Five Points: The Nineteenth-Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections and Became the World's Most Notorious Slum

All but forgotten today, the Five Points neighborhood in lower Manhattan was once renowned the world over. It housed America's most impoverished immigrants-the Irish, Jews, Germans, Italians, and African-Americans. Located in today's Chinatown and Little Italy, Five Points played host to more riots, scams, prostitution, and drunkenness than any other neighborhood in America. But it was also crammed full of cheap theaters, dance halls, prizefighting venues, and political arenas that would one day dominate the national scene. From Jacob Riis to Abraham Lincoln, Davy Crockett to Charles Dickens, Five Points horrified and enthralled everyone who saw it.Drawing from letters, diaries, newspapers, bank records, police reports, and archeological digs, award-winning historian Tyler Anbinder has written the first history of this remarkable neighborhood. Beginning with the Irish potato famine influx in 1840 and ending with the rise of Chinatown in the early 20th century, the story of Five Points serves as a microcosm of the American immigrant experience. The very letters of the two words seem, as they are written, to redden with the blood-stains of unavenged crime. There is Murder in every syllable, and Want, Misery and Pestilence take startling form and crowd upon the imagination as the pen traces the words." So wrote a reporter about Five Points, the most infamous neighborhood in nineteenth-century America, the place where "slumming" was invented. All but forgotten today, Five Points was once renowned the world over. Its handful of streets in lower Manhattan featured America's most wretched poverty, shared by Irish, Jewish, German, Italian, Chinese, and African Americans. It was the scene of more riots, scams, saloons, brothels, and drunkenness than any other neighborhood in the new world. Yet it was also a font of creative energy, crammed full of cheap theaters and dance halls, prizefighters and machine politicians, and meeting halls for the political clubs that would come to dominate not just the city but an entire era in American politics. From Jacob Riis to Abraham Lincoln, Davy Crockett to Charles Dickens, Five Points both horrified and inspired everyone who saw it. The story that Anbinder tells is the classic tale of America's immigrant past, as successive waves of new arrivals fought for survival in a land that was as exciting as it was dangerous, as riotous as it was culturally rich. Tyler Anbinder offers the first-ever history of this now forgotten neighborhood, drawing on a wealth of research among letters and diaries, newspapers and bank records, police reports and archaeological digs. Beginning with the Irish potato-famine influx in the 1840s, and ending with the rise of Chinatown in the early twentieth century, he weaves unforgettable individual stories into a tapestry of tenements, work crews, leisure pursuits both licit and otherwise, and riots and political brawls that never seemed to let up. Although the intimate stories that fill Anbinder's narrative are heart-wrenching, they are perhaps not so shocking as they first appear. Almost all of us trace our roots to once humble stock. Five Points is, in short, a microcosm of America. Five Points (an Intersection In Lower Manhattan Formed When Anthony Street Was Extended To Meet Orange And Cross-today's Baxter And North Streets), Was The Most Infamous Neighborhood In Nineteenth-century America. Visitors From Charles Dickens To Abraham Lincoln Flocked To Five Points To Witness The Filthy Streets, Bordellos, Gambling Dens, And Tenements That Housed The Lowest Of The Low. A Close Look At Five Points Reveals A Hidden World. As One Of The Most Ethnically Varied Areas In The Nation's Most Diverse City, The Five Points Story Is A Classic American Example Of Immigrant Energy And Ambition. From Bowery Boy Culture To The Invention Of Tap Dance, To The Most Famous Prize-fight Of The Century, To The Timeless Photographs Of Jacob Riis, Five Points Illuminates The Colorful History Of A Fascinating Community. Chapter One. Prologue: The Five Points Race Riot Of 1834 ; The Making Of Five Points -- Chapter Two. Prologue: Nelly Holland Comes To Five Points ; Why They Came -- Chapter Three. Prologue: The Wickedest House On The Wickedest Street That Ever Existed ; How They Lived -- Chapter Four. Prologue: The Saga Of Johnny Morrow, The Street Peddler ; How They Worked -- Chapter Five. Prologue: We Will Dirk Every Mother's Son Of You! ; Politics -- Chapter Six. Prologue: This Phenomenon, 'juba' ; Play -- Chapter Seven. Prologue: The Bare-knuckle Prizefight Between Yankee Sullivan And Tom Hyer ; Vice And Crime -- Chapter Eight. Prologue: I Shall Never Forget This As Long As I Live: Abraham Lincoln Visits Five Points ; Religion And Reform -- Chapter Nine. Prologue: He Never Knew When He Was Beaten ; Riot -- Chapter Ten. Prologue: The Boy Who Commands That Pretty Lot Recruited Them For The Seceshes ; The Civil War And The End Of An Era -- Chapter Eleven. Prologue: So It Was Settled That I Should Go To America ; The Remaking Of A Slum -- Chapter Twelve. Prologue: These 'slaves Of The Harp' ; Italians -- Chapter Thirteen. Prologue: The Chinese Devil Man ; Chinatown -- Chapter Fourtenn. The End Of Five Points. Tyler Anbinder. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 511-515) And Index. ""The very letters of the two words seem, as they are written, to redden with the blood-stains of unavenged crime. There is Murder in every syllable, and Want, Misery and Pestilence take startling form and crowd upon the imagination as the pen traces the words." So wrote a reporter about Five Points, the most infamous neighborhood in nineteenth-century America, the place where "slumming" was invented. All but forgotten today, Five Points was once renowned the world over. Its handful of streets in lower Manhattan featured America's most wretched poverty, shared by Irish, Jewish, German, Italian, Chinese, and African Americans. It was the scene of more riots, scams, saloons, brothels, and drunkenness than any other neighborhood in the new world. Yet it was also a font of creative energy, crammed full of cheap theaters and dance halls, prizefighters and machine politicians, and meeting halls for the political clubs that would come to dominate not just the city but an entire era in American politics. From Jacob Riis to Abraham Lincoln, Davy Crockett to Charles Dickens, Five-Points both horrified and inspired everyone who saw it. The story that Anbinder tells is the classic tale of America's immigrant past, as successive waves of new arrivals fought for survival in a land that was as exciting as it was dangerous, as riotous as it was culturally rich."--BOOK JACKET.

