Death, Debauchery, & the Irish
1. “Five Points in 1859”
In New York City's Lower Eastside, located in the Sixth Ward, was the neighborhood known as Five Points, formed by the intersection of Orange, Anthony, and Cross Streets (1). Arguably the worst urban slum in the city, if not in the whole country, Five points was the home to gangs, violence, disease, poverty, vice, and the Irish. The centralized misery of Five Points was considered a spectacle by the upper class, making many New Yorkers tourists to their own city. 19th century America was dominated by a need for labor, but Americans were hesitant and anxious about the various incoming ethnic groups arriving in America. Facing discrimination by nativist Americans out of their fear that Irish immigrants could not be assimilated into society and evidence of rapid population growth, the New York Irish immigrants were forced into dangerous, low paying, laborious, jobs, relegating them to a life of poverty and forcing them, with nowhere else to go, to turn to Five Points as a place to call their home.
2. New York City - "Doing the slums" - A scene in the Five Points / from a sketch by a staff artist, 1885.
What is the significance of Five Points in the Irish female immigration narrative?
Many immigrants and poor Americans found their way into the heart of poverty and misery of Five Points. Without an income or savings, many had no other choice but to settle in the Sixth Ward. Irish women coming to America often had nothing, making it impossible to afford to travel or live in any other section of the country. Discrimination from nativist Americans gave women no other choice but to find housing and occupations in the only part of the city that appeared to accept their presence with less adversity. Many of the sources and testimonies that are in existence today come from women who lived in this notorious neighborhood and it is necessary to illustrate how this setting shaped the experiences and lifestyles of female Irish immigrants.
Why did the Irish settle in the slums?
For the Irish, earning a living was not an easy feat. Men and women alike worked any job that would allow food to be brought to their table or keep a roof over their heads. Men took jobs that no other men would want. Younger female Irish immigrants would often take positions as domestic servants and be dispersed throughout the city, whereas other women took up positions as seamstresses, shopkeepers, and, as always, mothers (2). Many Irish women, whether because they were widowed or unmarried, were the breadwinners and heads of household for their families. Like many men, the women wanted to not only support themselves and their families, but save what little money they made in order to send for family members back home in Ireland (3). Many women, out of desperation, resorted to prostitution, which was a common occurrence and way of life in Five Points. Competition for jobs and housing created a lasting hostile environment, resulting in violence, death, and destruction, leaving a constant air of misery throughout the entire neighborhood of Five Points.Poor wages and the rapid population growth prevented the Irish from moving inland and away from Five Points (4). This created cramped, disease ridden, and dangerous living conditions, in which multiple families and tenants would live in single rooms out of desperation and affordability. Children did not experience a true childhood; surrounded by violence, death, and disease everyday, children quickly learned to be independent as well as acquire skills that would help their family survive. This often led to young children working in dangerous conditions as well as resorting to thievery (5).
Women as Victims of their Environment
Though no one led a happy life in the Sixth Ward, women were undoubtedly among it's biggest victims. The harsh lifestyle left women hardened and made them perpetrators of violence and unspeakable acts alongside men. Police Records tell the story of female violence, as well as substance abuse (6). One Irish-American recalls, "I have seen women-aye women-wives and mothers, in all the horrors of a miserable intoxication. Oh what a ghastly spectacle it is to see a woman, whom God ordained to be all that is noble and beautiful, under the powerful influence of strong drink; to see a woman who was once pure and spotless as the snow...suffering all the misery and degradation of sin and ruin arising from the use of ardent spirits" (7). The frequentness of women's names amongst the records illustrates how the environment and it's culture negatively shaped the lives of women. Forced to leave home due to circumstances out of their control, Irish women, especially single women, had little to no money of their own and were forced to make a life in this notorious slum. Margaret McCarthy, an Irish immigrant living in the neighborhood, wrote home and advised:
"For this Reason I would advise no one to come to American that would not have Some Money after landing here that (would) Enable them to go west in case they would get no work to do here but any man or woman without a family are fools that would not venture and Come to this plentiful Country where no man or woman ever Hungered or ever will and where you will not be Seen Naked, but I can assure you there are Dangers upon Dangers Attending comeing here but my Friends nothing Venture nothing have," (8).
As a woman experienced in the ways of American life as an immigrant, McCarthy's letter to her family back home in Ireland both offers advice and a warning; coming to America can be worth the risk, but it is not without its dangers. The men and women of Five Points were well versed in the negative side effects of immigration to the United States.
Want to learn more?
As a history major, I fully believe that primary sources tell the real story. For those of you interested in exploring the history of this notorious slum and its relationship to the Irish, here are a diverse collection of primary sources:
Image Source:
1. Unknown, “Five Points in 1859,” HERB: Resources for Teachers, accessed May 1, 2013, http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/16.
2. New York City - "Doing the slums" - A scene in the Five Points / from a sketch by a staff artist. 1885. Accessed from the Library of Congress. Accessed on May 1, 2013. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/99400238/.
Sources:
1. Gilje, Paul A. "The Development of an Irish American Community in New York City before the Great Migration". In The New York Irish. Edited by Ronald H. Bayor and Timothy J. Meagher. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1996, 74.
2. Phalen, William. "The Stalwart Ladies: Nineteenth Century Female Irish Emigrants to the United States". Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, 92, 2003, 186.
3. Gilje, Paul A. "The Development of an Irish American Community in New York City before the Great Migration", 77.
4. McCarthy, Margaret. “An Irish Emigrant to New York Writes Home.” 1850. HERB: Resources for Teachers. Accessed May 1, 2013, http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/689.
5. Anonymous. "Reported to the New York Sun". June 24, 1835. Accessed May 1, 2013 http://www.urbanography.com/5_points/5p3.html.
6. Anonymous. "Police Office-Saturday". June 22, 1835. The New York Sun. Accessed May 1, 2013 http://www.urbanography.com/5_points/5p2.html.
7. Unknown. In Erin's Daughters in America: Irish Immigrant Women in the Nineteenth Century. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1983, 106.
8.McCarthy, Margaret. “An Irish Emigrant to New York Writes Home.” 1850. HERB: Resources for Teachers. Accessed May 1, 2013, http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/689.
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