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BELONGING TO THE CITY: RURAL MIGRANTS IN
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PIrII H. Atabay

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BELONGING TO THE CITY:
RURAL MIGRANTS IN MODERNIZING CHICAGO AND ISTANBUL

By

PirIl H. Atabay

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of History

2008

ABSTRACT
BELONGING TO THE CITY:
RURAL MIGRANTS IN MODERNIZING CHICAGO AND ISTANBUL
By

Piril H. Atabay

Chicago in the early twentieth century (19103) and Istanbul later in the century
(19505), each experienced an influx of rural migrants, a process that challenged the
ability of the city and its residents to cope with the ensuing problems. Though separated
by time and place, Chicago and Istanbul faced some of the same problems stemming
from the migration of tens of thousands of rural people into these already large urban
centers. An examination of the different ways Chicago and Istanbul initially dealt with
some of the same problems such as housing shortage and health of the city reveals the
significance, for urban development, of empowering newcomers with a sense of
belonging in the city.

In welcoming i'ural newcomers into their communities through official and
unofficial campaigns to “urbanize” newcomers, Chicago and Istanbul drew on the
prevailing concepts of a shared urban culture and civic obligations. Chicago residents,
whose active participation in social, economic, and political community matters shaped
the city’s future, set up institutions specifically aimed to address the needs of newcomers.
Most community organizations at this time were segregated by race. Driven in part by
the fear that migrants from the rural south would reflect badly on their standing in the
city, and partly due to the racial uplifi ideology, African American “old settlers,” (the

leaders of the African American community that was in Chicago prior to the Great

Migration) extended similar services to African American newcomers. At times these
efforts brought future oriented groups of blacks and whites together. “Old settlers"
imbued newcomers with a sense of belonging in Chicago by encouraging newcomers to
invest in housing, to improve their health/living conditions, and to participate in local
politics and organizations. African American Chicagoans facilitated this process also by
educating newcomers about proper urban manners and by raising consciousness across
the city about communal urban living. In this way “old settlers” illuminated for the
newcomers the ways they could work towards belonging or fitting in their city.

The efforts of Chicago residents who organized collectively and worked with
their city government to aid the adjustment of newcomers in the modernizing city was
very different from what transpired in Istanbul. Because rural migration to Istanbul was
brought on by the Turkish govemment’s deliberate modernization project, directed from
the capital in Ankara and aimed to showcase Istanbul, city residents” ability to influence
the migrants’ place in Istanbul was crippled. “Original” Istanbulites (Istanbulites who had
been in the city for generations) were also still going through the process of becoming
citizens after having been subjects of the Ottoman Empire for centuries. When faced with
the problems that resulted from migration, they turned to the institutions of the central
government and expected the local and national governments to take measures to help
newcomers adjust. As a result, Turkish state’s attempts to provide housing or increased
and improved curative facilities may have satisfied the state’s vision of modernization,
but they did not necessarily create a sense of belonging to the city, nor raise

consciousness about urban communal living.

Cepyn‘ght by
PIRIL H. ATABAY
2008

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to thank Professor Maureen A. Flanagan, my advisor, without whom there
is no telling how much longer this project would have taken. Professor Flanagan‘s
dedication to her work is exemplary. Her commitment to helping me finish showed in
countless meetings in various locations, email exchanges spanning continents (even when
she was overseas, or when l was in Turkey), and her editing help with many, many drafts.
I also benefited greatly from many conversations with my committee members: Dr.

Leslie P. Moch, Dr. Richard Thomas, and Dr. Emine Evered. Each committee member, in
his/her own expert approach to my topic, has touched this work. (Dr. Moch was the
Graduate Chair when I first came to MSU History Department, and she has watched over
my academic progress and me since then.)

I would like to thank the History Department for their generous research funding
in summer semesters 2005 and 2006 and the Graduate School for the Dissertation
Completion Fellowship that freed me from teaching responsibilities during summer 2007
so that I could dedicate three uninterrupted months to writing. But most doctoral
students’ research also benefits fiom the generosity of friends and family. I would like to
thank those who opened their homes to me while I conducted my research: Aysegiil
Senarslan in Ankara, Egemen Yaglikci and his family, Niiket and Sfiheyla Ergin, and
Ulkii Tuncok in Istanbul, and Prof. Susan Sleeper-Smith in Chicago.

I could not have completed this project so sanely without the friendship of Niliifer
Kafescioglu, Elif Taslioglu Dastori, Emine Halil, Selcan Noyan, Stuart Willis, Jill Huerta

(and family), Amy M. Hay, L. Rain Cranford (and family), and Fumiko Sakashita. Other

colleagues and friends’ support also helped tremendously towards the end: Mary
Clingerman, Marcie Cowley, Bethany Nufer—Hicks, and Jason Friedman. Thank you!

I met Kirk S. Kidwell, now my husband, right at the beginning of this project so
the length of this project has spanned our time together so far. Having gone through the
process himself Kirk understood the energy and concentration that went towards
finishing such an undertaking (even when it meant we spent our honeymoon at the
archives in Chicago.) His Support at times of self—doubt and despair, and there were
many, and his love have all meant the world to me. Without the help of my brother, S.
Sercan Atabay, my research in Turkey would have taken twice as long. Sercan took time
off from his life and spent three weeks in the archives with me. He quite honestly thinks
that Ph.D. work is “crazy-work,” but I know he will help me even when it gets crazier.
My mother G. Mehtap Yaglikcr Mueller’s support at the most critical moments gave me
the courage to continue. Finally, I would like to thank my father Professor M. Giirhun
Atabay, to whose memory I dedicate this project and whom I miss tremendously, for

lessons on setting academic goals, discipline, hard work and so much more.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION I
CHAPTER 1
COMING TO THE CITY 71
The Case of Chicago 73
The Case of Istanbul 37
CHAPTER 2
SETTLING INTO PLACE: HOUSING 51
Settling into Chicago 51
The beginning 54
The Chicago Defender Takes Charge 63
Settling into Istanbul 73
The beginning 75
The Building Market in Istanb ‘ 76
Rents in Istanbul 84
The gecekondu comes into being. . .and stays 92
CHAPTER 3
HEALTH 103
Chicago 105
Chicago Department of Health 2 “ " 108
The Chicago Defender Steps in 1 l6
‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ 132
CHAPTER 4
MUNICIPALITIES 1 54
Enter African American new 158
Political Mobilization Around Electing a Mayor 167
‘ ‘ ' ‘ 175
Istanbul Ekspres joins inspections 187
The City Council 196
CHAPTER 5 ,
ORGANIZATION 700
Chicago 707
Public Manners and Dress 770

 

Istanbul ................................................................................................................. 225

Public Manners and Dress ................................................................................... 240
CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 248
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................ 259

viii

-A._L ‘

Belonging to the City: Rural Migrants in Modernizing Chicago and Istanbul

“Dogal olarak eger kendimizi yasadrgimiz sehre mensup hisseder, onun da

bize ait oldugunu icimizde duyarsak, hem ona yaprlan hizmetleri daha iyi

takdir eder, hem de onu en iyi bicimde korumaya calrsrnz.”

In English the above quote reads: “If (when) one feels as if one belongs to the
city, and feels that the city belongs to him/herself and feels its deep down inside, one
appreciates the services provided to a larger degree and attempts to protect them.” This
was an opening statement of the then Mayor of Istanbul, Ali Mi'rfit Gfirtuna, in his
introduction to the Kentim Istanbul Campaign in April 2003.l Having studied “similar
experiences of other world metropolises,” municipal officials projected that the campaign .
would deepen city affiliation/attachment in Istanbul residents.2 The first of its kind in its '3
scope and publicity in the history of the city, the projected success of the campaign
remains to be assessed. However, it is at once revealing of contemporary conditions in
Istanbul and symbolic of the missing ingredient in the evolution of those conditions. To
those familiar with the history of the largest and rapidly growing industrial cities in the
US. Progressive Era, the intentions and activities of the Istanbul campaign are
reminiscent of similar efforts undertaken by the reform minded residents in their efforts
to “Americanize” foreign immigrants and “urbanize” internal migrants from rural areas.
Yet the campaign undertaken by the Istanbul municipality is also very different from the
activities of Chicago reformers: it was after all, initiated by the municipality, not by
Istanbul residents, many decades after the waves of rural-to-urban migrations had lefi

their mark upon the city.

