​Anti-Semitism & Xenophobia during 19th Century Epidemics​​

• Activity 1 (Texts)​
• Activity 2 (Letters)​

Activity 2: Creative Letter Writing: Crafting Resistant Narratives

learning objectives

Students will be able to:

• Demonstrate understanding of unfair quarantine conditions and class and racial dynamics of these unfair quarantine conditions
• Understand and advocate for the need for sanitary quarantine facilities

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Background
When ships from Germany arrived in 1892 carrying passengers ill with cholera, the New York Port health officials quarantined passengers based on their class. First class passengers, who were largely American and Western European, were quarantined on the ships. Steerage, or second class passengers were forced to quarantine on the Hoffman and Swinburne Islands. The majority of steerage passengers were Italian or Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, such as Poland and Russia. The 900 quarantine beds on the Hoffman and Swinburne islands were all filled, and steerage passengers were eventually quarantined in their cramped spaces on the ships.
 
Quarantine conditions:

• People were lumped together in close quarters, facilitating the spread of cholera from those sick to those who were not.
• The island quarters were also not sanitary, with few laundry, sleeping, and dining areas. The water supply was not protected and was vulnerable to cholera contamination, and the bathroom facilities were filthy. Those quarantined were forced to wash their laundry on the shores of the ocean where many relieved themselves, leading to further contamination.
• After the islands were filled, incoming ships had passengers quarantine on their ships. This meant that steerage passengers were stuck in the cramped quarters they were traveling in.
• There were also negative psychological effects from being trapped on a ship for weeks. Passengers were in constant fear they contracted cholera or cholera symptoms, and many had taken the voyage alone and did not have family with them in this stressful time.

 Passenger Protests

• Many more wealthy American passengers protested their ship quarantine conditions (in first or second class cabins with better ventilation and larger spaces than steerage) in letters to the editor to many New York papers.
• Letters from the wealthy, well-known cabin passengers of the ship Normannia protesting being quarantined on the ship were featured in newspapers throughout the country. These Normannia cabin passengers were moved into a hotel on an island for the last few days of their stay due to these protests -- steerage passengers were not provided better quarantine conditions.

Activity Instructions:
Step 1 (15 mins)
Hand out the handout describing the quarantine conditions passengers on Hamburg ships endured when they arrived at the New York Port. Ask students to imagine themselves as steerage passengers on the ships from Germany and think about what they would do given the circumstances.

​Step 2 (20 mins)
Ask the students to write their own letters highlighting the quality of their quarantine conditions to a public health official. What would they want to show the officials? How would they suggest improving the conditions of quarantine?

• Students can make up a short backstory about where they are coming to America from, how they caught or did not catch cholera, the location of their quarantine (Islands or ship).

​Step 3 (5 mins)
After they write their letters, ask students to share out to the class some things they mentioned in their letters (ex. details of quarantine conditions, what should be done).

Step 4 (5 mins)
Conduct a discussion with students:

1. How did disease spread during quarantine? Why?
2. Why were steerage passengers treated differently from cabin class passengers? Do you think this was just? Why or why not?

 

Vocabulary List:
Cholera: disease from infected water supply
Quarantine: place where people who have been exposed to a contagious disease are placed
Contamination: polluting or making something impure 
Ventilation: fresh air
Steerage: second class passengers 

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