Immigrant Living Conditions

Immigrant Living Conditions There are more foreign-born residents in the United States than ever before and while many worry about how the country will absorb all these newcomers, others remember the previous waves of immigrants, who despite often harsh living conditions, successfully assimilated (Miller Pp). Immigrants came to America with aspirations that their lives would change dramatically for the better, believing that they would be entitled to steady work and pay, abundance of food and improved housing, and own their own land (Millemaci Pp).

The majority who had left their homelands to escape the severe and deteriorating economic conditions or political persecutions did not realize the travesties that lay ahead of them (Millemaci Pp). Many factors hampered their adjustment such as differences in religious belief, language barrier, customs and traditions, discrimination, labor abuses, numerous health problems and deplorable living conditions (Millemaci Pp). The more professional male worker, such as the barber, tailor and shoemaker, had an especially difficult problem due to lack of language skills and adherence to Old World customs (Millemaci Pp).

The infrequent availability of work put a tremendous strain on the immigrant family, often resulting in the women seeking work where previously she rarely ventured out of the home (Millemaci Pp). This became a difficulty for the male immigrant, because he, as the breadwinner, was now forced to stay at home and care for the children, and to most male immigrants this was a form of dishonor and shame (Millemaci Pp).

Moreover, labor abuses, long hours and low wages caused great hardships, and furthermore, many immigrants were forced to work in severe weather conditions and live in unsanitary labor camps, usually sleeping on cold, damp floors of run-down shacks or railroad cars (Millemaci Pp). Overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions contributed to numerous health problems, as most lived in unused storage areas and run-down buildings (Millemaci Pp).

These dwellings lacked warmth in the winter and proper ventilation in the summer, and were often small in size and often entire families lived in just one room (Millemaci Pp). Many women immigrated to the United States alone and a large number found work as domestic servants, usually live-in servants that enable them to save enough money to pay for a dowry, help their families back home or simply try to enjoy their new life (Living Pp).

Other immigrant women found work as laundry washers, while others found work in factories (Living Pp). Many immigrants lived in tenements, which by law was defined as a house "occupied by three of more families, living independently and doing their cooking on the premises, or by more than two families on a floor, so living and cooking and having a common right in the halls, stairways, yards, etc." (Tenements Pp).

The rooms were subdivided without regard for light or ventilation, and often packed with as many as twelve in a room less than ten square feet (Tenements Pp). Many rooms had no windows and ceilings in some were very low, resulting in little or no light, and most of the rooms did not have tables, chairs, or much of any type of furniture (Tenements Pp).

Sanitary conditions were very poor, outhouses were rarely cleaned, causing noxious odors to permeate through the windows and houses, and "sewage, dirt and other unhealthful things caused many diseases, and the close proximity of the residents to each other meant that diseases were easily spread" (Tenements Pp).

Furthermore there was little protection against extreme temperatures as winter drafts entered through cracks in the roofs and windows, and the summer temperatures often turned the brick tenements into virtual ovens, resulting in many residents to spend most the day outside and to sleep on fire escapes during the night.