I just liked this title
Our last day of having Ed O’Donnell was just great. We walked in the residential section of lower Manhattan which is predominately China Town. The turn-of-the-nineteenth century and the Progressive Era are not usually something a fifth grade teacher covers in much depth (I typically cover the Revolutionary War, the Constitution and the Civil War), but I am learning a great deal about this through our trips, and am liking the history very much.
I would say that the tour of the Tenement Museum was impressive. When touring something like this, I try to picture exactly how the people lived back almost 100 years ago. At present it is blind mowing (to quote Hutch) to think that 6 to 8 people could live in a tiny apartment with only 325 square feet. When the apartment was bare like the first one we visited, I can’t really imagine that many people living there. Our tour guide told us the highest number of people recorded was 14. When we moved into the other apartments with the furniture, it became a little easier to picture life back then. I could use this material with my kids so they can appreciate how fortunate we are today.
I found Ed’s synopsis of how different immigrant groups arrived in New York; settled in different sections and how the sections have changed hands as the immigrants progressed to better jobs and working conditions. I had been told that the history of New York can be found by following the great boxers of the times. The top boxers usually come out of the group of people most oppressed immigrant group in New York. Years ago the Jews dominated the sport followed by the Irish (Jim Sullivan), the Italians (Rocky Marciano), the Latinos (many examples)and now the Asians (Manny Pacquiao). The idea is that when a group is hungry to escape the terrible working condiditons of lower New York, sport (especially boxing) is seen as a kind of fast track out of the slums. Once an immigrnt group makes it they aren’t as hungry anymore so sports is not seen as important and the group no longer dominates. I don’t now how true this really is, but it made me focus in on Ed’s presentation.