 

' Ali Miifit Gfirtuna, “Biz Istanbulluyuz ve Istanbul’u Seviyoruz," in Istanbul Br'illem', April 2003, No. 167,

.2
gunk/I-.. ibh onv ' " ' ' ‘ "' ' "Z/indexhtrn Last accessed 04/30/2004.

 

My dissertation examines the effects of rural to urban migration in two cities
Chicago and Istanbul—separated by time and place, but undergoing similar
transforrnative modernizing experiences. Chicago in the early twentieth century (1910s)
and Istanbul later in the century (19503), each experienced an influx of rural migrants, a
process that challenged the ability of the city and its residents to cope with the ensuing
problems. The migration of tens of thousands of rural people into already large urban
areas raised serious questions about the conditions of the built environment, most
especially over housing for the newcomers and providing for health and sanitation. In
focusing on the problems accompanying these migration movements, mydissertation has
three objectives. It explores the role played by the community organizations and the city
governments in each city to provide solutions to problems such as housing and health
services. Second, it also considers how both official and unofficial campaigns to
“urbanize” the migrants were rooted in prevailing concepts of a shared urban culture and
civic obligations. Third, by comparing how the Turkish state’s modernization process
affected Istanbul with the efforts of Chicago residents who organized to aid newcomers
to the city to adjust, and thereby make the city more modern, my dissertation contributes
to the literature that examines the differences in urbanization processes in the so-called
dichotomous industrialized and industrializing, developed and developing, modernized
and modernizing nations. This dissertation’s focus on the role played by a centralized
state, prevailing conceptions of the appropriate use of municipal power, and the presence

or absence of an urban civic consciousness investigates the processes of urbanization and

modernization in order to understand how the city is conceptualized as a community, who

 

is taught to belong to this community, and the significance of “belonging” in the lasting
success of cities.

At first glance, Chicago and Istanbul may seem like an unlikely pair for
comparison, especially given the comparison also comprises different time periods. After
all, in the 19105, Chicago had only been a city for less than a century, whereas Istanbul
had been an imperial capital for about sixteen centuries. During Chicago’s infancy,
driven by the belief that “empire moved west” Chicago’s future—oriented boosters aspired
to create a city in the image of classical sites such as “Babylon, Thebes, Athens,
Alexandria, Carthage, Constantinople, and Rome.”3 Constantinople, the imperial image
to which Chicago boosters encouraged city builders to aspire, has had its share of
admirers who glorified it and made it appear to be an ageless and effortless gem.
Accounts of Chicago, historical and current, accentuate Chicagoans’ civic consciousness
while celebrating the technological, financial and political innovations that built Chicago.
For their part, accounts of Istanbul, especially in more recent memory, emphasize the
lack of a civic consciousness while mourning something lost in what Istanbul has
become.

Once established/ set in motion, Chicago grew rapidly and successfully, and
became modernized while it grew, which may again cause some hesitation for a
comparison to be made with a metropolis of the developing world that became
modernized a long time after it had been in existence. A swampy gathering place through
which a series of American Indian tribes passed in the 17th and 18‘’1 centuries, Chigagou,

“the wild garlic place,” became a remote fur trading post in the frontier of the 17003-

 

3 William Cronon, Nature '3 Metropolis: Chicago and The Great West (New York: W. W. Norton and
Company, Ltd., 1991), 42.

 

18005, and slowly took shape as Chicago the city, incorporated as such in 1834.4
Following the efforts of the boosters who drew Eastern capital and immigrant labor to the
city, Chicago grew steadily through the next half century and became an industrial center
with a reputation that reflected the economic conditions memorialized in the famous Carl
Sandburg poem.5 Chicago became the city of big shoulders, a city of extremes, a city that
lacked culture and sophistication. In their determination to catch up with the imperial
visions they had set for their city, Chicagoans had, by the late 1910s, succeeded in
changing their 18503’ reputation as the “contempt of American East,” to one as the “most
civilized city in America.”6 By then, as H. L. Mencken drew everyone’s attention to the
advances made in Chicago’s artistic and cultural scene, the city had reached its
“maximum potential as a center of power and culture” having gone from “desolate
trading post” to “skyscraper city” in little over half a century.7 Chicago also became the
“most typically American of the nation’s big cities, a scene of boiling economic activity
and technological ingenuity, American industrialism’s supreme urban creation.”8 This is
not to say that the fruits of all this growth and progress were distributed evenly, but

Chicago’s reputation, or the idea of Chicago, had improved significantly.

 

4 Robert G. Spinney, City of Big Shoulders: A History of Chicago (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University,
2000). See pp. 5-12 for more detailed infomration about American Indian tribes and French missionaries;
and pp. 13-30 for more detailed information on passing from French control to British authority to
American control between 1754-1784. See also Cronon, Nature 's Metropolis, 23-31; Donald L. Miller,
City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making Of America (New York: Simon & Schuster,
1996), 24-47; John C. Hudson, Chicago: A Geography of the City and Its Region (Chicago: The University
ofChicago Press, 2006), 71-101.

5 Carl Sandburg, “Chicago,” in Chicago Poems (New York: 1916); See also As Others See Chicago:
Impressions of Visitors, 1673-1933, Bessie Louise Pierce, ed. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,
I933, 2004), 207-365.

‘ William Cronon, “To Be the Central City: Chicago, 1848-57" in A Wild Kind of Baldness: The Chicago
History Reader, Rosemary K. Adams, ed., (Chicago: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998),
21.

7 Miller, City of the Century, 16.

' Miller, City of the Century, 17. For the contrasts that Chicago presented to the eyes of observers see
Arthur Meier Schlesinger, A History of American Life Volume X, The Rise of the City 1878-1898 (New
York: The Macmillan Company, 1933), 86.

In contrast, Istanbul had been seen, experienced, and ranked as an imperial city
for centuries. From its nearly thousand-year—long existence as Byzantium through its
imperial capital status as Constantinople to its becoming Istanbul, the city’s history is as
varied as the titles of the books on it.9 Throughout the Middle Ages Constantinople was
the “biggest, richest, and most sophisticated city in the world.”'0 Constantinople
continued to be a symbol of “culture” and of “civilization,” and increasingly of the
“modern” in the last century of the Ottoman Empire. In the 1850s, Istanbul was the
“political, cultural, and educational capital of a multiethnic empire.”ll Throughout the
last century of the empire, sultans of the Ottoman Empire undertook a purposeful
modernization project for which they turned to the West for guidance. The empire’s push
for modernization entailed borrowing fi'om the institutions and cultures of the West,
which the empire identified as superior in military technology and structure. Judging
Istanbul through the eyes of the West, the imperial Porte attempted to structurally
modernize the city by Western standards even while it attempted to increase its control
over the city and its subjects.'2 The first attempts at establishing a municipality in
Istanbul date back to this period and are a good example of the deliberate turn to Western

institutions. '3

 

9 John Freely, Istanbul: The Imperial City (London: Viking, 1996); Philip Manse], Constantinople: City of
World ’3 Desire, 1453-1924 (London: John Murray, 1995). A quick library catalogue search would yield
about 500 titles with the word Constantinople, and about 300 with the word Istanbul in various different
languages encompassing scholarly studies as well as novels and travel narratives, etc.

W Mark Girouard, Cities and People (London: Yale University Press, 1985), 3.

” Caglar Keyder, ed., Istanbul: Between the Global and the Local (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefreld
Publishers, Inc., 1999) -

'2 Stefan Yerasimos, Tanzimat’m Kent Reformlan Uzerine, in Modernlesme Sir'recinde Osmanlr Kentleri,
Paul Dumont and Francois Georgeon, eds. (Istanbul: Tarih Vakfr Yaylnlan, 1999), 2-7.

'3 For the first few attempts at a modern local government in Istanbul see Bilal Eryllmaz, “Osmanlr Yerel
Yénetiminde Istanbul Schremaneti,” 331-333, and "bet Ortaylr, “Osmanll Belediyeleri ve Kent
Hizmetleri,” 396 in Islam Geleneginden Giinl'irnfize Sehremaneti ve Yerel Ydrletirn (Istanbul: llke Yayrnlarl,
I996).

 

Following the founding of the modern Republic of Turkey, Istanbul’s association
with this imperial past briefly tainted the city’s chances for future national significance.I4
Republic-minded officials swiftly turned their attention and national funds towards the
new Turkish capital, Ankara. Over time, Istanbul regained its status as a cultural center,
but the state’s modernization project was by then being directed not from Istanbul but
from the capital. The early contrast with Ankara, though short-lived, haunted Istanbul,
resulting in an endless cycle of tensions and oversights in the ways Istanbul has been able
to deal with its problems and become a modern city.

