of data about immigrants and their children. This chart shows the percentage of immigrant men ages 10 and older who worked in different kinds of jobs. Although the Commission gathered statistics on many ethnic groups, only six are shown here. Sometimes the Commission’s reports included Jews as a separate category, while at other times it grouped Jews with Russians, since most immigrants from Russia during this period were Jewish.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Adapted from Abstracts of Reports of the Immigration Commission with Conclusions and Recommendations and Views of the Minority, Vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1911).
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.
Relation
A related resource
1857
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1900
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Industrialization and Expansion (1877-1913)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Immigration and Migration
Irish Immigration
Italian Immigration
Jewish Immigration
-
https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/files/original/chart-of-first-generation-immigrant-women’s-occupations_5bb5c7deb6.pdf
7657fff79e6e24c3156bfaba95574951
Quantitative Data
Statistics, Census Data
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Chart of First Generation Immigrant Women's Occupations, 1900
Language
A language of the resource
English
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
Description
An account of the resource
In 1907, Congress formed the Dillingham Commission to investigate the origins and effects of the massive wave of immigration then underway. The Commission compiled a variety of data about immigrants and their children. This chart shows the percentage of working immigrant women ages 10 and older in different kinds of jobs. Not all immigrant women worked, however. For example, Irish immigrant women were twice as likely to be breadwinners as Italian women. Although the Commission gathered statistics on many ethnic groups, only six are shown here. Sometimes the Commission’s reports included Jews as a separate category, while at other times it grouped Jews with Russians, since most immigrants from Russia during this era were Jewish.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Source: Adapted from <em>Abstracts of Reports of the Immigration Commission with Conclusions and Recommendations and Views of the Minority, Vol. 1 </em>(Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1911).
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning <br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.
Relation
A related resource
1857
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1900
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Industrialization and Expansion (1877-1913)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Immigration and Migration
Irish Immigration
Italian Immigration
Jewish Immigration
Reading Supports
-
https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/files/original/slum-or-hood_a602a388ef.notebook
b418a5cee991d6e29e727588e986db2d
Teaching Activity
Objectives
<ul><li>
<p>Students will evaluate the bias and accuracy of depictions of Five Points and its residents.</p>
</li>
</ul><p>This activity supports the following Common Core Literacy Standards in History/Social Studies:</p>
<ul><li>
<p>RHSS.6-8.7. Integrate visual information with other information in print and digital texts.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>RHSS.6-8.8. Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>RHSS.6-8.6. Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author's point of view or purpose.</p>
</li>
</ul>
Materials
1229, 1713, 641, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796
Historical Context
<p>In general, the only work in the New World open to Irish men was unskilled, temporary, and often heavy. After the mid 1840s, Irish immigrants dominated day labor in most coastal towns and cities and formed the majority of workers on canals, railroads, and other construction projects. A visiting Irish journalist remarked in 1860, "There are several sorts of power working at the fabric of this Republic: water-power, steam-power, horse-power, Irish-power. The last works hardest of all."</p>
<p>Young Irish women did more than their share of heavy work. With more Irish women than men arriving in the United States and most families needing the labor of all their members, few women arriving from Ireland could afford the luxury of leisure. </p>
<p>Economic hardship was widespread among Irish immigrants. Extreme poverty sometimes forced immigrants to turn to petty crime to survive. Families lived in increasingly crowded and decaying neighborhoods. Boston's North End was one such place. New York's Five Points was another. Middle class observers, who often toured such neighborhoods to gape in wonder at the lower classes or sought to deliver relief in the form of charity or religious sermons, were shocked and offended by life in Five Points. Many conflated the terrible conditions of poverty with moral failings on the part of the neighborhood's residents. </p>
Lesson Plan Text
<p><strong>Note:</strong> Each of the primary sources in this activity includes an analysis worksheet. The teacher can differentiate the activity by giving the analysis worksheets only to lower level students, or by giving higher-level students versions of the text documents without text supports. </p>
