Jewish East London
- Title:
- Jewish East London
- Alternate Title:
- Jewish East London
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Arkell, George
- Date:
- 1901
- Posted Date:
- 2017-04-14
- ID Number:
- 2178.01
- Collection Number:
- 8548
- File Name:
- PJM_2178_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1900 - 1919
- Subject:
- Religion
Bias
Unusual Graphics/Text - Measurement:
- 39 x 59 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- "A salutary reminder to approach maps with caution: those that claim a statistical basis are not necessarily neutral. This map illustrates the density of the Jewish population in London's East End in 1899, but by focusing on a narrow area of the capital and using heavily nuanced colour-coding, it contrives to be alarmist without actually distorting the underlying data." Bryars & Harper 2014, 22.
The map was prepared by George Arkell, who had produced the maps for Charles Booth's famous surveys of London poverty (see ID ##1138.01-.05), and it follows the same format. There is little doubt that the mapmaker here emphasized the "problem" of recent Jewish immigrants from Russia and Eastern Europe. See generally Vaughan 2018, 144-53. First, the map shows only that small portion of London in which most Jews were concentrated, exaggerating the numeric significance of the new arrivals. Moreover, the color chosen to represent the streets in which Jews were most highly concentrated, dark blue, is the same color used in the original Booth maps to represent "vicious, semi criminal" areas. Ibid. This implicitly overstates the social and economic condition of the Jewish residents: in the third series of the Booth poverty maps - published just a year after this one - those streets shown here with the highest density of Jews are colored as “poverty and comfort mixed,” the middle level of Booth’s categories ranging from “wealthy” to “lowest class.” Bryars & Harper 2014, 25.
The assassination of Czar Alexander II of Russia in 1881 led to a wave of pogroms, the expulsion of Jews from cities and villages, and their exclusion from educational institutions, government and the professions. The result was a massive wave of emigration of Russian Jews, many of them to England and America. (For two satirical maps concerning Russian Jews emigrating to America, see ID #2234, "The Modern Moses," 1881 and ID #1111, "Their New Jerusalem," 1892.) By 1899, when the data for this map was compiled, the Jewish population of London had grown to 135,000, "a highly visible community concentrated in the East End." Bryars & Harper 22. The map accompanied a book entitled "The Jew in London," published in 1901 by an organization devoted to "promoting the investigation and diffusion of true principles of political and social economy," the Toynbee Trust. (P.xix) The book contains two sociological studies that "attempt to describe the Jewish community in London," particularly the new Russian immigrants. One of the essays was by Charles Russell, "who, though fair and even friendly, has no special personal ground of sympathy with the Jewish race or religion" and the other by Harry Samuel Lewis, "himself a member of the race" albeit "sufficiently detached and independent to perceive the defects of his nation, and sufficiently candid to admit these defects." Ibid. x-xi.
The growth in Jewish immigration had "attracted public attention chiefly from the social and economic side," the concern that English wages would be undercut and poverty would be increased. Although legislation had been proposed to restrict English immigration for the first time, the Preface confirms that the conclusions of the two authors "certainly seem to dissuade any attempt to check by law the entry into England of these aliens." Ibid. xii. The gentile author noted that while restricting immigration would be "for the public advantage" by reducing rents and overcrowding, even he concluded that "the charges against the immigrants merely as industrial competitors are . . . not sufficiently well established to call for legislation; and it appears that some more satisfactory remedy might be discovered for the evil of overcrowding." He also proposed that immigration might be reduced "without recourse to a measure so repugnant to English traditions" as restrictive legislation. Ibid. 87-88 n. In fact, the first such “repugnant” measure was enacted in 1905. See Bryars & Harper 25.
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Source:
- Russell, B.A. & H.S. Lewis. 1901. The Jew in London: A Study of Racial Character and Present-Day Conditions. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
- Cite As:
- P.J. Mode collection of persuasive cartography, #8548. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
- Repository:
- Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
- Archival Collection:
- P.J. Mode collection of persuasive cartography
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.