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Gerardo Chagolla
History 1700
Essay Assignment
March 31, 2014
Industrial New York: Filthy Cities
New York City, the Headquarters of Capitalism, according to the video, was once
drowning in its own filth. At that time, New York City only covered up to the tip of Manhattan,
during those times, the poor were exploited by bosses and landlords for money. The video
covered what NY was like at its very worst. It talked about parasites that prayed on its citizens,
and the narrator did research to see how close NY came to drowning in its own filth! Also, it
talked and covered about the New York skyline and how the population went up 1000 percent
from 100 years ago. In the body of this essay I will record my reactions on the video about the
topics that I mentioned above .
According to the video, New York is home to 8 million people, the biggest and richest
city in the world. For 400 years, NYC has been the bridge between Europe and North America,
gateway to North America and link from old world to new world. Uptown, the cities elite lived
in the grandest townhomes in America. This era marked the start of the biggest migration,
immigrants fled poverty to come to the land of opportunity. I was shocked and surprised to
how many immigrants died on the ship during their travel to America. It was very disappointing
how the tenants and landlords that were wealthy, were making money off immigrants by
hustling them, but at the same time refused to clean up the apartments. Immigrants that lived
in these conditions also lived with no running water or bathrooms in their apartments. In the
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century, New York slums were over crowded and filthy causing many deceases and deaths.
Because of this dirt, parasites like bed bugs and body lice thrived. Half of the people that were
infected by body lice died within two weeks of being infected due to typhus. NY death rate was
twice of American rate. William Tweed, was corrupt politician that embezzled the citys money
that could have used to clean up dirty streets. Many apartment complex were dirty, as shown
in the video, an old ladys apartment had trash accumulating for 60 years. The sausage industry
was corrupt as well, rotten pigs head and hearts were used. Butchers did not want to throw
away meat because of fear of losing money. Borax was introduced to preserve the meat. It was
disgusting how Typhoid Mary infected many people because of unsanitary reasons. She was
quarantined until her death,