2.10 Poverty and Food

Poverty and Food

During the late 1800's and early 1900's, there was a rising of industrial poverty leading to thousands of Americans to grow hungry. Depending on the particular family or group, the response to this poverty was different. In the documents that were shown, there were feelings of resentment, humanitarianism, or the complete change of diet due to this life changing event. I found these documents to be most memorable because of how different the circumstances of poverty are today. I believe these documents chose to focus on how these innocent families handled their food through poverty to show their non-existent feelings of resentment. Not only do us as humans need food to live, but typically eating meals with friends and family in America is a social activity or norm that generally speaking most people do at least a few times a week. By demonstrating how during this movement these families could not do that were most powerful. 

Here is an image of a normal dinner that may have taken place in the 18th-19th century.