1
10
52
-
Newspaper/Magazine
Text
Any textual data included in the document.
<p>ELECTION DAY IN THE CITY</p>
<p>No Rows, No Riots, No Rumpus</p>
<p>SIGHTS & SCENES ABOUT TOWN</p>
<p>…The Sixth Ward</p>
<p>The Sanguinary Sixth belied its pristine fame. There were no contests worth recording, and the swearing outside the polls, though somewhat energetic, was comparatively unimpressive. The Hibernian element was indeed predominant, but it showed itself less in the offensive than in that good-humored phase, which we laugh at in farces. And appreciate in melodrama….</p>
<p>It was indeed so novel to find the Golden Age restored to that renowned region…that we had to linger there. It was beautiful to behold the fraternity of our citizens. Hard-shell and Soft-Shell. Half-Shell and Quarter-Shell [Democrats], Whigs, (there were actually Whigs thereat least, there were Whig tickets offered to voters, but we didn’t see that any of them were accepted,) Know-Nothings, but didn’t a Know-Nothing feel small in the “bloody Sixth,†and if he voted, he was mindful to hold his tongue. And look as if he had gone the Irish ticket, out and out, Reformers. And last, but not least Republicans….</p>
<p>In the Third District, (No. 147 Leonard-street, on the east side of centre and actually in the Five Points,) the Hibernian accent, gesture, enthusiasm, and peculiar bent of mind, displayed themselves to their utmost advantage. We were delighted. For a long time we hovered around this spot, (it was not very rich in odors,) and mingled with the choice knots of patriots (none the less so, that many of them were just naturalized,) which blocked up the doorway and impeded the access to the ballot boxes….But there was positively no fight; 395 votes were polled here, being 80 more than last year.</p>
<p>At the corner of Bayard-street and the Bowery we found the polling place of the Fourth District. The same element was here also, in a majority, and the Democratic ticket was the rage, Irish candidates, of course, being the favorites. But we chronicle the fact that there was no fight here, and that 278 votes were polled.</p>
<p>We are sorry to say that Mott-street is not the best-behaved street in the Sixth Ward. At the polling place there, for the Fifth District, the Kerrigan Party had some little differences, in which some blows, productive of bruised eyes and crimsoned noses, were playfully exchanged. The Inspectors here, as also the policemen, and, in fact, all officially connected with the proceedings, were not disposed to be civil or communicative. Consequently, we cannot give the vote polled. The Irish element was larger here than in any place in the Ward.</p>
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Type
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Newspaper/Magazine
Title
A name given to the resource
A Newspaperman Reports on Election Day in the "Bloody Sixth"
Language
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English
Publisher
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American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
Description
An account of the resource
This 1855 newspaper account of election day in lower Manhattan is filled with the reporter's assumptions about the Five Points immigrant neighborhood and its residents. Irish immigrants had by this time garnered a reputation for disorderliness and brawling; such violence was especially prevalent on Election Day, when newly-naturalized citizens found themselves struggling to gain representation in the city's shifting political landscape. By the mid-1850s, emerging urban political "machines" such as Tammany Hall sought immigrant votes, while anti-immigrant parties like the so-called "Know-Nothings" strove to preserve what they saw as the birthright of native-born citizens. Both sides frequently engaged the services of armed gangs, and polling places in the mid-nineteenth century were often sites of electoral fraud, repeat voting, and violent clashes between pro-and anti-immigrant factions.
Creator
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<em>The New York Daily Times</em>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
"Election Day in the City," <em>The New York Daily Times</em>, 7 November 1855.
Primary
Is this Primary or Secondary? Enter 1 for Primary or 2 for Secondary.
1
Relation
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1497
Date
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1855
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
-
Music/Song
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound.
