Katie, a recent immigrant herself, led us on a tour of three tenement apartments and taught us about life of immigrants during the early 20th century. We learned how the struggles of the immigrants from then are similar to those today -- specifically how the mothers struggle to keep the traditions of the old country alive, while the next generation tries to assimilate into the new country.
The Tenement Museum offers several different tours. We chose the tour called "Piecing It Together" (about to be renamed "Sweatshop Workers") because it focused on the life of Jewish Immigrants who worked in the Garment Industry, and Ashley loves sewing. It was one of the tours labeled for children 8 and up.
Tour group sizes range from 1 to 15, ours was on the large side with 12. Katie brought us up to the third floor of the Tenement Museum. Our first stop was a room that has not changed much since the museum acquired the building in 1980. The layers of wallpaper and flooring were clearly visible.
What stood out most was the size of the apartment -- a mere 325 square feet, or less than a third of the size of our first home in Trenton.
Our second stop was a similar sized apartment that also served as a sweatshop where Harry Levine ran his garment business with several employees sewing for 10-14 hours a day while his wife, Jenny, and their five children tried to stay out of their way.
The third apartment was just as tiny, yet the Rogarshevsky family lived there with their six children. By then the husband and children were working in factories, and not out of their home. Though that apartment was a smidge smaller, it felt larger.
Being in the tiny apartments -- which to this day do not have air conditioning -- and hearing their stories bring their histories to life.
The museum is located a few blocks away from Chinatown, just south of the Williamsburg Bridge.
Unfortunately the museum does not allow photography. However, their website has some nice pictures of the inside of apartments.
http://www.tenement.org/
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