As recognized by political scientist Dankwart Rustow, “modernization” as a term
has been used by social scientists “to designate a cluster of historic changes, including
industrialization, rationalization, secularization, bureaucratization, and many others.”
Rustow found “modernization” useful as a term because it could be used to “look at
change throughout the tapestry.”I5 Unlike many social scientists, I am using the term
“modernization” as a historian who is brought to the term strictly by her sources and
evidence. “Modernization,” thus, provides a framework through which to compare
_ Chicago and Istanbul despite differences of time and place. From this historian’s
perspective then, “modemization” is a time and place specific process to which Chicago

and Istanbul responded in very different ways. As mentioned earlier, Chicago was

 

H Sibel Bozdogan, Modernizm ve Ulusun Insaasr: Erken Cumhuriyet T firkiyesirlde Mimari Kfiltr'ir
(Istanbul: Metis Yayrnlarl, 2002), 17; Freely, Istanbul: The Imperial City, 299-300; Dogan Kuban, Kent ve
Mimarlrk Uzerine Istanbul Yazllarr (Istanbul: YEM Yayln, 1998), 231; Bernard Lewis, The Emergence of
Modern Turkey (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 260461; Ilbeyi Ozer, Avrupa Yolanda Batllasrna
ya da Batrlrlasma: Istanbul 'da Sosyal Degl'simler (Istanbul: Truva Yayinlan, 2005), 100-103; Michael
Peteira, Istanbul: Aspects of a City (London: Geoffrey Bles, Ltd., 1968), xvii.

'5 Dankwart A. Rustow, “The Modemization of Turkey in Historical and Comparative Perspective,” in
Social Change and Politics in Turkey: A Structural-Historical Analysis, Kemal Karpat, ed. (Leiden: E. J.
Brill, I973), 93. '

 

considered “American industrialism’s supreme urban creation.”l6 Industrialization
preceded large-scale population increase or immigration in Chicago. Even though there
were Germans and Irish in the city in the 18505, these groups had come during the
construction boom. Industrialization initiated a new wave of immigration to Chicago. In
the 18803 Chicago was also a transportation hub, where commerce met. Boosters’ efforts
to attract capital and investment created conditions for industrial greatness which fueled
immigration, an increase in the city’s population, and rising problems. When city
institutions could not keep up with the speed of change and rising problems, Chicago
residents stepped in to help create some sense of urban social equilibrium.” In the
process of Americanization, the earlier settlers themselves modernized the immigrants. In
the process of solving political and social problems, these reform minded Chicagoans
also forced their city government to modernize. The push to modernize also coincided
with the time period in U. S. history known as the Progressive Era. In Chicago, it came
about as a result of reform minded Chicagoans’ efforts to deal with the problems brought
about by industrialization, immigration, and urbanization.l8
In this process, Chicago’s modernization fits the model of European
modernization, which Rustow defined as “a process of discovery and invention rather
than of response and adaptation,” and one that “spread to other continents in the wake of

European expansion, as a result of colonial rule and overseas settlement.” On the other

hand, as a part of a “comprehensive and deliberate” Turkish project, Istanbul's

 

'6 Miller, City of the Century, 17. See Schlesinger, The Rise of the City 1878-1898, 86.

'7 Dana F. White, The Urbanists, 1865-1915 (New York: Greenwood Press, 1989), 207.

'8 Maureen Flanagan, Seeing With Their Hearts: Chicago Women And the Vision of the Good City: I 8 7 I -
1933 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002); Flanagan, Charter Reform in Chicago (C arbondale:
Southern Illinois University Press, 1987); Louise de Koven Bowen, Growing Up With A City (Urbana:
University of Illinois Press, 2002); Charles Edward Merriam, Chicago: A More Intimate View Of Urban
Politics (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1929).

modernization was state initiated and directed.'9 While Paul Hohenberg and Lynn Hollen
Lees cautioned against too general an application of the concept modernization to this
process, more recent work on European urbanization situates its analysis within this
concept. Helen Meller, for example, uses modernization to examine how “specific
changes, commonly experienced across Europe, influenced particular places” as she
explores what modernization meant in a variety of European cities in the period 1890-
1930.20 Turkey was not colonized by Europe but it was impacted by the West towards the
end of the 18th century and Ottoman military reform paved the way for modernization
throughout the 19th century. Military reform eventually expanded into cultural
transformation.2| Under the initiation and direction of the Turkish state, modernization
which began in the 19‘h century Ottoman Army reforms continued through the early
republican and post World War II eras. From its earliest stages it connoted a desire to be
more like the West, and its people more like Westerners.22 From manners to dress, from
education to secularization, from industrialization to rationalization, Atatiirk’s reforms
swept the nation. Atatiirk has been criticized because of the “undemocratic” and
“authoritative” fashion in which some of his reforms were conducted and enforced, but

be aimed to “modernize” the new Turkish nation by leaps and bounds as quickly as

possible. He believed in the modernizing power of the bureaucrats of his time.

 

”Rustow, “The Modernization of Turkey,” in Social Change and Politics in T urkey, 94.

20 Paul Hohenberg and Lynn Hollen Lees, Making 0/ Urban Europe, 1000-1950 (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1985), I78; and Helen Meller, ed., European Cities, 1890-19305: History, Culture, and
the Built Environment (Chicester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, 2001), I. See also Robert Colls and Richard
Rodger, eds., Cities of Ideas: Civil Society and Urban Governance in Britain, 1800-2000 (Aldershot, UK:
Ashgate, 2004).

2' Rustow, “The Modernization of Turkey” in Social Change and Politics in Turkey, 94-97.

22 Sibel Bozdogan and Resat Kasaba, eds., T iirkiye ’de Modernlesme ve Ulusal Kimlik ( Istanbul: Tarih
Vakfl Yayrnlarl, 1998); Michael N. Danielson and Rusen Keles, The Politics of Rapid Urbanization:
Government and Growth in Modern Turkey (New York: Holmes & Meier, 1985), 10; Levent Koker,
Modernlesme Kemalizm ve Demokrasi (Istanbul: Iletisim, I990); Jacop M. Landau, Ataturk ve T it'rkiye ’nin
Modernlesmesi (Istanbul: Sarrnal Yaylnevi, I999); Ozer, Batllasma ya do Batrlrlasma; Muharrem Sevil,
Tiirkiye 'de Modernlesme ve Modern/estiriciler (Ankara: Vadi Yaylnlarl, 1999).

In Turkey, urbanization became “widely equated with modernization,” and cities
were “seen as the economic and social vanguard of a modernized society."23 But if
urbanization: was equated with modernization, it was not “an explicit development
objective.” That objective was industrialization. Atatt'irk and his allies regarded

”24 As part of the economic goal of

industrialization as “the key to modernization.
modernization plans initiated by Atatiirk and canied on by his followers after his death, it
was expected that rapid industrialization would draw rural migrants to the cities and lead
to urbanization. In the 19303, Atatiirk’s “nationalistic economic policies named etatism”
grew in parallel with the growing troubles created by the world wide economic crisis.
From the 19303 until the end of World War II, the Turkish state encouraged the growth of I
private undertakings while it established some state economic enterprises such as cement,
glass works, iron and steel, sugar, food, and textile industries. Scholars have argued that
most of the state funds were spent toward the construction of roads and railroads, so the
state’s contribution to industrialization actually remained modest. But the construction of

these roads facilitated travel by tying Anatolia, hence future migrants, to urban areas.

Meanwhile the state continued to enable the growth of small private undertakings.25 In

 

23 Richard D. Brown, Modernization: The Transformation of American Life 1600-1865 (New York: Hill
and Wang, 1976), 21. Brown argued that the parts that constitute the modernization process (such as
industrialization, urbanization, political transformations) may advance at different times. Sometimes the
same period may include some modern parts and some traditional ones. Brown shows how this was the
case in colonial America: Even though initially the colonies became modern due to economic conditions,
soon upon settlement they converted back to their old country political ways until the Revolution.

2’ Danielson and Keles, The Politics of Rapid Urbanization, 10.