Fare you well poor Erin's Isle, I now must leave you for awhile; <br />The rents and taxes are so high I can no longer stay. <br />From Dublin's quay I sailed away and landed here but yesterday; <br />Me shoes, and breeches and shirts now are all that's in my kit <br />I have dropped in to tell you now the sights I have seen before I go, <br />Of the ups and downs in Ireland since the year of ninety-eight; <br />But if that Nation had its own, her noble sons might stay at home, <br />But since fortune has it otherwise, poor Pat must emigrate. <br /><br />The divil a word I would say at all, although our wages are but small, <br />If they left us in our cabins, where our fathers drew their breath, <br />When they call upon rent-day, and the divil a cent you have to pay. <br />They will drive you from your house and home, to beg and starve to death <br />What kind of treatment, boys, is that, to give an honest Irish Pat? <br />To drive his family to the road to beg or starve for meat; <br />But I stood up with heart and hand, and sold my little spot of land; <br />That is the reason why I left and had to emigrate. <br /><br />Such sights as that I've often seen, but I saw worse in Skibbareen, <br />In forty-eight (that time is no more when famine it was great, <br />I saw fathers, boys, and girls with rosy cheeks and silken curls <br />All a-missing and starving for a mouthful of food to eat. <br />When they died in Skibbareen, no shroud or coffins were to be seen; <br />But patiently reconciling themselves to their horrid fate, <br />They were thrown in graves by wholesale which cause many an Irish heart to wail <br />And caused many a boy and girl to be most glad to emigrate. <br /><br />Where is the nation or the land that reared such men as Paddy's land? <br />Where is the man more noble than he they call poor Irish Pat? <br />We have fought for England's Queen and beat her foes wherever seen; <br />We have taken the town of Delhi if you please come tell me that, <br />We have pursued the Indian chief, and Nenah Sahib, that cursed thief, <br />Who skivered babes and mothers, and left them in their gore. <br />But why should we be so oppressed in the land of St. Patrick blessed. <br />The land from which we have the best, poor Paddy must emigrate. <br /><br />There is not a son from Paddy's land but respects the memory of Dan, <br />Who fought and struggled hard to part the poor and plundered country <br />He advocated Ireland's rights, with all his strength and might, <br />And was but poorly recompensed for all his toil and pains. <br />He told us to be in no haste, and in him for to place our trust, <br />And he would not desert us, or leave us to our fate, <br />But death to him no favor showed, from the beggar to the throne; <br />Since they took our liberator poor Pat must emigrate. <br /><br />With spirits bright and purses light, my boys we can no longer stay, <br />For the shamrock is immediately bound for America, <br />For there is bread and work, which I cannot get in Donegal, <br />I told the truth, by great St. Ruth, believe me what I say, <br />Good-night my boys, with hand and heart, all you who take Ireland's part, <br />I can no longer stay at home, for fear of being too late, <br />If ever again I see this land, I hope it will be with a Fenian band; <br />So God be with old Ireland, poor Pat must emigrate.
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Type
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Music/Song
Title
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"Poor Pat Must Emigrate"
Language
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English
Publisher
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American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
Description
An account of the resource
A.W. Auner of Philadelphia was among the most prolific printers of "broadside ballads," cheaply-produced topical songs and poems that were widely available throughout the nineteenth century. "Poor Pat Must Emigrate," published by Auner sometime in mid-century, chronicles the plight of the by-then-familiar figure of the Irish immigrant. The song makes a number of references to events in Ireland that Irish immigrants would be familiar with, mentioning the famine "in forty-eight," the exploitation of tenant farmers by landlords, the heroics of Irish soldiers in service of the British Empire, and the ultimately unsuccessful struggle of "the liberator" Daniel O'Connell. However, the presence of some confusion about Irish geography (most Irish emigrants departed from Cork or Liverpool, not Dublin) as well as other references that seemingly only provide convenient rhymes (there was no Irish "St. Ruth") suggests that the song was not written by an Irishman but perhaps by Auner himself.
