Immigrants on board a ship arriving in New York Harbor, circa 1905, see New York City buildings across the water. A couple walking along the avenue in New York City. The man buys a newspaper from a newsboy or newsie (newspaper boy). A trolley car passes in the center of the avenue. A sign on the trolley reads: "Broadway." Several automobiles drive along a street, each close behind the other. One is decorated with American flags. A school building at side of the street displays numerous American flags. Pedestrians walking along 5th Avenue in New York City. Some men are wearing top hats, and others bowlers. Women are wearing bonnets. Several high society gentlemen in formal attire seat seated at a banquet table. They smoke cigars and have after-dinner drinks. Flowers adorn the table and the men wear boutonnieres. They all sport mustaches and wear some sort of garlands of greens (or paper) on their heads. The scene expands to reveal more aristocracy men at the table,similarly attired, including the garlands. Scene of wealth at turn of the century with couples dancing in an elegant ballroom. Change of scene shows waiters serving guests at an outdoor dining venue. Most of the men wear straw boaters (hats) and the women wear summer dresses and bonnets. A gentleman in a top hat with two women at a fashionable outdoor affair. The women wear large-brimmed hats. Ann Harrison Vanderbilt (Mrs. Willian K Vanderbilt) seated in a rolling straw chair, pushed from behind, chats with a gentleman in Florida. Lady in striped jacket and white skirt, with tennis racquet under her arm talks to chauffeur, standing next to a Locomobile limousine, parked at the curb. The Vanderbilt home, "the Biltmore," in Asheville, North Carolina, viewed from the back of the mansion.
Tenements and open-air markets, part of life for many new immigrants, in Manhattan, New York City, early in the 20th century. Brief footage of elevated view of street likely in lower east side of Manhattan. Series of still images: Children pose on a fire escape platform. Merchants with pushcarts line the street. Men open a fire hydrant that spews water into the street. Men place cups in the stream. Children wade in the water. Many small children seen on the sidewalk. A boy tries to drink the last few drops from the hydrant, after it is turned off. Boys stand in an alleyway, near garbage cans. A boy at home preparing to wash in a basin. A boy holding a puppy in an unsanitary tenement apartment. View of Italian immigrant family members crowded into a Mulberry Street tenement. In contrast, a group of well-to-do young women are seen outdoors dressed in white, carrying parasols, as they learn social etiquette. A young woman, in a carriage, with a chaperone. Two well-dressed, mature women, conversing. A family, including several children, all engaged in needle work at home, for a pittance in wages. Men and women at sewing machines manufacturing clothes in a crowded "sweat shop.".
Point of view shot out the front of a steam locomotive railroad train as it speeds along a track in western United States. Men stacking wood lumber for boat shipment beside a canal in the early 1900s. The mill and stacks of lumber seen across the canal. Miners at a coal mine ride an open car full of coal as it emerges from a mine in West Virginia, as seen from camera riding on same coal car. Glimpse, from a passing train, of a steel mill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Immigrants to the United States, from various European countries, at work in industrial production jobs. Men in factories; working at a power forge in a steel mill; Lumber operations: Men cutting down large trees with hand axes and sawing logs for timber in a forest, using large 2-man saws; Butchers moving sides of beef in a meat packing company. Women working in a metal parts factory (appears to be a sink faucet manufacturing company); women working in a textile spinning mill operation and stacking moving machine shelves with spools. A hose set up from a fire hydrant spraying water in a city street and children in bathing suits running underneath to play and cool off in hot summer weather. Montage of various still and moving images: Immigrant children in classrooms and in school yards. A woman instructing new adult immigrants in an English language instruction class. Immigrant workers engaged in skyscraper construction, high in the air without safety equipment. An iron worker perched atop a vertical steel beam with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background. A woman posing on a horizontal bar. Men and women posing in the surf at a beach. People at beach watching as a group of men create a human pyramid on the sand. A little girl with her feet in the surf. Boys in a classroom, with two of them dirty from work and another boy sleeping with his head on his desk. Mothers and fathers at home asking about what the children learned in school. A young girl leading a group of school children in reciting the pledge of allegiance (pre-1950s version of the Pledge of Allegiance is heard recited by a group of children, without the "Under God" wording that was added in 1954). Still image of a young girl employed in a fabric mill (child labor).
Girls and boys engaged in child labor working on machinery in textile mills. Boys working in coal mines, A boy working at blacksmith's forge and one in a machine shop. Lady and gentleman in riding habit on horseback. All members of a family engaged in needlework, at home. Closeups of miners and a woman worker. Workers including children, parade with American flags and a sign reading: "Give us A Living Wage, Not Charity." New York City Garment workers from various unions, such as Pants makers, marching with placards. Workers jammed in a Chicago city square to hear Hannah Shapiro, initiator of the garment workers strike against clothing firm, Hart, Schaffner, & Marx. Some carry signs. One reads: "Do you belong to a Union. If not, why not." Closeup of Hannah Shapiro, standing on a ladder, with a Union banner beside her. Large group of marching workers with many children in the front rank. They carry American flags. Mine owners' spokesman assuring workers about their rights and interests. Closeups of a decorated senior uniformed policeman on horseback and another policeman in uniform. Group of uniformed policemen armed with Browning shotguns. Contingent of policemen mounting their horses in formation, and several riding along a cobblestone city street containing trolley tracks. An early vintage car is following them. Policeman walking ahead of women marching with a banner about Union Contracts for New Yorkers. Mounted police dispersing an unruly crowd. Policeman taking a young man into custody. A 1910 Auburn automobile, with right-hand drive. Policemen taking protesting workers into custody.
A large group of well-dressed men and women at an event in a park in Chicago, Illinois. Many men wear straw boater hats and many women wear bonnets. Men and women working at sewing machines in a factory of Hart Shaffner & Marx men's clothiers in Chicago, Illinois. Successive closeups of two foremen and one worker, posing for the camera. Pay envelope for a person named Herscowitz in the seaming department. Card shows pay of $1.78 for 23 hours & 20 minutes work. Men working as cutters in garment factory. Young girls, an older man, and mature women working in the factory. Several young women walking arm in arm, ostensibly in protest. Closeups of several factory workers. Group of labor protestors led by women, walking in a city street. Many workers in a protest parade in the snow as spectators watch from sidewalks. Gathering of workers dissatisfied with their union leadership. One carries a sign reading: "Our so called leaders say strike settled. This demonstration is contrary to their claims."
Group of garment workers pose for photograph on steps of a building in Chicago. Police on horseback approach a group of people on a sidewalk. Horse-drawn wagon parked at curb. Mounted police breaking up a gathering. Two women caught in the commotion. One falls to the ground and is helped up by a uniformed policeman. Four women garment workers pose for a picture. Another view of the group seen earlier on steps of a building. Striking garment workers march and protest in streets of Chicago. Brief montage with scenes of unrest. Garment workers parade with sign lamenting the death of Charles Lazinskas .Formal portrait photograph of Charles Lazinskas, with caption beneath reading:"Was shot December 3, 1910." The Chicago Daily Tribune of January 4, 1910, with headline reading: "Man shot in strike riots, foreman of big clothing factory held." Another newspaper headline reads:"Strikers March With Mute Pleas, Garment Workers Rely on Banners and Placards to Air Grievances." Yet another reads: "Strike Embroils Social Workers, Pastor and U of C Student Interfere for Toilers and Are Arrested, Police Brutality." Picture of social worker, Jane Addams, with another woman. Early and later photographs of Joseph Shaffner, of Hart, Schaffner, & Marx company. Garment worker union leader, Sidney Hillman. Fabric cutters working at the clothing factory.
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