25 Erol Tfimertekin, Istanbul Insan ve Mekan (Istanbul: Tarih Vakfl Yurt Yaylnlarl, 1997); and see also the
Istanbul Ansiklopedisi; Ziilkiif Aydln, The Political Economy of Turkey (London: Pluto Press, 2005), 83-
89; and Roger Owen and Sevket Pamuk, A History of Middle East Economies in the Twentieth Century
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999), 18-20.

the post World War II era, Turkish government adopted a liberal development model,
Keynesian in nature, and affected by international plans, policies, and aid.26

What constitutes the basis of a comparative study of these two cities is that for all
their differences, Chicago and Istanbul suffered similar transformative modernizing
experiences, albeit at different times, due to population increases over short periods of
time. My comparison takes a moment in each city’s history when the preexisting order of
each was disrupted by the entry of rural newcomers. In Chicago, the particular group
under the lens is the African American citizens who arrived in the late 19103. They
entered the city over a short period of time, well announced and expected, even
welcomed by some. They were not the first group that crowded into Chicago. Immigrants
from Europe had preceded them by decades. I focus on Afiican American rural-urban
migrants to Chicago for comparison with the rural newcomers to Istanbul because, like
their counterparts in Istanbul, they were citizens; their adaptation and assimilation in
Chicago did not require language acquisition; they did not come to Chicago to create a
minority religious community; and they could (and did) participate inthe political
processes. White American migrants to Chicago from rural areas would have been
another likely group, but resources on this group of rural newcomers for the time period
under study is scarce. A recent study pointed out that historians have fragmented the
subject of southern migration to Chicago along “lines of race and time period,” but it is

also the case that, until after World War 11, so did city residents.27 In Istanbul, I focus on

 

2° Tansr Senyaprll, “Charting the ‘Voyage’ of Squatter Housing in Urban Spatial ‘Quadruped’”, European
Journal of Turkish Studies, Thematic Issue No 1- Gecekondu, http://www.ejts.org/documetl42.html Last
accessed 10/ 17/2007.

27 James N. Gregory, The Southern Diaspora: How the Great Migrations of Black and White Southerners
Transformed America (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2005), 6.

10

the rural Turkish migrants. They entered the city in increasingly large numbers, over a
longer period of time--unannounced, unexpected, and increasingly unwelcome.

Based on their unexpected entry into the city, coupled with the steeper rise in
actual numbers of people, one might expect that rural newcomers to Istanbul were more
visible, hence more problematic for Istanbul residents than African American newcomers
were for Chicagoans. This was not the case. In terms of percentage, the increase in
Chicago’s African American population was almost twice that of Istanbul. In twenty
years (1910-1930) Chicago’s Afiican American population increased over 200 percent,
as did Istanbul’s population (1950-1970). Yet actual numbers tell a different story: in
twenty years Chicago’s Afiican American population increased by a little over 65,000
newcomers. Istanbul’s population, on the other hand, increased by about 700,000 people
in just ten years.28 Yet compared to the reception of Afiican Americans in Chicago,
newcomers’ arrival in Istanbul was silent, uneventful, and hardly made the newspapers.

Once these newcomers entered each city, however, their presence posed a series
of problems. These rural migrants arrived at a time when each city was undergoing .
modernization, yet the modernization project of the central state in Turkey and that of the
city-centered residents in Chicago created different communal ideals in these two cities.
The devastating fire of late 1871 had nearly destroyed the city of Chicago. Once the

city’s political and economic leaders recovered from their initial shock, they set out not

just to rebuild the city’s structures, but its essence of community. Economic and social

 

2’ Chicago’s Afiican American population was 46,226 in l910and 1 12,536 in 1930. For Chicago figures
see, Statistical Abstract of The United States, I 924 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1925), 45.
Istanbul’s population was 1,077,000- 1,166,477 in 1950; 1,368,000 in 1955; 1,882,092 in 1960 and
3,019,032 in 1970. For Istanbul figures see, Asll Duru, “Apartmentalization and MiddleClassness: Urban
Socio-Spatial Change in the Period l950s-19703,” (Unpublished MA Thesis Submitted to the Ataturk
Institute for Modern Turkish History, Bogazici Unniversity, 2006), 18.

ll

order, they believed, could not be applied to a city that had grown without such order in
the previous four decades of settlement. Within two decades, the city showcased its
progress in the World’s Fair in 1893. In the following decades, attention turned to
reorganizing the municipal governing system so as to create a more orderly, healthy, and
economically prosperous city—all hallmarks of urban modernization. Newcomers would
be instructed as to how to fit themselves into such a city.

The two groups of rural migrants differed in the social contexts that pushed them
out of their original places. Racial, social, and political violence lay behind Afiican
American migration out of the American South. In comparison, the initial group of
Turkish villagers that came to Istanbul in the 19503 had faced no such violence. On the
other hand these two groups were very similar in their expectations from their future
residences. Both groups expected the opportunity for a better life in the cities to which
they were headed. For all of their differences in the historical record and the scale of their
rural-urban migrations, Istanbul and Chicago drew rural-urban migrants for the same
reasons, and they underwent similar transformative experiences.

On the other hand, who was in charge of the modernization process affected each
city in very different ways. Chicago’s modernization process was directed from the heart
of the city, which meant that its residents felt that they were in control of the future of
their city, that they could shape Chicago’s future and their place in it. The fact that
modernization was a state initiated and directed project in Turkey took local power and

control out of Istanbul residents’ hands. Since lstanbul’s projects were directed from the

12

 

center, this practice continued the process of dependency on the center.29 In order to
explain the effects of who directed the modernization process 1 will examine some
specific problems such as housing, health, political participation, and voluntary
organizations in each city. The ability of older/original residents already in each city to
transform newcomers into Chicagoans and Istanbulites in the fashion that they desired
was reflected in the different ways each city faced these problems.

Chapter One shows that the economic conditions in these two cities differed in
ways that demonstrate they were at different stages in their industrialization processes.
Chicago was a heavily industrialized city, and it is true that racial hiring practices limited
employment opportunities for Afiican American newcomers. On the other hand,
following the decrease in European immigration due to World War I, Afiican American
southemers were recruited to fill positions in certain Chicago industries.30 Recruitment
efforts and processes gave Chicago’s old settlers a chance to prepare for the newcomers
and plan for their incorporation into the city. This type of awareness led to community

organization and creation of a new institution specifically aimed to help newcomers to

 

2’ For Ottoman tradition of subjects’ dependence on the Empire and the transition of subjects into citizens
see Dankwart A. Rustow, “Turkey: The Modernin of Tradition,” in Political Culture and Political
Development, Lucian W. Pye and Sidney Verba, eds. (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1965).

30 Chicago Commission on Race Relations, The Negro in Chicago: A Study of Race Relations and A Race
Riot (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1922), 95. St. Clair Drake and Horace R. Cayton, Black
Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City, Vol. 1 (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc.,
1945), 24-57, and 58 for discussion of labor agents. “Occupational Changes Among Negroes in Chicago”
in Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature, 122 at Chicago Public
Library. “Servant class” classification for men meant elevator tenders, janitors and sextons, servants,
waiters, and porters; for women it meant charwomen and cleaners, janitors and sextons, laundresses (not in
laundry), servants, and waitresses. On stockyards see Gareth Canaan, “Part of the Loaf: Economic
Conditions of Chicago’s African American Working Class During the 19203,” Journal of Social History,
35: 1 (Autumn 2001): 149-150; Paul Street, “The Logic and Limits of Plant Loyalty: Black Workers, White
Labor, and Corporate Racial Paternalism,” Journal of Southern History, 29:3 (Spring 1996), 600; and
James R. Barrett, “Unity and Fragmentation: Class, Race, and Ethnicity on Chicago’s South Side, 1900-
1922” Journal of Social History, 18: 1 (Autumn 1984): 37-55. On recruitment see Allan H. Spear, Black
Chicago: The Making of a Negro Ghetto, 1890—1920 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967), 140.
Paul Street, “The Logic and Limits of ‘Plant Loyalty’: black Workers, White Labor, and Corporate Racial
Patemalism in Chicago’s Stockyards, 1916-1940” Journal of Social History, 29:3 (Spring 1996), 661.

13

the city: the Chicago Urban League.3 ' Istanbul’s economy was undergoing some radical
changes that paralleled the national trends when rural migrants began flocking into the
city. The nation was switching from an étatist period into a more liberal economy that
supported the increase in private establishments. lstanbul’s industries would grow
through the subsequent decades, but newcomers in the 19503 found mainly small-scale
manufacturing and industrial jobs, or entered the marginal sector as peddlers.32 And they
entered Istanbul like unexpected guests.

