Dirty on the Inside

When I think of the Gilded Age, I think back to when I first learned about it in seventh grade American History. My teacher showed the whole class pictures and news articles discussing the conditions that people were living and working in. The United States didn't have the laws it does today regarding cleanliness and hygiene, which led to food sometimes being contaminated (pictured above). It also didn't have laws regarding safety, which led to a lot of women dying in a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory as firefighters were not adequately equipped and there were not enough exits for all of the workers to evacuate through, among other problems.


Along with these issues, the Gilded Age was a difficult time for immigrants to the United States. Among other things, they struggled with abysmally poor housing conditions. Oftentimes, immigrants lived in tenements, buildings that were similar in structure and appearance to today's apartments, and they had awful plumbing and ventilation and also lacked some basic amenities like beds. The tenements were also very expensive to live in, despite the scanty and filthy conditions they were in. Once these things were brought to light for the general public, please realized just how greedy the owners of these tenements were, as well as the owners of the factories who cut corners around worker safety and hygiene.


Thankfully, in the modern age, we have laws regulating so many of these things, largely because of the Gilded Age and all of the awful things people dealt with. However, greed is still a very prevalent problem in the world today and it's effects can be seen across multiple industries, especially politics. We don't need to look very hard to find stories in the news where the root of the problem was someone or some company wanting money and prioritizing income over people. Although we were able to fix some of the worst problems of the Gilded Age, the core of it still exists and thrives in today's world.

Image Credit: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Examining-Labor-Working-Conditions-in-the-Gilded-Age-A-Gallery-Walk-Exercise-3208715 Public Domain