The paradoxical association between tuberculosis mortality and population density in turn-of-the-century New York City has long perplexed historians and public health officials alike: the City’s most densely populated wards suffered some of the lowest tuberculosis mortality. The Lower East Side—a predominantly Jewish immigrant neighborhood—was the locus of contemporary public health and ongoing historical attention. But while public health officials and historians have dispelled the notion that density and disease are inevitably correlated and established the relative poor health of the Lower East Side Jewish population, the problem of explaining the relationship between tuberculosis and population in the City persists. We have found that it is the nature of the built environment—specifically, the number and quality of tenements, the first type of building explicitly intended as multi-family, working class housing—that explains the distribution of tuberculosis mortality in the City.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: History, Housing
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.