Despite their harsh lives, Five Points residents sought ways to enjoy and express themselves. With little space at home, Irish working people spent much of their free time on the streets. Irish traditions helped shape a robust public culture which Included saloons, dancehalls, rough sports and theater.

The Catholic Church guided the lives of some Irish immigrants. But in pre-Famine Ireland, rural folk had not been regular churchgoers, and Famine immigrants did not quickly embrace the U.S. Catholic church.

The lrish joined crowds of native-born working people who cheered "Hamlet" and "Mose the Bowery Boy." Coming from a culture rich with music, Irish working men and women also enjoyed dance halls. Irish songs and beautiful fiddle melodies shaped the growth of American popular music.

Though expressive and vital, working class culture was also bloody. Dog fighting was popular, as was bareknuckle boxing. Drinking and fighting were central elements of working class manhood. Working-men went to saloons to meet friends, talk politics and find out about jobs. Alcoholism and related family violence were unhappy features of life in the Five Points.

As the genteel separated from working people, they rejected the culture of the streets. Valuing propriety and self- control, they condemned the saloon, with its public drinking, and the rowdiness of working class theater, music and sports.

Working class audiences shouted and threw things at actors, and sometimes even rushed the stage.

An 1870s cartoon by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly expresses a genteel, pro-temperance view of a saloon. The same cartoon, altered by ASHP artists, suggests the way a saloon may have been seen by working men who socialized.
Source Left: Harper's Weekly, Right: altered by American Social History Project.

Viewer's Guide
Video Home

Previous Page