Creator
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A.W. Auner
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
"Poor Pat Must Emigrate," lyrics, (Philadelphia: A.W. Auner), available from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, <em>Poor Pat Must Emigrate: 19th Century Irish Immigration</em>, http://www.hsp.org/default.aspx?id=452.
Primary
Is this Primary or Secondary? Enter 1 for Primary or 2 for Secondary.
1
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1848 - 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)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Immigration and Migration
Irish Immigration
-
https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/files/original/fivepoints-viewerguide1_f7edf630eb.pdf
4088cfe50e3af5266261c8d9376ea893
Viewer's Guide
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
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<em>Five Points: New York's Irish Working Class in the 1850s</em> Viewer's Guide
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
This booklet is curriculum support for the American Social History Project's 30-minute documentary <em><a href="http://ashp.cuny.edu/ashp-documentaries/five-points/" target="_blank">Five Points: New York's Irish Working Class in the 1850s</a></em>. The viewer's guide contains background information on issues raised by the documentary as well as additional primary source materials for use in the classroom.
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, 2007.
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>
Relation
A related resource
1504
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2007
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
-
Teaching Activity
Objectives
<ul><li>
<p>Students will be able to describe the conflicting viewpoints of and weigh social pressures on African Americans and Irish Americans in the midst of the New York City Draft Riots. Â </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Students will perform a role play of characters debating their actions during the New York City Draft Riots. Â </p>
</li>
</ul>
Materials
1229, 524, 953, 971, 820, 589, 876, 1145, 1569
Historical Context
In New York implementation of the National Conscription Act of July 11, 1863, triggered four days of the worst rioting Americans had ever seen. Violence quickly spread through the entire city, and even homes in wealthy neighborhoods were looted. Both women and men, many of them poor Irish immigrants, attacked and killed Protestant missionaries, Republican draft officials, and wealthy businessmen. However, New York City's small free black population became the rioters' main targets. Immigrants, determined not to be drafted to fight for the freedom of a people they resented, turned on black New Yorkers in a rage. Rioters lynched at least a dozen African Americans and looted the burned the city's Colored Orphan Asylum. Leading trade unionists joined middle-class leaders in condemning the riots, but to no avail. The violence ended only when Union troops were rushed back from the front to put down the riot by force. At the end, over one hundred New Yorkers lay dead.
Lesson Plan Text
<p><strong>Step 1:</strong> Divide students into two groups, one to represent the African-American household and one to represent the Irish household. Tell students that they will be researching and performing a role play of black and Irish New Yorkers debating their options during the New York City Draft Riots of 1863. Explain the situation:</p>
<p>It is Wednesday, July 15, 1863--the third day of the riots.</p>
<p>In one house, three African Americans discuss their options. Â Should they seek help from neighboring families, flee, or stay put? Â They've heard about the violence in the streets, but know that they also may not be safe in their home. Â They have lived on the block for many years and are friendly with their neighbors. Â </p>
<p>Next door an Irish family discusses the violence. Â They know that their African-American neighbors are in danger, but cannot agree on whether to help them or not. Â </p>
<p><strong>Step 2:</strong> Divide each group into smaller subgroups of 2-3 students each. Â Assign each subgroup a different "character" to research for the role play. Â </p>
<p><em>African-American household (Family #192 from the 1855 Census)</em></p>
<ul><li>
<p>Matthew Fletcher, Male, 48: A well-established local printer and landowner</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>John Johnston, Male, 36: Although ineligible for conscription, is interested in enlisting in the Union Army</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Hannah Day, Female, 42: Has heard stories about the violence in the streets--knows that the rioters are mainly targeting men</p>
</li>
</ul><p><span style="font-style:italic;">Irish household (Family #194 from the 1855 Census)</span></p>
<ul><li>