One could eventually move up the employment scale, but possibility of good
housing was a different matter. Chapters Two and Three each deal with a pressing
problem caused by drastic population increase over a short period of time. In both cities
housing was a significant problem, which both reflected the existing urban culture and
affected newcomers’ lives. As dwelling, housing provided a roof over newcomers’ heads

in Chicago, even if that roof was decrepit and overcharged. Housing also was property,

 

3' This is not to suggest that all African American leaders in Chicago agreed with the method with which to
proceed; Chicago’s old settlers, or African American community leaders who were in Chicago prior to the
Great Migration, were initially divided over this issue. Some believed that opening separate institutions
such as the Afiican American YMCA would further segregate and alienate the African American
community, and instead desired a more integrated community. However, as Spear has shown “by 1915,
most Negro leaders in Chicago were committed to the idea of separate Negro community with civic
institutions, businesses, and political organizations of its own.” See Spear, Black Chicago, 1-8, 167-179.

32 Lewis, The Emergence of Modern Turkey, 279-281 for the early failure of opposition, and 303-309 for
“the coming of democracy.” Aydrn, The Political Economy of Turkey, 25-29. See also Osman Okyar,
“Development Background Of the Turkish Economy, 1923-1973,” International Journal of Middle East
Studies, 10: 3 (August 1979): 325-344. Okyar discusses what he sees as the rise of an “economic
consciousness” and the public discussions of this during the 19303. Alec P. Alexander, “Industrial
Entrepreneurship in Turkey: Origins and Growth,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, 8: 4 (July
1960): 350 in footnote. Dogan Avcroglu, T iirkiye 'nin Diizeni: Dr'in ~ Bugiin ~ Yarm (Ankara: Bilgi
Yayrnevi, I968), 333. Andrew Mango, The Turks Today (New York: The Overlook Press, 2004), 47. Ayse
Bugra, Tiirk lsadamlarl ve Liberalizm, in Modern T u'rkiye 'de Siyasi Dilsr'lnce 7: Liberalizm (Istanbul:
Iletisim Yayrnlari, 2005), 386. See also Okyar for an earlier discussion of this. Kemal H. Karpat, The
Gecekondu: Rural Migration and Urbanization (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), 20-22;
Danielson and Keles, The Politics of Rapid Urbanization, 6; Istanbul Biiyiiksehir Belediyesi, Istanbul ’u
Bekleyen Sosyal Riskler Arastrrmasr- 2: Istanbul 'a Muhtemel Gb'c Dalgalarl (Istanbul: 2004), 144. Alan
Dubetsky, “Kinship, Primordial Ties, and Factory Organization in Turkey: An Anthropological View,”
International Journal of Middle East Studies, 7: 3 (July 1976). Dubetsky looked at Giizelbahce in 1970.

I4

though, and private property was also an investment. By being restricted to Chicago’s
Black Belt, newcomers not only paid more rent for bad housing, they were excluded from
owning better property elsewhere in the city. So they were denied the central tenet of
Chicago, which had driven people to Chicago in the first place since its inception:
promise of property, real estate and booming returns. Old settlers knew about the
increasingly common ideas and fears among the rest of Chicago’s homeowners that
having Afi’ican Americans move into one’s neighborhood depreciated property values.
To mitigate this handicap, the old settlers instructed newcomers in ways that would show
the rest of Chicago that they did not depreciate property.33 In Istanbul, the “illegality” of
the gecekondu made it a political concern, which involved the hand of the state. The state
met the housing shortage by passing a series of laws that legalized the gecekondu
settlements. A local problem handled by the central government divided the issue of
housing by legal and illegal statuses.34 Chapter Two then shows residents old and new,
original or not, further divided. As living space, the black belt could be tolerated by
newcomers as a temporary dwelling, but when Afiican Americans could not leave this

area, problems followed. The gecekondu was tolerated by original Istanbulites as a

 

3’ Chicago Commission on Race Relations, The Negro in Chicago; Drake and Cayton, Black Metropolis;
Spear, Black Chicago; Thomas Lee Philpott, The Slum and the Ghetto: Neighborhood Deterioration and
Middle Class Reform, Chicago 1880—1930 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978). Alzada P.
Cornstock, “Chicago Housing Conditions, VI: The Problem of the Negro,” The American Journal of
Sociology, 18:2 (September 1912); Sophonisba B. Breckinridge,‘ ‘The Color Line in the Housing Problem,”
Survey, Feb. 1,1913 in Illinois Writers Project Box 37, Folder 4.

3’ Istanbul Ekspres, 1950-1958; and Hilm'yet 1950-1955. Mehmet Oztfrrk, “Tr'rrk Sinemasrnda
Gecekondular’" in European Journal of T urkrsh Studies, Thematic Issue No.1- Gecekondu,

http://wwy. cits. omit! mmfii html last accessed on 10/ 17/2007 Sema Erder, lstanbul' a Bir Kent
Kondu: Umraniye (Istanbul: Iletisim Yayrnlan, 1996); Oguz lsrk, and M. Melih Prnarcroglu, Ndbetlese
Yoksulluk: Sultanbeyli Omegi (Istanbul: Iletisim Yayrnlan, 2001); Karpat, The Gecekondu; Giilten Kazgan,
ed., Kustepe Genclik Arastlrmasl 2002 (Istanbul: Istanbul Bilgi Universitesi Yayrnlan, 2002); Orhan
Ti'n'kdogan, Istanbul Gecekondu Kimligi (Istanbul: IQ Kfiltfir Sanat Yaymcrllk, 2006); 75 Yllda Kb'ylerden
Sehirlere (Istanbul: Tarih Vakfr Yayrnlan, 1999); Istanbul ve 06c: Bir Sehrin Karakter Degisimi
Korrferans Bildl'rileri (Istanbul: 1995).

temporary measure, but when gecekondu dwellers or contractors began building
gecekondus for the purpose of renting them out, and then moving into apartment
buildings in the city, measures taken by the central government led to hostilities in
approach and commentary.

Chapter Three deals with health. In Chicago, working classes and the poor mainly
lived in tenements by the 19105 and this meant congestion and worsening living
conditions, both of which facilitated the spread of diseases. Chicago’s reform-minded
residents organized around the issue of tenement conditions and pushed their local
government to take measures. Along with the association of congested living conditions
with spread of disease, germ theory of disease led to new understandings of how to live
healthily which required changes in people’s daily lives. Chicagoans’ efforts, coupled
with the city’s Department of Health campaigns emphasized preventive measures, but
since African Americans were separated from the rest of the city by racial segregation,
the old settlers again instructed them in ways that would lead newcomers to change
certain practices that they brought with them from the south and adopt new ones—hence
modernize.35 In Istanbul on the other hand, the central state had taken over health
provision as well by the time newcomers came in such large numbers, so they met rising
need by opening more curative facilities in areas within the reach of gecekondu

dwellers.36

 

35 Thomas R. Pegram, “Public Health and Progressive Dairying in Illinois,” Agricultural History, 65:]
(Winter, 1991): 36-50. On Americanizing the immigrant mother see Lynne Curry, Modern Mothers in the
Heartland: Gender, Health, and Progress in Illinois, 1900-1930 (Columbus: Ohio State University, 1999).
On efforts to improve milk quality and educate mothers see Jacqueline H. Wolf, Don ’t Kill Your Baby:
Public Health and the Decline of Breastfeeding in the 19'” and 20'” Centuries (Columbus: The Ohio State
University Press, 2001).