All but forgotten today, the Five Points neighborhood in Lower Manhattan was once renowned the world over. From Jacob Riis to Abraham Lincoln, Davy Crockett to Charles Dickens, Five Points both horrified and inspired everyone who saw it. While it comprised only a handful of streets, many of America’s most impoverished African Americans and Irish, Jewish, German, and Italian immigrants sweated out their existence there. Located in today’s Chinatown, Five Points witnessed more riots, scams, prostitution, and drunkenness than any other neighborhood in America. But at the same time it was a font of creative energy, crammed full of cheap theaters, dance halls, and boxing matches. It was also the home of meeting halls for the political clubs and the machine politicians who would come to dominate not just the city but an entire era in American politics.

Drawing from letters, diaries, newspapers, bank records, police reports, and archaeological digs, Anbinder has written the first-ever history of Five Points, the neighborhood that was a microcosm of the American immigrant experience. The story that Anbinder tells is the classic tale of America’s immigrant past, as successive waves of new arrivals fought for survival in a land that was as exciting as it was dangerous, as riotous as it was culturally rich.

Chapter One. Prologue: The Five Points Race Riot of 1834 -- The Making of Five Points -- -- Chapter Two. Prologue: Nelly Holland Comes to Five Points -- Why They Came -- -- Chapter Three. Prologue: "The Wickedest House on the Wickedest Street That Ever Existed" -- How They Lived -- -- Chapter Four. Prologue: The Saga of Johnny Morrow, the Street Peddler -- How They Worked -- -- Chapter Five. Prologue: "We Will Dirk Every Mother's Son of You!" -- Politics -- -- Chapter Six. Prologue: "This Phenomenon, J̀uba'" -- Play -- -- Chapter Seven. Prologue: The Bare-Knuckle Prizefight Between Yankee Sullivan and Tom Hyer -- Vice and Crime -- -- Chapter Eight. Prologue: "I Shall Never Forget This as Long as I Live": Abraham Lincoln Visits Five Points -- Religion and Reform -- -- Chapter Nine. Prologue: "He Never Knew When He Was Beaten" -- Riot -- -- Chapter Ten. Prologue: "The Boy Who Commands That Pretty Lot Recruited Them for the Seceshes" -- The Civil War and the End of an Era -- -- Chapter Eleven. Prologue: "So It Was Settled That I Should Go to America" -- The Remaking of a Slum -- -- Chapter Twelve. Prologue: "These S̀laves of the Harp'" -- Italians -- -- Chapter Thirteen. Prologue: "The Chinese Devil Man" -- Chinatown -- -- Chapter Fourteen. The End of Five Points. Details the notorious neighborhood that was once filled with gaming dens, bordellos, dirty streets, and tenements, that welcomed such visitors as Charles Dickens and Abraham Lincoln, and brings to light the hidden world that existed beneath its squalor