<p>Edward Galher, Male, 53, Policeman: Has been out in the streets for two days for two days trying to put down the riot and has seen the violence firsthand</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Catherine Galher, Female, 55: Sees many similarities between the experiences of the Irish and African Americans in America</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>John Galher, Male, 26: As a male citizen of draft age, is concerned about his future</p>
</li>
</ul><p><strong>Step 3:</strong> Give all students the two background documents (the background essay on the riots and 1855 Census page) and the character talking points worksheet. Â Then, depending on whether they are portraying Irish or African-Americans, give them either of the two packets:</p>
<p><em>African-American household documents:</em> "Men of Color, To Arms!"; African-American Victims Describe the New York City Draft Riots; The Emancipation Proclamation (excerpt)</p>
<p><em>Irish household documents:</em> New York City Policy Respond to the Draft Riots; Congress Issues the Conscription Act; The People of Ireland Ask the Irish in America to Support Abolition</p>
<p><strong>Step 4:</strong> Students prepare for roles by (in their subgroups) reviewing the readings and selecting evidence and information they wish to include in the exchange. Â Students should record their talking points on the worksheet, noting the source where each point comes from. Â Remind students to think about the arguments and evidence the characters would use, and how he/she would counter the arguments of the opposing household members. Â </p>
<p><strong>Step 5:</strong> Each subgroup should choose a member who will play its role for the whole class. Â Have the three African-American characters perform first, then the three Irish characters. Â Each character should explain what they think their household should do and try to convince the others of this position. Â </p>
<p><strong>Step 6:</strong> After the role plays have been performed, lead students in a discussion. Â </p>
<ul><li>
<p>How did different characters see issues differently, and why?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>How did the perspectives of individual group members vary, depending on what role they played and on how they interpreted the role and the historical evidence? Â </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Were the arguments that were presented in the role play grounded in the historical evidence and context provided? Â </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
The New York City Draft Riots: A Role Play
Description
An account of the resource
In this activity students research roles as either Irish immigrants or African-American residents in the midst of the New York City Draft Riots that took place in July 1863. Students gather evidence from primary sources to develop their characters, based on actual census records, and then enact a role play debating whether to stay in the city or flee (if they are African American) and whether to participate in the riots or protect their black neighbors (if they are Irish immigrants).
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, 2008.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and LearningÂ
<div><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported 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
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)
Civil War
Group Work
Irish Immigration
New York City Draft Riots
Role Play and Debate
-
Teaching Activity
Objectives
<ul><li>
<p>Students will be able to describe different aspects of immigrant life Antebellum America, including labor, family, and politics. Â Â </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Students will determine the accuracy of 19th century stereotypes about Irish immigrants by analyzing census data and primary sources. Â </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Students will analyze different types of primary sources, including newspaper reports, letters, and quantitative data.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Students will differentiate among the types of evidence offered by various primary sources and be able to describe the potential biases in the sources. Â </p>
</li>
</ul>
Materials
1291, 1498, 883, 689, 1239, 898, 1501
Historical Context
<p>Antebellum New York City had several neighborhoods that struggled with poverty and crime, but the Five Points district was something new in urban America: a slum that lay in the very center of a city. And so the community readily attracted attention, much of it unfavorable. By the early 1830s, the city's papers vied with each other to portray the district in sensational tones. The <em>New York Mirror</em>, for example, called the neighborhood a "loathsome den of murders, thieves, abandoned women, ruined children, filth, misery, drunkenness and broils" (May 18, 1833). Likewise, another reporter attributed the "vice and crime" he perceived in the neighborhood to the residents' inherited "wickedness" (Sunday, May 29, 1834). </p>