<p><strong>Step 1: </strong>Tell students that in this activity they will consider how different types of evidence produce different views of the same event or place. They will look at images, census records, and travel narratives about the Five Points in the 19th century. Then students will decide whether the evidence shows Five Points as a neighborhood or a slum. In this activity, they will look at the immigrant neighborhood Five Points and how it was portrayed in various 19th century images and texts. </p>
<p>Pass out and/or project "New York State Census Page of Five Points, 1855." Discuss</p>
<ul><li>
<p>What impression of the Five Points neighborhood do you get from this census page?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Is this an insider or outsider point of view?</p>
</li>
</ul><p><strong>Step 2:</strong>Â Tell students that they will now look at how different visitors and observers of the Five Points depicted it during the 19th century.</p>
<p>Divide students into pairs or groups of three. To each group, pass out the four additional documents and analysis worksheets (if using). Ask each group to choose one text and one image to focus on. They should carefully examine the document and complete the analysis worksheet. </p>
<p>Before moving onto the next step, the teacher may want to go through documents as a whole, asking groups to share out what they noticed from the documents they chose. </p>
<p><strong>Step 3:</strong> If using Smartboard, project Slide 6 "Neighborhood or Slum?". Ask for volunteers to slide each document to one side or the other, depending on how it depicts the neighborhood, or somewhere in between if it presents evidence of Five Points as both slum and neighborhood. </p>
<p>If not using Smartboard, replicate by making a "spectrum" on the board by drawing a horizontal line and writing "neighborhood" on one end and "slum" on the other. Have students tape printouts of the documents along the line. Â </p>
<p>Conclude by discussing what kinds of biases the different sources include (or do not include). Ask students what additional sources can help us understand Five Points better (census records, archaeological evidence, first-person accounts from people who lived in the neighborhood). </p>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Language
A language of the resource
English
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
Title
A name given to the resource
Neighborhood or Slum? Snapshots of Five Points, 1827-1867
Description
An account of the resource
In this activity, students look at census records from antebellum Five Points and compare them to depictions of the neighborhood and its residents. Students will evaluate whether observers described Five Points as a neighborhood or slum. The activity includes a Smartboard file, but can be completed without this technology.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2011.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
<div><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.</div>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2011
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Antebellum America (1816-1860)
Common Core Reading
Delving into Data
Five Points
Group Work
Irish Immigration
Lessons in Looking
Smartboard
Using Political Cartoons
-
https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/files/original/five-points-1859_a344fd158c.png
ac2dfe9183026d2b6d6655b4a19df87b
Omeka Image File
The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files.
Width
624
Height
477
Bit Depth
8
Poster/Print
Original Caption
The Five Points in 1859
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Language
A language of the resource
English
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
Title
A name given to the resource
<em>Five Points in 1859</em>
Description
An account of the resource
This print showing a view of one of New York City's more notorious poor neighborhoods offers a variety of picturesque and sensational incidents, including an assault in broad daylight. It also indicates that African Americans worked and resided in a district usually identified as composed largely of Irish immigrants.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Unknown
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
D. T. Valentine, comp., "The Five Points in 1859," <em>Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York for 1860</em> (McSpedon & Baker: New York, 1860), 397.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1860
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Antebellum America (1816-1860)
Five Points
Irish Immigration
-
Hyperlink
Title, URL, Description or annotation.
URL
http://picturinghistory.gc.cuny.edu/item.php?item_id=168
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
"Two Views of a Dead Rabbit"
Language
A language of the resource
English
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
Description
An account of the resource
This essay examines two images of members of an Irish street gang in the mid-nineteenth century that address issues of immigrant stereotyping, urban immigration, poverty, and reform in the wake of large-scale Irish immigration. The link includes the essay and both of the images under discussion.