36 Ceren Giilser Ilikan, “Tuberculosis, Medicine, and Politics: Public Health in the Early Republican
Turkey” (Unpublished MA Thesis submitted to the Ataturk Institute for Modern Turkish History, Bogaziei

l6

Chapter Four looks at political participation in each city. For a long time leading
up to Progressive Era political reforms, city govemment meant patronage relations
between political bosses and their constituents in Chicago. In the Progressive Era, there
was a turn towards reforming this practice and instituting expertise-based civil service
reforms. Residents’ political participation revolved around mobilization for local
elections. They held their city officials accountable and in the event that they did not like
what a city official did, Chicagoans had the power to mobilize and vote him out of office
in the next election. Local politics divided Chicagoans as much as they brought them
together, but in the end, ever-changing issues and frequent local elections facilitated
interaction among Chicagoans. Further, the political culture among Chicagoans again led
to old settlers’ taking charge of the newcomers’ politicization process.37 Whereas

municipalities in Turkey were initially conceptualized as entities responsible for carrying
out local communal needs and some democratic measures were instituted to ensure local
power, such as elected positions in the City Council, citizens were discouraged from

becoming too politicized. Istanbulites then missed yet another chance to band or disband

 

University, Istanbul, 2006). On the state’s vision to modernize and Westemize higher learning institutions
and the contributions of e'migré professors see, Arnold Reisman, "German Jewish intellectuals' diaspora in
Turkey: 1933-55 ” The Historian 69:3 (Fall 2007): 450. Christopher Dole, “In the Shadows of Medicine
and Modernity: Medical Integration and Secular Histories of Religious Healing in Turkey,” Culture,
Medicine, and Psychiatry, 28:3 (September 2004): 255-280.

37 Eric H. Monkkonen, America Becomes Urban: The Development of US. cities and towns, 1 780-1980
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), 90-93; Flanagan, Charter Reform, 21-23; Ernest S.
Griffith, A History of American City Government: T he Conspicuous Failure, 1870-1900 (New York:
Praeger Publishers, 1974); and Griffith, A History of American City Government: The Progressive Years
and Their Aftermath 1900-1920 (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1974). For reform movements in the US
society see Maureen A. Flanagan, America Reformed: Progressives and Progressivisms 18905-19205 (New
York: Oxford University Press, 2007), vi. For women’s increased involvement in city politics see Maureen
A. Flanagan, Seeing With Their Hearts. See Brown on elections: “...elections were major engines for the
integration of localities into the larger state and national organizations. They demanded a larger measure of
cosmopolitanism, of awareness of supralocal concerns during the colonial period,” 97. Here he is referring
to nationwide elections and increasing election rights of the people in America as opposed to their political
rights and importance in Europe. But elections were very important in the local too: in Chicago during the
19003-19103.

17

over their local politics.38 Chapter Four demonstrates how having a local government that
was really “local” helped newcomers acquire a sense of belonging to Chicago by making
them actively participate in their local issues. Because of the central govemment’s
distrust of its citizens and fear of local politics, Istanbul residents were again denied a
potential for interaction that would have strengthened newcomers’ feelings of belonging
to Istanbul as Istanbulites.

Finally, Chapter Five examines the differences between how old settler
Chicagoans and original Istanbulites considered themselves as those who belonged to
each city. Local control over issues such as housing, health, and municipal politics, gave
Chicagoans the ability to direct newcomers into being urban, modern Chicagoans.39 In
the case of the African American community, even though newcomers remained
generally marginalized by race from the rest of Chicago, following the social uplift ideal
in the Afiican American community, old settlers undertook the process of directing
newcomers’ social and cultural urbanization and modernization processes. 40 Because
local control over housing, health, and local politics had been taken out of their hands,
original Istanbulites remained aloof and newcomers remained marginalized

economically, socially, and culturally.“

 

3’ S. Ulas Bayraktar, “Turkish Municipalities: Reconsidering Local Democracy beyond administrative
autonomy,” http://wwmeitsorgldocumentl lO3.html paragraphs 7-17, Last accessed 10/18/2007. Davut

“Cumhuriyet Doneminde Yerel Yénetim Anlayist,” in Vecdi Akyuz and Seyfettin Unlfi, eds.,
Islam Geleneginden Gunfimu'ze Sehir ve Yerel Y6netimler, 18. Hamza A], “Cumhuriyet Donemi
Belediyeciliginin Tarihsel Gelisimi, in Vecdi Akyiiz and Seyfettin Unlii, eds., Islam Geleneginden
Giinitmize Sehir ve Yerel Yo'netimler, 25.

’9 Daphne Spain, How Women Saved the City (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001), xii, 3,
and 222.

‘0 Anne Meis Knupfer, Toward A T enderer Humanity and a nobler womanhood: African American
women's clubs in turn—ofthefcentwy Chicago (New York: New York University Press, 1996), 2 and 34.

“ Senna Erder, “Where Do You Hail From? Localism and Networks in Istanbul,” in Istanbul: Between the
Global and the Local, Caglar Keyder, ed. (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.,

18

h——_——_—*WW

My dissertation draws heavily on two daily newspapers, The Chicago Defender
and Istanbul Ekspres. Although it may appear that scholars of African American
migration to Chicago have exhausted the use of the Chicago Defender, I approached the
stories it published from a comparative angle which interrogated the method underlying
the strength of community building efforts. These community-building methods reflected
old settlers’ ownership of Chicago and their place in it, and showed the direction
provided newcomers’ in terms of fashioning them into Chicagoans. Istanbul Ekspres was
literally in its infancy, having been established in 1951 with the precise aim of notifying
Istanbulites about what was transpiring in their city. Even though Istanbul lacked an
informal organized group that received newcomers, the way Istanbul Ekspres depicted
the city’s issues provided important insights into how newcomers were conceptually
received into the city.

The evidence for this dissertation also derives heavily from a range of archival
and published materials in both cities. For Chicago, these include the Edith Abbott and
Charles Merriam Papers at the University of Chicago Special Collections; publications of
the Chicago Commission on Race; the Department of Health Bulletins; as well as the

Proceedings of the City Council of Chicago. For Istanbul, Akbaba, a satirical Turkish

 

I999), 166. Some examples include: Mehmet Cem Akas, “Collective Political Action in the Turkish Press
0950-1980)” (Unpublished PhD Dissertation submitted to the Ataturk Institute for Modern Turkish
History at Bogazici University, Istanbul, 2004); Ayca Kurtoglu, 'Mekansal Bir Olgu Olarak Hemsehrilik ve
Bir Hemsehrilik Mekanl Olarak Demekler', European Journal of Turkish Studies, Thematic Issue N°2,
Hometown Organisations in Turkey, 2005 URL: httfgflwwwejtsorg/documeno75.ht_m_l last accessed
11/01/2007; Birol Caymaz, 'lstanbul’da Nigdeli Hemsehri Demekleri', European Journal of Turkish
Studies, Thematic Issue N°2 , Hometown Organisations in Turkey, 2005 URL:
mtpz//www.eits.org/document4lO.html last accessed 1 1/01/2007; Jeanne Hersant, and Alexandre
Toumarkine, 'Hometown organisations in Turkey: an overview', European Journal of Turkish Studies,
Thematic Issue N°2 , Hometown Organisations in Turkey, 2005, URL:
http://www.eits.org/document397.html last accessed 1 1/01/2007; Duru, “Apartmentalization and Middle
Classness,” and Ilikan, “Tuberculosis, Medicine, and Politics: Public Health in the Early Republican
Turkey.”

19

magazine at the Museum of Caricature in Istanbul; Krzrlay Dergisi located at the
University Hospital; Enciimen Karar Defterleri in Istanbul Municipal Headquarters;
Women’s Journals at the Kadm Kiitiiphanesi in Istanbul; and articles at the Merkez
Kfitiiphanesi in Ankara were crucial sources for understanding the city’s reception of

rural migrants.

20

Chapter 1
Coming to the City
An idyllic Istanbul is memorialized in poet Orhan Veli Kamk’s words. Over half a
century after the publication of Istanbul 'u Dinliyorum/l Am Listening to Istanbul, public
memory no longer remembers the poem for its literary/stylistic innovations. It is an Istanbul
of gentle breezes and softly fluttering leaves, of fishing nets and flocks of birds. This is the
Istanbul school age children are taught to miss.l Meanwhile, Chicago remains a “stormy,
husky, brawling” city of big shoulders, in Carl Sandburg’s words.2 The significance of these
two poems exceeds the frequency with which they are cited in relation to each city. For the
historian, they capture a time in each city’s past when the two groups of migrants under study
here entered the city. It is easy to imagine the bareheaded “shoveling, wrecking, planning”
going on in Chicago’s meatpacking industries, plants, mills, steel manufacturers, and railroad
car works in the late 18005. It is also easy to see the draw of such jobs for underpaid,
overworked southern African American workers, never mind that their choice of employment
in Chicago would be restricted to the worst sections of such industrial jobs or that within one
or more years after their move to the city they would have moved down the occupational
ladder.3 The possibility of a job—a better paying job—was often the final/ultimate

motivation migrants needed to leave their places of origin. Rural migrants to Istanbul shared

this belief or hope in achieving “a higher standard of living and social status” through better

 

' http://www.istanbullife.org/poetry_istanbul.htm downloaded on February 3,2007 Translated by Murat Nemet
Nejat. Orhan Veli Kanlk, one of the most prominent Turkish poets, was born in Istanbul in 1914. He is famous
for using “new themes, new feelings in his poems,” and using everyday language.