<p>The lives and history of those at the bottom of American society, such as the mostly immigrant residents of the Five Points, are rarely told. And when historians or journalists do address the poor, the discussions have too often reflected the views of those at the top of society. But to understand America and how it has grown and changed, we need to see our society from all points of view. Because working people seldom leave behind the kinds of records that the wealthy generate (speeches, sermons and memoirs, for example), their stories must sometimes be told through other kinds of sources. Careful use of quantitative information, such as the census, can frequently allow us to reconstruct the lives of those whose voices might otherwise not be heard. </p>
<p>To paint a more comprehensive picture, this activity asks students to investigate social conditions in Five Points by examining the 1855 New York State census and other pieces of evidence. Students will use census data, bank records, emigrant letters and newspaper articles to assess the accuracy of a number of then-current notions about Five Points.</p>
<p>It may be helpful for students (or the instructor) to become familiar with the Five Points census database first. Â See the short lesson <a href="../show/1500">Understanding the 1855 Census Database</a> to familiarize participants with the database. Â </p>
Lesson Plan Text
<p><strong>Step 1:</strong> (Optional) Introduce students to the Five Points census database website. (See <a href="../../../items/show/1500" target="_blank">Understanding the 1855 Census Database</a> activity for instructions and handouts explaining the categories in the census.) Review with students what a census is and what a stereotype is. Â </p>
<p><strong>Step 2:</strong> Â Divide the students into groups of four and assign each group one stereotype to investigate: labor, family, and politics. (It is okay to have more than one group working on each stereotype.) Give students in each group the correct worksheet and the "Explanation of 1855 Census Categories" handout. In their groups, students should read through the stereotype about Irish immigrants described at the top and review the questions. Â </p>
<p><strong>Step 3: </strong>Â Working with the online census database, students should answer the questions on the worksheet. In their groups or individually, students should consider how the evidence confirms or contradicts the stereotype and write a paragraph about their conclusions. Students should cite evidence from the census to support their conclusions. Â </p>
<p><strong>Step 4:</strong> Â After the groups have reviewed the census data, hand out the four documents to each group. In their groups, students review the documents to further test their conclusions. Students should examine each primary source, answering the questions on the graphic organizer. Â </p>
<p><strong>Step 5:</strong> Â Each group member should choose one document and individually write a paragraph comparing it with conclusions gathered from the census data. After writing the group should discuss what each member wrote and decide which piece of evidence best supports their census conclusions. Â </p>
<p><strong>Step 6:</strong> Â Reconvene the whole class. Ask members from each stereotype group to report to the whole class about what the stereotype they investigated was, how they used the census to investigate its accuracy, their conclusions from the stereotype, and the primary source document that best helps support their conclusions. Possible discussion questions include:</p>
<div>
<ul><li>
<p>What does the census data tell us about life in the Five Points? If we did not have the census records, what would we know (or not know) about the Five Points? Â </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>How does the source of the primary sources affect their reliability? Â </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Were some sources better for gathering facts and some sources better for making inferences? If so, which ones? What conclusions can you draw about using quantitative data (like the bank records or the census) versus written records (like the letters or the newspaper reports)? </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
Telling the Whole Story: Irish Americans in Five Points
Description
An account of the resource
In this activity students gather and analyze data from the 1855 census of the Five Points neighborhood. Students compare stereotypes of Irish immigrants with evidence from the census. Then students compare their census research with other primary sources describing life in Five Points to conclude how accurate different types of sources about urban immigrant life are. Students will need access to the internet to complete this activity.
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, 2010.
