History
476
Devine
Spring
2007
Study Questions for David Nasaw, Children of the City
The
following questions highlight the book’s main points and will help guide your
reading. The number in parentheses is
the chapter to which the question corresponds.
- Describe some of the
things you might see in a city at the turn of the 20th
century. What attractions brought
people into the city? (1)
- How was life in the
city for “the other half” different from the experiences of the wealthy
and the middle class? Did they have
any common experiences? (1)
- Why is the phrase
“poverty in the midst of plenty” a good description of the American city
of 1900? (1)
- What role did the
streets play in children’s lives?
Why did they consider lessons learned on the street more valuable
than lessons learned in school?
Were they right? (2)
- What were some of the
“rules” of the street? Why was the
“block” an important division? (2)
- Why did the “child
savers” fail to make much progress with the street children? (2)
- How were the children
of the city different than the child laborers of an earlier time? (3)
- What kinds of jobs
did the children get? What were
their favorite jobs? (4)
- In what ways were the
street traders also “performers” and “entrepreneurs?” (4)
- How did life on the
streets shape the children’s world view? (4)
- Why was there such a
demand for “newsies?” Why did children like
being “newsies”? (5)
- What did you have to
do to become a successful newsie? What were some of the more shady “tricks
of the trade?” (5)
- Why did people
complain about the newsies? What were the reformers’ worries? (5)
- Why did children
enjoy being “junkers?” How did one go about “junking?” (6)
- How did little “junkers” help contribute to family survival? (6)
- How did the
children’s attitude about junking differ from the reformers’? (6)
- How and why were girls’ experiences in
the city different than boys’?
Would you rather have been a boy or a girl? Why? (7)
- Why was having money
important for the children? How did they spend their money? (8)
- How did having money
give the children leverage over their parents? (9)
- Why was having money
important for working girls? (9)
- What urban
“corruptions” and “dangers” especially worried child welfare reformers?
(10)
- What steps did the
children take to undermine the reformers’ efforts to “save” them? (10)
- Describe the
activities of the “newsboys courts.” Why did they
work? (10)
- In what ways were the
street children a “self-governing society?” (11)
- Why did children
choose to cooperate with each other?
(11)
- Describe the main events of the newsie strike of 1899.
Why were later strikes less successful? (12)
- What factors
contributed to the decline of the young street traders? (13)
- How did life on the
city streets shape an entire generation of Americans? (Epilogue)
- How did the children
of the city influence the entertainment industry? (Epilogue)
- How did their
childhood experiences help the street traders survive bad times as adults?
(Epilogue)