Orphan Trains
Orphan TrainsOrphan trains and Carlisle and the ways people from the past undermined the minorities and children of America. The film "The orphan Trains" tells us the story of children who were taken from the streets of New York City and put on trains to rural America. A traffic in immigrant children were developed and droves of them teamed the streets of New York (A People's History of the United States 1492-present, 260). The streets of NYC were dirty, overcrowded, and dangerous. Just as street gangs had female auxiliaries, they also had farm leagues for children (These are the Good Old Days, 19). During the time of the late 1800's and early 1900's many people were trying to help children. Progressive reformers, often called "child saver," attempted to curb exploitation of children (The American Promise, 834). One of the people who was obsessed with the plight of children was a man named Charles Brace. He created the NY "Children's Aid Society". This was a program that was best known for "Orphan Trains". In 1853, Brace founded this society to arrange trips, raise the money, and obtain legal permission needed for relocation (the Orphan trains, 1). The reaction to the orphan trains were both positive and negative.
The main reason for the orphan trains was not to necessarily help the children but to clean up the streets. The children were treated horrible. They were forced to join in gangs to survive and live on the streets. These children were also known as "street Arabs". Children are still being neglected and abused. The film" Violence in American Tradition" shows a case form the late 1980's. The case involved Lisa Steinberg and how she was murdered by her father. The viewer has to wonder why this wasn't prevented. After watching "Orphan Trains" the viewer sees haw people tried to solve the problem with children on the streets.
There was a lot of controversy over this subject. People didn't know if it was better to take a child from his/her parent that was suppressed in poverty or send the child to a farm or elsewhere to work and start a new life. Brace believed the farmers would welcome homeless children, take them into their homes and treat them as their own (The Orphan Trains, 2). Some of the children were treated fairly while others were treated like slaves. For example, when Elliot Bobo went on the orphan train and was dropped off he was approached by a farmer. The farmer went up to him and made remarks like "Oh, you'd make a good hand on the farm." With that remark Elliot reacted with a bit and a kick. "Everybody in the audience thought I was incorrigible. They didn't want me...
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