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
Delving into Data
Five Points
Group Work
Irish Immigration
-
Teaching Activity
Objectives
<ul><li>
<p>Students will formulate conclusions about life and residents of the Five Points based on evidence in the 1855 New York State census. Â </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Students will be able to navigate the Five Points census database and manipulate the data in order to test hypotheses. Â </p>
</li>
</ul><p>This activity supports the following Common Core Literacy Standards in History/Social Studies:</p>
<ul><li>
<p>RHSS.9-10.7. Integrate quantitative or technical analysis with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.</p>
</li>
</ul>
Materials
1229, 1501, 1291, 1636
Historical Context
<p>Antebellum New York City had several neighborhoods that struggled with poverty and crime, but the Five Points district was something new in urban America: a slum that lay in the very center of a city. Crowded tenements, street gangs and prostitutes shocked middle-class observers, but also aroused public curiosity about the predominantly Irish neighborhood that Charles Dickens called a "nest of vipers."Â </p>
<p>Irish Americans saw Five Points differently. Poverty was a fact of life, as were alcoholism and violence. but to immigrants who had escaped the Great Famine and English rule, Five Points offered a new home and opportunities for work, political participation and upward mobility. Five Points also provided a bustling street life where residents socialized, listened to music and talked politics in the local saloon. </p>
<p>Because working people seldom leave behind the kinds of records that the middle and upper-classes generate (speeches, sermons and memoirs, for example), their stories must sometimes be told through other kinds of sources. Careful use of quantitative information, such as census records, can frequently allow us to reconstruct the lives of those whose voices might not otherwise be heard.</p>
Lesson Plan Text
<p><strong>Step 1: </strong>Pass out or display "New York State Census Page of the Five Points, 1855" and the "Explanation of 1855 Census Categories" handout. With students, create a list of observations based on the following questions:</p>
<div>
<ul><li>
<p>Who lived in Five Points? (Irish, German, US-born, boarders, children; most residents had been in New York City for at least a decade; families)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Who worked in Five Points and what did they do? Â (men and women; the work that women did, such as keeping boarders, was not always recognized as an occupation; very few landowners)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Who were naturalized voters? Who were alien voters? (See "Explanation of 1855 Census Categories.") Â </p>
</li>
</ul><p><strong>Step 2:</strong> Divide the students into groups of 2 or 3. Â Pass out the "Understanding the 1855 Census Database" worksheet. Â Each group should select 3 hypotheses about residents in the Five Points to test using the census database. Â </p>
</div>
<p><strong>Step 3:</strong> Have students go to the Five Points Census database (<a href="http://www.ashp.cuny.edu/fivepoints/" target="_blank">http://www.ashp.cuny.edu/fivepoints</a>). Â Allow students time to figure out how the census database works (performing searches, refining results) by using it to answer a few simple questions. (Tip: click a column title to sort entries by that category; you can only sort by one category at a time.)</p>
<div>
<ul><li>
<p>How many residents were included in this census (1333)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>How many Irish-born landowners were included in this census (9)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>What percentage of residents over the age of 12 were literate and/or could read? Â (51%)</p>
</li>
</ul><p><strong>Step 4:</strong> Now let students test their hypotheses from the worksheet. Students should record what search they performed, the results of their queries and their conclusions (was the hypothesis proved or disproved?). Â </p>
</div>
<p><strong>Step 5: </strong>Ask students to share their results with the whole class. Then, lead a discussion of the broader conclusions they can draw about life and residents in Five Points. Conclusions might include:</p>
<div>
<ul><li>
<p>Five Points was a working-class neighborhood  </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Most residents were Irish or the children of Irish immigrants, though there were many residents who had emigrated from other European countries; there were very few African Americans</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The residents were politically active; many men were naturalized, though fewer women were naturalized</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It was common for men to have unskilled jobs; very few landowners</p>
<p>Many women worked, though the number of working women was often undercounted by census takers and other authorities who did not recognize some occupations, such as housing boarders in private homes, as jobs</p>
</li>
</ul><p>Ask students what other questions they have about the database, such as why were so few women naturalized, how undercounting the number of women workers changes our perceptions of the neighborhood, and why were there so few African-American residents?</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
Understanding the 1855 Census Database
Description
An account of the resource
This activity helps students navigate and make sense of the information available in the Five Points census database. In the activity, students use the database to test hypotheses about life and residents in the Five Points. For this activity, students will need access to a computer with an internet connection. Â This activity can be followed up with the activity <a href="../../../items/show/1497" target="_blank">Telling the Whole Story: Irish Americans in Five Points</a>.
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, 2010.