Creator
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Joshua Brown
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Joshua Brown, "Two Views of a Dead Rabbit," 2008, from <em>Picturing U.S. History: An Interactive Resource for Teaching with Visual Evidence by American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning</em>, http://picturinghistory.gc.cuny.edu/item.php?item_id=168.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
<div><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/"></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States License</a>.</div>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2008
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Antebellum America (1816-1860)
Five Points
Irish Immigration
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https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/files/original/statistics-about-life-in-the-five-points_1a1718cfb2.pdf
b4851b5c98626410ba49df523252bb88
Quantitative Data
Statistics, Census Data
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Statistics about Life in Five Points
Language
A language of the resource
English
Publisher
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American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
Description
An account of the resource
Five Pointers were destitute when they arrived and settled in New York’s poorest and most run-down neighborhood. On top of this, Irish Five Pointers worked for some of the lowest wages in the most dangerous and unstable jobs in the city. Statistics attest to the dire and exceptional conditions of the neighborhood.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Carol Groneman Pernicone, <em>The “Bloody Ould Sixth:†A Social Analysis of a New York City Working-Class Community in the Mid Nineteenth Century</em>, Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Rochester, 1973; and Linn, M., <em>From typhus to tuberculosis and fractures in between: A visceral historical archaeology of Irish immigrant life in New York City 1845—1870</em>, Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 2008.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
<div><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.</div>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2010
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Antebellum America (1816-1860)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Immigration and Migration
Work
Five Points
Irish Immigration
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Teaching Activity
Objectives
<ul><li>
<p>Students will examine poetry, lyrics and letters in order to deepen their understandings of the experiences of the Irish in the United States.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Students will compose original found poems using words and phrases they find in the primary documents. </p>
</li>
</ul>
Materials
776, 765, 842, 767, 715, 717, 722
Historical Context
<p>The potato famine of the 1840s and 1850s spurred the migration of thousands of impoverished Irish to the United States. The new immigrants—rural, Catholic, and starving—settled in the poorest districts of large cities in the East, especially in New York’s Five Points neighborhood. Without formal social services or adequate skills for an industrial society, Irish immigrants struggled to establish homes and provide for their families. Meanwhile, native-born Protestants, especially those from the upper- and middle-classes, were highly suspicious and often hostile towards the immigrants. Nativists felt immigrant culture, religion, and social customs degraded “real†American society. They also feared the growth of Irish political power. These factors combined to keep Irish immigrants in low-paying and dangerous jobs. Yet, despite these deplorable conditions, Irish immigrants built a vibrant working-class community in the Five Points and other cities.</p>
Lesson Plan Text
<p><strong>Step 1:</strong> The students should read the texts. Depending on the level of the students, the teacher may choose to give students only a subset of the documents to work with. The teacher may also choose to read aloud (or ask for volunteers to read aloud) the poems, lyrics and letters. As they read the poems, students should underline or list words or phrases that they believe are central to the meaning and content of the text.  The teacher may want to model the procedure with one document. </p>
<p><strong>Step 2:</strong> Working independently, students should each create a found poem that incorporates as many of their chosen words and phrases as possible. The poems should reflects students' understandings about the experiences of the Irish in America. The teacher may want to discuss or project the following guidelines for found poems:</p>
<ul><li>
<p>Words and phrases can be rearranged; they need not be in the order in which they appear in the original text.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Words can suggest your point of view and an idea that might not be stressed in the original text.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>If necessary, other words that do not appear in the original documents may be added.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The authors should give their finished poems a title.</p>
</li>
</ul><p><strong>Step 3:</strong> The teacher should divide the students into small groups of 4 or 5. Group members should share their poems with each other and discuss:</p>
<div>
<ul><li>
<p>What statements or ideas from the readings did the poems reflect?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Were many of the chosen key words and phrases the same? If so, compare and contrast the ways different people used the same language.</p>
</li>
</ul><p><strong>Step 4:</strong> Each group should choose at least one poem to share with the whole class. Â </p>
</div>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Language
A language of the resource
English
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
Title
A name given to the resource
Exploring the Irish in America Through Found Poetry
Description
An account of the resource
In this lesson students read poems and letters that describe the work and lives of nineteenth-century Irish immigrants to the United States. As students read the documents, they choose words and phrases to create found poems that reflect their understandings of the Irish-American experience.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2009.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
<div><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.</div>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2009
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Antebellum America (1816-1860)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Immigration and Migration
Five Points
Group Work
Interdisciplinary
Irish Immigration
Literature in the History Classroom
Making Connections