Read the summary below and answer the following questions.
The Underside of Urban Life (summary)
1. How did urban life in the late 1800s reflect the nickname for this era “The Gilded Age”?
2. Click on the link (scroll to lower left side) titled “The Urban Log Cabin”. How many people lived at 97 Orchard Street between 1870-1915?
3. Now click on the window of an apartment in either 1870 or 1915 to select a family that lived there. Write a brief summary about the family you selected.
Below, Jacob Riis describes life in the Tenements (1890). Read this primary source document and answer the reading questions that go along with it.
Jacob Riis Describes Life in the Tenements
Photos by Jacob Riis
Excerpts from Jacob Riis’ “How The Other Half Lives”