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-No Derivative Works 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
Common Core Reading
Delving into Data
Five Points
Group Work
Irish Immigration
-
Teaching Activity
Objectives
<ul><li>
<p>Students will be able to describe different contemporary perspectives, reformer and resident, on life in Five Points during the 1850s.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Students will choose evidence from different primary and secondary sources to support their interpretation of reformer and resident roles. Â </p>
</li>
</ul><p>This activity supports the following Common Core Literacy Standards in History/Social Studies:</p>
<ul><li>
<p>RHSS.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.</p>
</li>
</ul>
Materials
1506, 1473, 605, 603, 832, 1507
Historical Context
During the 1840s and 1850s, there were no state or federal agencies available to help people with all the problems created by slums; religious groups generally took up that role. Protestant reformers such as Reverend Pease were horrified by the growth of the city's first major slum, Five Points, and saw it as their responsibility to improve poor people's lives. The upper and middle classes, most of whom were native-born Protestants, prided themselves on being different from the poor, and were very critical of Irish Catholics, whose faith was seen as proof of their backward ways. These reformers believed that poverty was caused by a person's immorality and lack of self-control and wanted to save immigrant children from poverty and abusive parents.
Lesson Plan Text
<p><strong>Note:</strong> Students will be working in groups to assemble the facts to develop their characters for the role play. The teacher may choose to put students in their character groups before or after the film. </p>
<p><strong>Step 1:</strong> Tell students that they will be writing and performing a script of a scene between reformers and residents in the Five Points neighborhood. To gather evidence to build their characters, they will first watch a film, then read some primary and secondary documents. Divide students into three groups and assign each group an identity: Reverend Pease, Catherine, or Mary Mulvahill. Distribute the worksheet "Reformers versus Residents in Five Points" and go over the scene and cast of characters. </p>
<p><strong>Step 2:</strong> View Chapter 1 (<em>Rev. Louis Pease: Reforming the Five Points</em>), Chapter 2 (<em>Mary Mulvahill: Surviving in a New Land</em>), and Chapter 5 (<em>Matthew Mulvahill: Boyhood in the Streets</em>) of the <em>Five Points</em> DVD. Â As students watch, they should think about the events described from the perspective of their character in the role play. Â </p>
<p><strong>Step 3:</strong> Allow students to gather in their groups to read through the various primary and secondary sources. Students should read the documents and use the Character Research Sheet to develop their character's talking points for the scene. Â </p>
<p><strong>Step 4:</strong> Now make groups of three, with one student from each character group, to work together to create a script of the encounter between Reverend Pease, Catherine, and Mary Mulvahill. The scene should begin with Rev. Pease's arrival at Mary Mulvahill's house, where the meeting will occur. Each script should incorporate the characters' talking points and address the "Questions to Consider" on the worksheet. Â </p>
<p><strong>Step 5:</strong> Students perform scenes. (Optional: Pass out the Scene Assessment Rubric to all students. As students perform, the other students should use the rubric to assess how well each script uses evidence. Use student evaluations for follow-up discussion.)</p>
<p><strong>Step 6:</strong> Lead students in a discussion of the different perspectives of Catherine, Mary Mulvahill, and Reverend Pease:</p>
<ul><li>
<p>How did they see the issues surrounding child adoption (class, religion, family, etc.) differently, and why?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>How did different characters interpret the historical evidence? Â </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Were the arguments presented in the scripts grounded in the historical evidence and context provided? Â </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
Reformers versus Residents in Five Points: A Role Play
Description
An account of the resource
In this activity students learn about the religious, class, and ethnic tensions between reformers and residents in the working-class Irish immigrant neighborhood of Five Points. Students research roles of a Protestant reformer and two Irish women debating whether the reformer should send Irish children to live with upper-class parents. Â This activity accompanies the film <a href="http://ashp.cuny.edu/ashp-documentaries/five-points/" target="_blank"><em>Five Points: New York's Irish Working Class in the 1850s</em></a>, but parts of it can be completed without the film.
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><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
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
Common Core Reading
Five Points
Group Work
Irish Immigration
Role Play and Debate
-
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
-
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
An entity responsible for making the resource available
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
-
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