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

1. What commonalities do you see between these photos?
   1. (not all of them are visually disabled, but all of them belong to groups associated with dependency – elderly, women, disabled)
2. What did these ordinances (“the ugly laws”) criminalize?
3. If New York City had passed an “ugly law,” do you think any of these photographed people would have been arrested?
4. What can we learn about public space and belonging from these sources? In other words, who is welcome in public? Do you think public spaces influence who can think of themselves as American?
5. How did these photographs and news article influence perceptions of who is “deserving” versus “undeserving” of aid?
6. How did appearance influence perceptions of disabled people and their treatment?

“Glaring Eyesores on Our Streets” article

1. What are some of the words/terms the article uses to describe disabled beggars? What images/ideas does the author want readers to associate with disabled beggars?
2. What reasons does the article give for why this law is necessary? Provide some of the specific examples from the article.
3. According to the article, what should be done with poor disabled people to prevent them from begging on the street? (this could provide an opportunity to talk about institutionalization more broadly)
4. What is the purpose of the article? (What does the author hope to achieve?)
5. It can be difficult to find the voices of disabled people in historical sources. So, historians try to read the sources we do have, like newspaper articles, “against the grain.” This means that historians look for clues into what the people being written about might have thought or felt based on their actions. Can you make any educated guesses about the thoughts or feelings of the disabled beggars featured in this article?
   1. If students are struggling with this question, these quotes might be helpful to get the conversation started:
      1. “Those vagrants of this class do not wish to be placed in a home because they could secure no liquor there”
      2. “The better class among the blind, crippled, and infirm prefer the precarious existence afforded by an ‘independent’ mode of life to living upon a regular charity. Under the thin disguise of selling pencils they contend that they are not as much the objects of charity as if they were in the poorhouse.”
      3. “It is the desire to do as they please which makes them all want to beg for a living”

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These sources can be put into conversation with lessons/sources about:

• the institutionalization of disabled people during the same era
• immigration restrictions (notice how the article refers to Southern Europe and importing beggars)
• temperance movement (alcohol is frequently cited in the article)
• a language arts/English lesson about how disabilities were represented in literature at this time (associations between disabled characters and amorality and/or pity) and how those depictions might have influenced the treatment of real disabled/disfigured people
• the Americans with Disabilities Act, includes in its definition the phrase “being regarded as having such an impairment”; discuss why that phrase was included and possible connections to the “ugly laws”

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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.