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This learning activity explores “the ugly laws,” a nickname given to a type of local law that many cities and towns implemented in the late 1800s and early 1900s. These ordinances targeted disabled and disfigured people who asked for money on public streets (either through begging or selling small items) for arrest. The first such law was passed in San Francisco in 1867. New York City drafted their own “ugly law” in 1895 but did not enact it. You can find more background information on “the ugly laws” on eugenicsarchive.ca.
*Note: Before starting this exercise, discuss respectful language and historical terms (like crippled) which are considered offensive today.
Consider starting with the Observe, Reflect, Question approach to analyze the newspaper articles and photographs.
Vocabulary: mendicants is another term for beggars
The core source for this set is the “Glaring Eyesores on Our Streets” article. If you want to cut down this long article, the first column alone contains plenty to analyze. You could also pick out a single paragraph. FYI, the third column of this article contains a reprint of the 1867 San Francisco ordinance; however, I included a reprint of the ordinance from a different article that’s visually clearer.
Potential Discussion Questions
“Glaring Eyesores on Our Streets” article
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These sources can be put into conversation with lessons/sources about:
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Alt text for the photographs is available on the LOC website. Alt text for the newspaper articles is available in the reference note section for each source.
Teaching Notes
This is a newspaper reprint of the 1867 San Francisco Ordinance.
Reference note
San Francisco Call, March 9, 1895, p.14
Alt Text
Mayor Sutro and Chief Crowley Know That It Is Their Duty to Suppress Mendicancy.
Section 29 of the general orders of the Board of Supervisors, entitled "To prohibit street-begging and to restrain certain persons from appearing in streets and public places, reads'' as follows:
No person shall, either directly or indirectly, whether by look, word, sign or deed practice begging or mendicancy in or on any of the streets, highways or thoroughfares of the city and county of San Francisco, nor in any public place.
On the conviction of any person for practicing mendicancy or begging, if it shall appear that such person is without means of support and infirm and physically unable to earn a support and livelihood, or is, for any cause, a proper person to be maintained at the Almshouse, such person may be committed to the Almshouse.
Any person who is diseased, maimed, mutilated or in any way deformed, so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object, or an improper person to be allowed in or on the streets, highways, thoroughfares or public places in this city and county, shall not therein or thereon expose himself or herself to public view.
On the conviction of any person for a violation of any of the provisions of the next preceding clause of thin section, if it shall seem proper and just, the fine and imprisonment provided for may be omitted and such person sent to the Almshouse.
It is hereby made the duty of the police officers to arrest any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this section.
Teaching Notes
Additional discussion questions:
-Why do you think the author profiles so many individual beggars? How does it serve the purpose of the article?
-What is the purpose of the sketches of individual beggars?
-What can we learn about living as a disabled person in the late 1800s from these profiles? (For instance, what were some of the ways people became disabled? What role did migration play in their lives?)
Potential Activity:
-Assign each student/pair a different profile to analyze (after reading the beginning of the article as a group)
-Additional profiles can be found in this article from the next day (San Francisco Call, March 9 1895): https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1895-03-09/ed-1/seq-14/
Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/item/2014680095/
Reference note
Contributor Names: Bain News Service, publisher
Created / Published: [no date recorded on caption card]
Subject Headings: - New York City
Genre: Glass negatives
Notes: - Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
- Title from unverified data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards.
- General information about the George Grantham Bain Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: ggbain 00096 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.00096
Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/item/2014680096/
Reference note
Contributor Names: Bain News Service, publisher
Created / Published: [no date recorded on caption card]
Subject Headings: - New York City
Genre: Glass negatives
Notes: - Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
- Title from unverified data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards.
- General information about the George Grantham Bain Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: ggbain 00097 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.00097
Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/item/2014683231/
Reference note
Contributor Names: Bain News Service, publisher
Created / Published: 9/1/22 (date created or published later by Bain)
Subject Headings: - New York
Genre: Glass negatives
Notes: - Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
- Title from unverified data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards.
- General information about the George Grantham Bain Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: ggbain 03237 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.03237
Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/item/97519049/
Reference note
Summary: Woman holding a small child and a box of Wrigley's Spearmint gum, in front of a building on Broadway in New York City; pedestrians on sidewalk in background.
Created / Published: [ca. 1909]
Subject Headings: - Mothers & children--New York (State)--New York--1900-1920
- Beggars--New York (State)--New York--1900-1920
- Peddlers--New York (State)--New York--1900-1920
- City & town life--New York (State)--New York--1900-1920
Notes: - George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Digital Id: ppmsc 00147 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsc.00147
Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/item/2014689735/
Reference note
Contributor Names: Bain News Service, publisher
Created / Published: [between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915]
Subject Headings: - Hoboken
Genre: Glass negatives
Notes: - Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
- Title from unverified data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards.
- Corresponding print in LOT 10827 is cropped version of negative.
- General information about the George Grantham Bain Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain
- Additional information about this photograph might be available through the Flickr Commons project at http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2162933167 External
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: ggbain 09750 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.09750
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