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"Street Arabs"

© Meg Greene Malvasi

In 1853, a group of prominent New Yorkers asked Charles Loring Brace to help them. They were aware of his reputation in working with the poor, and wondered whether he would consent to become secretary of the newly formed Children's Aid Society? The sole mission of this organization was to help "vagrant, destitute, and criminal children" in the city. Brace's job was daunting. Already in New York City there existed well over 10,000 homeless children. Although orphan asylums had long tried to cope with the problem, the numbers of children in need were growing at an alarming rate.

Pleading with passers-by to purchase the newspapers and flowers they sold, or simply begging a few pennies so they could get something to eat, impoverished and homeless children could be seen everywhere. With their dirty faces and torn clothing, they stood on street corners and slept in parks. Others, too young to work or beg, searched through garbage cans for scraps of food. Then there were the gangs with names like the Pug Uglies that preyed on pedestrians or shop owners, stealing whatever they needed, whether it was clothes, food, or money. The sight of small clusters of children huddled together against the cold, trying to sleep in the doorways of tenements or shops, was a common sight in big cities throughout the United States during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Nowhere was the problem more acute than New York. The city was bursting at the seams with people, due to increased immigration from Europe and the growing exodus from the countryside. All came looking for a better life.

Unfortunately, what most found was substandard housing, poor paying jobs, and excruciating poverty. Crowded into filthy tenements, families were often forced to send children, sometimes as young as four years old, into the streets to seek extra income. In other cases, parents simply abandoned children for whom they could not afford to care, leaving them behind to fend for themselves or to die. Some children ran away from unhappy homes, or found themselves orphaned and forced to look after not only their own needs but those of younger brothers and sisters as well. These street arabs, so-called because of the nomadic, wandering lives they led, soon became as much a part of the urban scene as trolley cars, townhouses, and skyscrapers.

Charles Loring Brace understood that these children required more than charity; they needed to be removed from the harmful influences of poverty, crime, and homelessness. How could this best be accomplished? For the next thirty-seven years, Brace worked tirelessly to create a number of programs that met the needs and solved the problems of these children. He helped establish industrial schools, lodging houses, and programs that provided lunches and clothing. He made sure that poor and homeless children received medical treatment when ill, and founded summer homes where, if only for a few weeks a year, they could enjoy sunshine and breath clean air. One of his finest accomplishments was the establishment of the first free kindergarten in New York City.

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