Today
was our last Gotham Core class and like all the ones before we met for the last
time at Penn Station. For me, it was the last time I’d be meeting my fellow
queens classmates at McDonald’s in Flushing. After meeting at Penn, the class
took the F train headed to Delancy St. which brought us to our first stop, the
Essexx Street Market. Located at the lower east side, the Essex Street
Market was not always confined to just one building. Mike explained to us that
originally, the Essex Street Market was nothing but peddlers pushing carts and
selling their products hence “street market”. The streets were filled with not
only garbage but now street vendors. In the 1930’s the markets were built in
order to decrease the traffic clogging up the streets. Unfortunately today was
not a great day for pictures. Not only was it raining, but in most places we
visited, there was no photography allowed. Walking inside the market, it was
like walking into an international “King Kullen”. “The market offers food for
all tastes- Latino, Jewish, and upscale urbanite: chicken gizzards, nopales
(cactus stems), sherry vinegar, fish cheeks, prime cuts of beef, and artisanal
cheese” (BG pg123). I bought a carton of
mango juice because I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
The
next stopped took us to the Tenement Museum. This was probably my most
favorite museum out of the entire seven week class. This was the only museum
that did not allow photography. American has always been known as a nation of
immigrants. At one point all of America’s immigrants were considered to be
minorities. Now a day I feel as though minorities are only those that are
non-white. Although it may be stereotyping, I feel as though other minorities
look at the world as white and others. I’ve been insulted by customers or other
people solely on my race, but I know it it’s only out of ignorance. Like I said
before, every race was considered a minority. In the Tenement Museum, we saw
how a typical family lived. Tenements were “built to exploit all available space
and maximize the return for the landlord” (BG pg 122). The actual museum is
“pre-law” which means before 1879. This means that building had no
requirements.
Upon
entering the building the building you can already see how crowded the spaces
were. Some artifacts that were found with the building were tooth brushes, milk
bottle, olive oil shampoo bottle fragments and a lice comb. Our guide pointed
out that the lice were almost a common thing. Children would have to be checked
in school and sign papers that were checked. The guide explained that if a
child of a certain race did not come to school clean, than the teachers would
stereotype that child’s race and think that all children and people of that
race were not clean. It was said before how the museum was “pre-law” which
means before building restrictions. The guide pointed out how there were over
30 layers of wallpaper applied. This was not just for decorative purposes, but
to possibly hide any flaws the building could have received from previous
owners. One really cool part of the tenement museum, was the name of the child
who lived in the building; her name was Ruth.
One
race that experienced a lot of prejudice and turmoil was the Irish. They
migrated to New York during the great potato famine. On arrival they
thought America would be the land of opportunity where they could provide a
better life for themselves and their children. We listened to music that Irish
people made to cope with their lives. Some songs families would sing when their
children would leave for America. It sounded sad, as if their children would
die. Wakes would be held for those children back in Ireland. Other songs would
talk about America being the land of opportunity or their frustration when they
would look for jobs and the signs or bosses would say “no Irish need apply.” The
museum recreated the living environment of the Moore family where their rent
was said to be around $50 dollars a month. The family consisted of 2 parents
and 3 children. One daughter was only 5 months old and went by the name Agnes.
Unfortunately she became ill and ended up dying at an early age. She died from
malnutrition. Back in those days, milk was called swill milk. The milk
came from cows that were fed swill form the distillery. Our guide explained
that to make the milk look better and whiter, chalk was added. When
distributing the milk, to prevent the milk from spoiling ammonia was added. This disgusting concoction was given to poor
Agnes who died an early death.
In
the Moore house, there was a replication of the living room where the wake and
funeral would be held. Things that stood out were the coffin in the room, the
windows open and the mirror was covered with a sheet. During the ceremony, a
pipe would be offered and shared among friends and guests. The Irish did not
believe in looking in the mirror because they believed that they would look at
death. The open windows provide a safe easy passage for the soul to leave.
While others found that room odd and creepy, it is something that Filipinos
also do when a loved one dies. In the Philippines my Uncle’s Wake took place
for a week with the body and coffin in the living room. Every morning we would
say hi to our loved one, eat breakfast and go about or daily lives. Throughout
the day and night, visitors would be able to come through the open days and pay
their respects. In a way, the room kind of reminded me my own culture.
For
lunch we had delicious Chinese food consisting of sesame chicken, noodles,
roasted garlic chicken, fried rice and vegetables such as Chinese broccoli and
bok choy. This was all at Congee Village where our awesome professors
graciously picked up the tab. Later on we got to explore the area. My friends
and I bought Bubble tea at Kung Fu tea; a milk shake that contains black
tapioca balls that act as the bubbles. We even bought one for Meritta to try.
After buying some Pork Buns for my family, we headed back to the restaurant
where we would have our last tour. First off I did not realize that Asians were
one on the biggest immigrant populations in the United States with Filipinos
being top 3. That was news to me. We learned about Chinatown. For starters,
Chinatown was founded by the Chinese immigrants that headed west from
California. In the earlier days a lot of Jews lived within the area. Some
Chinese buildings have some Jewish names on them dating back to when the Jews
lived in the building. One example was the Chinese funeral parlor. Our tour
guide pointed out that at the top of the building said the name of the Jews of
a certain part of a country across the top of the building. One of the oldest
synagogues in New York was built by 2 German Catholic architects which is what
brought about the neo-gothic style and stained-glass windows to the Jewish
temple of worship
One
very influential person to come out of Chinatown was a man named Yung Wing;
A Chinese immigrant then naturalized American who was the first Asian man to
receive a college degree from Yale. After receiving his degree at Yale, he
returned back to his hometown in China. What made him so influential was his belief
in Western Education. He had had the
biggest influence on encourage children from China to travel to the United
States to receive westernized education. Our guide explained that Yung Wing was
sent back to the United States from China. He would end up meeting an American and
eventually marrying her. Together they had two children. Yung Wing ended up
taking his family back to China and he eventually had his American citizenship
revoked. He was able to sneak his way back to the United States to watch his
youngest son graduate. Yung Wing spent his remaining years living in America.
After learning about this very influential man, the tour guide pointed out the
school that was named after him. I believe that there was no better way to
honor a man so passionate about western education than to name an American school
after him.
Since
there was such a huge influx of Asian Immigrants, the United States passed the ChineseExlusion Act of 1882. This was the only act in history that excluded a
specific ethnic group. This act would exclude Chinese Immigrants from migrating
to the United States for quite some time. The act was later disbanded after
World War II when China became a US Ally. We explored the older parts of The
Bowery. Lawyer Street is known as the most crooked street in New York because
of it’s the way it was formed, not because of crime. However, at the dead ends It
was said that gangs would gather there and blood would flow down to Bowery
Street. Walking along the crooked street, we looked at the 3 oldest roads:
Doyers, Pell and Mott St. We also learned that the Chuck Connor, the mayor was
a white man who spoke fluent Cantonese. Although he was well liked, he would
give tours to tourists or other Americans of Chinatown. However, before the
tours h would set up scenes of how people portrayed the Chinese culture when in
actuality, they were just like every other hard working race. Our very last stop landed us in Little Italy.
We walked down Canale St where we learned that Italians separated themselves according
to the provinces they lived back in the old country. The area we explored was
Little Naples. After snacking on some of the best canolies in New York, it was
time bid farewell to our awesome professors. I could not have asked for a
better class and group. I enjoyed every new experience and I am sad that it has
to end.
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