Photos of sweat shops & slums provide an image of an unrecognisable city: 19tn century NYC

[Hekate]

21. Persecution, starvation, a class system that kept you and your children in your place forever

The prospects of a better life were very appealing -- if not you, then for your children. Millions were willing to sacrifice the known demons for the chance at bettering themselves in an unknown land. Some returned to Europe -- but most stayed here.

PBS has done several series on the immigrant experience, by ethnic groups. They're pretty popular, because naturally people tune in to have a look at the family album, as it were. I learned some things about my Irish kin I had certainly not known before.

As for child labor, it was a terrible curse. I'm not sure when compulsory schooling really kicked in, but it was a help in diminishing child labor. Families didn't want to hurt their children, but they desperately needed every penny to buy food and pay for rent, and there were no laws against it.

The photos taken in the slums and factories were a salutary shock to the American psyche, and helped tremendously in rousing the conscience of the public. It took a long time to outlaw the practice of putting even small children to work at adult jobs, but those photographs were searing.