2 Carl Sandburg, Chicago Poems

3 Chicago Commission on Race Relations (CCRR), The Negro in Chicago: A Study of Race Relations and A
Race Riot, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1922), 95.

21

opportunities for work in the city, being attracted to Istanbul “by expectations of future
benefits” driven by the perception that prosperity existed in the city.4

In at least two very specific ways these two groups of migrants differed. African
American migrants were recruited into Chicago by labor agents and the Chicago Defender.
Although the historical record fails to specify which labor agents recruited for which
industrial companies, or their success and efficiency in placing newcomers in jobs, it does
reveal a conscious effort by a group of Chicago residents who wanted and expected these
newcomers. This meant that there were already civic-minded individual leaders and/or
groups ‘in Chicago to receive migrants when they arrived.5 Furthermore, because of racial
segregation, the types of jobs newcomers could get were predetermined as much by race as
by skill in Chicago. In the long run, the conscious recruitment efforts played into a larger ‘
community building effort by “old settlers,” a group of African American Chicagoans who
had been in Chicago prior to the great migration of the late 19105. The recruitment methods
that brought migrants to Istanbul were much smaller in scale. Initially, migrants were at best
recruited by family members. Recruitment by family members generally meant that there
would be a job waiting for the migrant in Istanbul in a small manufacturing establishment.
However, once in the city, in the event that the job in the small manufacturing establishment
did not work out, migrants were free to take up any jobs they could—which generally meant

construction or peddling. The lack of large scale industrial recruitment also meant that the

 

’ Kemal H. Karpat, The Gecekondu: Rural Migration and Urbanization (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, l976),106-107; see also Mi‘rmtaz Peker, “Turkiye’de Icgocfin Degisen Yaprst,” in 75 Ytlda K6ylerden
Sehirlere (Istanbul: Tarih Vakft Yayrnlan, 1999), 295-304. Peker called this a “culture of hope,” or a “relative
welfare” concept. See also Belgin Tekce, “Urbanization and Migration in Turkey 1955-1965,” (Unpublished
PhD Dissertation, Department of Sociology, Princeton University 1974); Mehmet T. Antan, “Distribution and
Characteristics of In-migrant Neighborhoods Within Selected Gecekondu areas in Istanbul, Turkey,”
(Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Geography Department, Lexington Kentucky 1983).

St. Clair Drake and Horace R. Cayton, Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City, Vol. 1
(New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1945), 24-57. See page 58 for discussion of labor agents.

22

feeling of responsibility for the migrant group as a whole was absent. In the end, this type of
recruitment did not necessarily facilitate newcomers’ process of becoming “Istanbulites.”

The recruitment patterns that brought rural migrants to Chicago and Istanbul reflected
the industrial conditions of each city and indicated where newcomers fit in the economic
scheme of things. So did each city’s reputation. While Chicago was already very much
industrialized by the time African American migrants began to flock in large numbers to the
city, migration to Istanbul preceded large scale industrialization. Having very publicly
recruited African Americans from the South, the Chicago Defender took responsibility in
their arrival, settlement, and ‘urbanization’ in Chicago. Having arrived in a city that offered
mainly employment in small-scale manufactories, migrants in Istanbul were helped by their
kinsmen through informal means. Looking at these very different employment patterns in
Chicago and Istanbul reveals the significant role of economic opportunity in the cities. Also,
because of the existing reputations and identities of these two cities, newcomers would be
expected to adjust in different ways. In Chicago, the initial emphasis would be on work;
whereas in Istanbul, the initial emphasis would be on cultural adjustment.

The Case of Chicago

As many scholars have noted, Chicago was a logical destination for many European
immigrants in search of wages in the middle of the 18003 precisely because of the presence
and abundance of such opportunity.6 In the later part of the 18003, the expanding industrial
and manufacturing sectors continued to draw immigrants. Industrial opportunities were often
reason enough to draw those rural Afiican Americans preparing to leave the South in the

19105, but these soon-to-be-migrant African Americans also knew that Chicago offered

 

6 William Cronon, Nature '5 Metropolis: Chicago and The Great West (New York: W. W. Norton & Company,
1991); Donald L. Miller, City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago And the Making of America (New York:
Simon & Schuster, 1996).

23

many additional opportunities such as sports, places of entertainment, and other wonders.
Sports, the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, and other events were widely reported in
the Chicago Defender, along with the 'fact that the city was directly accessible via railroad.
The intersection of many such factors added to the logic and magnetism of Chicago as a
destination.7

The Chicago Commission on Race Relations’ Report (CCRR), published in 1922,
provided one of the earliest official accounts of the Great Migration. It divided the reasons
for the Great Migration into two main categories: economic and sentimental, which were
then further subcategorized. The economic reasons that pushed migrants out of the South
were low wages and high rents in the South, as dictated by sharecropping conditions, along
with the crop destruction caused by the boll weevil. Economic realities that pulled migrants
to the North included the decrease in the numbers of the immigrants due to World War I and
high wages. The North also promised better living conditions and better schools.8 The
Commission also addressed what it termed the sentimental reasons, which it defined as
“those which have reference to the feelings of Negroes concerning their surroundings in the
South, and their reactions to the social systems and practices of certain sections of the
South.” Among these were mob violence in the South and lack of protection from it, further
worsened by persecution by the law and the press, inferior segregated facilities, and inability

to participate in the voting process.9 For many African Americans, the sentimental, or social

 

7 CCRR, The Negro in Chicago, 87; William M. Tuttle, Jr., Race Riot: Chicago in the Red Summer of I 91 9
(New York: Atheneum, 1970), 75-76; James R. Grossman, Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the
Great Migration (Chicago. The University of Chicago Press, 1989), 4. Maureen A. Flanagan, America
Reformed. Progressives and Progressivisms 18905-1920s (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007),4.

This report was published in the aftermath of the 1919 Riot Chicago, otherwise referred to as the Race Riot.
CCRR, The Negro in Chicago, 80-84.
9 CCRR, The Negro in Chicago, 84-86. See also Tuttle, Race Riot, Allan H. Spear, Black Chicago: The Making
of a Negro Ghetto, 1890-1920 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1967).

24

reasons, might have been the primary factor that pushed them out of the South.'0 However, as
some scholars have later pointed out, migrants had many such social grievances for many
years prior to the Great Migration, and they began leaving the South in larger numbers when
industrial job opportunities became a reality so it was the economic pull of the North that
created a snowball effect. ”

The Commission Report resulted from requests of residents who wanted a better
understanding of black-white relations, a better understanding of “the psychological, social
and economic causes underlying the conditions resulting” in the 1919 race riot, and a way to
prevent future recurrence. But the reasons identified by the Commission were not news to the
African American community. The Chicago Defender had already covered many of the
CCRR findings on its pages throughout the 191 Os. Robert Abbott founded the Chicago
Defender in 1905. In style and content, the publication meant many things to many different
people. The Commission recognized the Defender as the “herald of glad tidings” to southern
Afiican Americans.’2 On the other hand, it was considered “militant” and its circulation
provoked “violent reactions” among white Southerners. '3 However they classified this
Afiican American weekly, contemporaries and scholars alike recognized its significant role

in the Great Migration. Thanks to Robert Abbott’s adoption of the magazine-style publishing

 

'0 Grossman, Land of Hope, 14-19 provides a very good overview of these discussions; Stewart E. Tolnay, and
E. M. Beck, “Black Flight: Lethal Violence and the Great Migration, 1900-1930” in Social Science History,
14:3. (Autumn, 1990), 365 emphasize the significance of violence as a factor. For an overview of the studies on
African American migration see Arvarh E. Strickland and Robert E. Weems, Jr., “African American Migration
and Urbanization,” in The African American Experience: An Historiographical and Bibliographical Guide,
Strickland and Weems, eds. (Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2001), 1-22.

” Sam Marullo, “The Migration of Blacks to the North: 191 1-1918,” in Journal of Black Studies, 15:3 (March,
1985), 298-299 places economic reasons as the primary, and social reasons as the secondary motivator. William
J. Collins, “When the Tide Turned: Immigration and the Delay of the Great Black Migration,” The Journal of
Economic History, 57:3 (Sep., 1997) discusses the role of immigrant labor in delaying the Great Migration.

