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Surya Maddali

Professor Babcock

ENGL 137H

September 30, 2022

The Power of the Media: Transcending Eras

The Gilded Age and Civil Rights Era were two eras that saw their beginnings in different

centuries, but can both be said to define American society at their respective times. The image

from How the Other Half Lives and the image from the Birmingham March both show how there

was resistance to change in both eras (specifically tenement living and the lack of civil rights for

African Americans), but also how they were both part of the driving force to change for the

better through the use of the media. Both images show shocking imagery/treatment which in

turn helped sway public opinion, bring more attention to glaring problems in society, and made

an impact such that change occurred.

While both eras were fundamentally different in who it affected, the problems were easily

identifiable. For one, many residents worked in factories that presented very unsafe work

conditions and often led to injuries, deaths, and sickness in the Gilded Age. Many workers came

down with COPD(chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), which is commonly linked with

smoking(Health). However, these workers always worked around as well and were exposed to

secondhand smoking. Children would also work in these conditions to bring extra money to the

family, which presented both issues of education and the aforementioned unsafe conditions.

Second is the tenements, which will be among the focus of this essay. They were small, cramped

living spaces that the majority of residents in New York City lived in which were highly unsafe

in their own right, having little to no ventilation, very little space, and unsanitary areas. The
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Civil Rights Movement was spawned off of its own unique problems in the 1900s. Such

problems included laws that discriminated against African Americans such as segregation in all

facets of public life and as a result a lower quality of life. In other words, they were treated as

second class citizens. In places such as restaurants and buses, they were not allowed to be in the

same areas as white Americans. While these two eras differed in their scope and who they

affected, they were both ripe for revolt and reform.

The problems of the Gilded Age and Civil Rights Era were present for many years due to

the conditions and/or support that upheld them. For the instance of the Gilded Age and

tenements, the tenement-style living was not necessarily upheld by the fact that people supported

it, but implicitly due to the conditions of the people living in it. Many people moving into them

were immigrants looking for work and trying to start new. This also meant they were poor

because they were in a new location, and didn’t have any better options as a result (History.com

Editors). Such housing, though poor in condition and unsafe, was allowed to remain and be built

in a widespread manner. In fact, it rose so fast that 2.3 million people lived in tenements by 1900

(History.com Editors). Such growth was left unchecked, and this allowed for such problems to

persist for a long time and have conditions such as the one shown in the image. On the side of

the Civil Rights Era, it was due to public support as the resulting politicians that wouldn’t budge

on the issue. Polling data was more widespread at the time, so we can look to it to draw some

conclusions on public opinion. In fact, according to a poll in 1960, only 6% of Americans said

that “Racial Problems, Segregation, Integration” was the most important problem facing the

country today(Gallup). This shows that many people, especially white Americans, did not see

civil rights as an important issue and were content with the status quo. This is essentially why

they saw it as such an unimportant issue, and this helped keep segregation laws and other
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measures in place which discriminated against people in color. This in turn represents the

kairotic moment which can spur change for both of these images, which is the horrid conditions

or mistreatment of communities at large. But, this always wouldn’t be the case.

Images and media, including the two referenced here, helped bring much more attention

to the glaring issues present in both eras especially by appealing to people’s emotions. In the

instance of the Gilded Age in the tenements, How the Other Half Lives, the source material of

this image, was the media that acted as a major driving force of reform. The book was a

compilation of images of the poor immigrant workers, often pictured in the tenements that had

these horrible conditions. In the case of the particular image used as a basis here, more than 5

people can be seen crowded into a tenement that is not any larger than your typical dorm room or

studio apartment in modern times. It also seems that the walls and floors of the tenement

pictured are dirty and not in good condition. There are also no windows which implies there was

little to no circulation, and no source of running water present. In short, there was very little

space for all of them to sleep on, let alone stand up and be mobile in. Depictions such as these

seemed to hit the mark as it affected people emotionally and sparked an awareness campaign,

even reaching the halls of government. Theodore Roosevelt(who would later become president

but was Civil Service Commissioner of the City at the time) was so touched that he reached out

to Riis and they developed a professional and personal relationship(Theodore Roosevelt Center).

He was able to show him firsthand the living conditions of many of these immigrants, and it

surely helped make changes. In the case of Roosevelt and his relationship with Riis, their

ventures together after the publication of How the Other Half Lives helped directly bring

attention to the city government, who are among the very few entities that could change the

horrid conditions that tenements presented. For the Civil Rights Era, it was images such as the
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one above that showed people not only the plight of people of color in the South, but also how

grossly mistreated they were by law enforcement. This, in a sense, emotionally affected people

and helped sway public opinion towards the side of civil rights because they were able to see

how protestors(fellow humans) were being treated in a subhuman way.. This image was taken

from the Birmingham March of 1963, one of the more well-known demonstrations of the time

that surely drove public opinion in a major way. In fact, some civil rights legislation was passed

a year later(the Civil Rights Act of 1964) and it had majority support from the public. In one

Gallup poll from October 1964, 58% of Americans approved of the legislation, and such a broad

margin of support can surely(in part) be attributed to the demonstrations that brought attention to

these issues especially due to the fact that majorities of people did not support such legislation

earlier. (Kohut). In both instances, the images and surrounding media helped raise much needed

attention that had a major impact.

For both eras, images such as this one had an impact that led to measurable change. For

the Gilded Age, significant reforms were made that bettered the conditions of the tenements and

many other facets of life for the poor migrants. For one, the Tenement Housing Act of 1901 was

passed, which allowed for 200,000(and many more) affordable housing units to be built which

were safe, spacious, and better for the poor workers of the city(History.com Editors). The

standards around residences were also improved, and other cities followed suit in moving away

from tenement living. The impact of the media during the Civil Rights Movement was felt, as

the Civil Rights of 1964 was passed only a year after the Birmingham March in which this photo

was based, and the farther-reaching Civil Rights Act of 1968 passed later on too.

Even though the Gilded Age and Civil Rights era were fundamentally different in both

the problems they had and who it affected, the ultimate resolution can be traced back to one
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common thing(among many others) which is the use of the media to raise awareness. Since the

two eras differ in time by a lot, the primary source of media was certainly different(print photos

versus recordings), but they had a similar role in the ultimate impact they created and how they

actually went about in doing so. Images such as these two were able to emotionally drive people

en masse (in a kairotic time to do so, as this was the time of the most struggle in both eras) to

create a change regarding pressing problems that affected their neighbors and overall make the

world a better place. The power of the media is truly beautiful, and it will continue to drive

change both here in the United States and across the world.
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Works Cited

(1942-2015), Andrew Kohut. “From the Archives: 50 Years Ago, Mixed Views about Civil

Rights but Support for Selma Demonstrators.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research

Center, 28 July 2020,

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/01/16/50-years-ago-mixed-views-about-civi

l-rights-but-support-for-selma-demonstrators/.

Gallup Organization. Gallup Poll # 624. (Dataset, Version 2). Cornell University, Ithaca, NY:

Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, Jun-05-2020. Web. Sep-29-2022.

doi:10.25940/ROPER-31087608

History.com Editors. “Tenements.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 22 Apr. 2010,

https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/tenements.

“Jacob Riis.” TR Center - Riis, Jacob,

https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Learn-About-TR/TR-Encyclopedia/Culture-and

-Society/Jacob-Riis#:~:text=One%20of%20his%20books%2C%20How,office%20to%20

tender%20his%20assistance.