How the other half lives

Lodgers in a crowded Bayard Street tenement—“Five Cents a Spot”

To immigrants America was the land of opportunity and freedom. However this picture suggests that the idea of the American Dream did not apply to everyone. As the tittle of the photo suggest it costs five cents for a spot to live in some horrible, cramped conditions. Under the description of the photo it says that "Another room on the top floor, that had been examined a few nights before, was comparatively empty. There were only four persons in it, two men, an old woman, and a young girl. The landlord opened the door with alacrity, and exhibited with a proud sweep of his hand the sacrifice he had made of his personal interests to satisfy the law. Our visit had been anticipated. The policeman’s back was probably no sooner turned than the room was re-opened for business". I would assume that this is a family otherwise this demonstrates how immigrants were treated. In some cases strangers from completely different countries could be forced to live together depending on what they could afford. The room does not particularly look very homely and does not even have much space to move around. Again this highlights how immigrants were seen as inferior and the landlord just wants to make as much money as he possibly can by fitting as many people in one room as he can regardless of the law.

The area that these people are living is called "the bend" which is part of the slums in New York, therefore will be full of deprivation and unsanitary living conditions. This also signifies the shock that these immigrants would have felt having to live in these awful conditions when they would expect to be somewhere nicer in the "land of the free". Again they do not have as many opportunities living in a run down area but are free from the persecution of their home countries, this may not be the case in the US. Immigrants that could be found in these areas were predominantly from Eastern European countries such as Poland as well as Jews. However in this photo they do seem to have a decent place to live, with blankets and various supplies so other immigrants were in a lot worse places than this. These people seem to be treated well and looked after so it shows how different living situations different people had when they arrived to America.