'2 CCRR, The Negro in Chicago, 87.

'3 Tuttle, Race Riot, 74, and 89-92 More recently Doreski called its style “yellow journalism for blacks.” C. K.
Doreski, “From News to History: Robert Abbott and Carl Sandburg Read the 1919 Chicago Riot," in African
American Review, 26:4 (Winter, 1992), 639.

25

technique to “build rural and small town subscriptions,” this Chicago publication made it to
little known places in the South, telling stories of an inviting north.'4 The Defender was key
in informing southern African Americans that there were jobs to be had in the north, more
specifically in Chicago, hence influencing masses of Southern African Americans to move
North, encouraging them “with such headlines as ‘More Positions Open Than Men For
Thern.”’ls Editorials publicized the availability of the jobs and the profitability of being
gainfully employed in the North, as well as signaled how things were about to change.

The Chicago Defender writers framed job availability in terms of World War I. “The
world’s war has proved a blessing to us,” began one writer in July 1916, as the war shut
down immigration, reduced immigrant labor, and created a “demand for” African American
labor. There were jobs for girls as domestics, and “those who took advantage of their school
training” could demand a good salary.” As a matter of fact, the “continuous trickle of
migrants from the Son ” had already raised the rate of servant labor of African Americans in
Chicago from 15 to 20 percent by 1910. In actual numbers, this meant 14,548 persons were
employed in a servant capacity, 8,628 of whom were male and 5,920 female. Some of the
newcomers arrived as servants and domestic laborers, but some of the migrant men had been
. skilled crafismen in the South and were forced to settle for servant labor once in Chicago.'7

But there was more to the Chicago labor market than domestic labor. “Since the war
there has been a demand for all kinds of skilled and unskilled labor,” the same author

continued. Men could be found “working on the streets, laying car tracks, working for the

 

" James N. Gregory, The Southern Diaspora: How the Great Migrations of Black and White Southerners
Trang‘brmed America, (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2005),_50-51.

'5 Homer c. Hawkins, “Trends in Black Migration from 1863 to 1960” Phylon, 34:2 (2"I on, 1973), 142—143.
'° “World’s Great War a Mighty Blessing,” Chicago Defender, July 29, 1916.

'7 “Occupational Changes Among Negroes in Chicago” in Chicago Public Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research
Collection of Afro-American History and Literature, 122. “Servant class” classification: elevator tenders;
janitors and sextons; servants; waiters; and porters for men. For women it meant: charwoman and cleaners;
janitors and sextons; laundresses (not in laundry); servants; and waitresses.

26

city Railway and doing all kinds of public work.” The author promisingly reported that the
opportunities were so great that the employment agencies could not meet the demand.
African American workers were replacing foreign laborers. The radical decrease in the
number of immigrants due to World War I, who were the labor supply of many of the
industries in Chicago, Opened up jobs for African Americans—an Opportunity that was not
there before. After underlining the fact that these jobs were now open to African American
laborers the article continued, “Men and women, you are welcome in the north; here they do
not burn you nor work you on the chain gang. Schools are open to your children ten months
in a year, while many southern states deny them an education.”'8
According to the Chicago Defender, not only were jobs more readily available in the
north, they were more profitable as well. The same author who saw World War I as a
blessing for African American southemers pointed out that the North paid more “for its labor
in manufacturing, mining, and commerce,” and these better wages would drive millions of
people from the South. The South was the birthplace of “slavery, lynching, segregation,
prejudice, ostracism, concubinage, disfranchisement, and Jim Crow cars.” Going north would
ensure “more freedom and greater opportunities to work, lie, rear a family and become a
citizen respected and honored because he has spilled blood in all its wars for the protection of

”'9 The weekly used cartoons in addition to bold headlines and clear

its flags and its people.
invitations to reinforce its message. In one powerful cartoon an African American male
farmer-- with the word “labor” spelled across his back-- was depicted as running towards a

convertible car with the words “northern industries” written across its side. He had clearly

“broken his chains” and was being chased by three hounds labeled “lynchers” barking up

 

:: “World’s Great War a Mighty Blessing,” in Chicago Defender, July 29, 1916.
Ibid.

27

behind him and a white man with a rifle to the right of the dogs. The caption read: “Southern
labor is rising from the southland, where prejudice, peonage and lynchings reign as King.
They are taking advantage of the opportunities offered in the north by northern industries,
where children can get a fair education and where their wives and daughters are free from
being ravished.”20 Opportunities such as “better wages in ‘Northem Industries,’” and “High
School/ North” were depicted as within reach in another cartoon in which one African
American fartner sat on his plow daydreaming about going north.2' Coupled with violent
conditions, inferior segregated facilities, and scarcity of profits in the South, the move to the
North sounded very logical indeed.

Add to more availability of jobs and better wages in the north the scarcity of jobs in
the south, and who could advise against going north? An August 1916 article, written in
opposition to the race leaders who advised against going north by someone who was
“thoroughly convinced that this advice is wrong,” spelled it out very clearly: there was little
work to be had in the south except “growing cotton,” and cotton growing did not bring an
end to near starvation conditions. Overproduction of cotton had reduced prices. “Why then
keep our people raising cotton for which there is no profitable market when he is needed in
the mines and factories and farms of the north and west, producing the things which the
world most needs?” this author asked. “If it is profitable for the Chinamen, the Japanese, the
Italian, the Pole, the Scandinavian and other foreigners to come to America for work, why
should it be not profitable for the Negro to go to the same field for employment?”22

Scholars have given detailed accounts of which jobs were actually available for

newcomers and how much they made in the North. Working up north did not always

 

2° “Desertion (With Apologies to Uncle Tom’s Cabin)” Cartoon, in Chicago Defender September 2, 1916.
2' “Thinking” Ibid., December 16, I916.
22 W. J. Latham, “Migration,” Ibid., August 26, 1916.

28

translate into better jobs, yet moving up north to work did open up newcomers lives’ to more
opportunities. Moving up north in large numbers changed the course of African American
and urban history. For example, as already mentioned, in 1910 the majority of workers
(14,548 out of 18,571) gainfully employed in unskilled trades in Chicago were servants. This
was followed by a total of 3,442 semi-skilled workers, 1,123 skilled workers and foremen,
1,293 clerks, 962 professional persons, and 665 proprietors, managers, and officials. By
1920, the “rapid expansion of the Negro working population produced significant changes in
the job configuration of the group.” This translated as an inversion in the percentage of
Afiican Americans employed in servant and unskilled classes. Whereas male servants had
constituted 47 percent of black workers in 1910, ten years later they constituted 26 percent.
Inversely, whereas unskilled classes were 22 percent of the Afiican American workforce in
1910, ten years later they constituted 41 percent. In the case of women, while domestic
service still claimed one half of women workers, the ratio of African American workers in
semi-skilled positions had risen to one third. The most prominent constant in the twenty year
period was that “the social economic distribution of Negro workers still showed heavy
concentrations in the lower occupational levels.”23
The way black people were recruited calls for a closer examination here. As
subsequent chapters will also reveal, the act of recruiting led to a sense of responsibility
among the old settlers in Chicago--something that did not exist in Istanbul. As Gregory

argued, the Chicago Defender ’5 “promises affected northerners as well as southemers with

their come north invitations and information about services to be expected.” In the North,

 

2’ “Occupational Changes Among Negroes in Chicago” in Chicago Public Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research
Collection of Afro-American History and Literature, 113-173. Chapter VI (pages 176-216) of this study
provides a breakdown of all the occupations under unskilled, semi skilled, skilled, clerks, proprietors, managers
and officials and professional workers in 1910. Chapter VII provides the same for 1920.

29

“newspapers helped shape a process of community building that would remake northern

9924
1.

cities and northern politics in the years after World War Like other papers throughout

the United States and across time, the Chicago Defender “played a critical role in creating
and maintaining” a collective consciousness,25 because along With the “come north
invitations,” the Defender published “they are coming,” and “they are here” stories.

In the summer of 1916, editorials and other commentaries recognized things were
about to change radically in the near future, gave due warning, and outlined a vision for
success.

It is true when large numbers of not only colored people, but of any one
distinctive class, migrate to a certain section, friction is bound to occur.
Within certain limits a racial minority is unpopular directly in proportion to its
numbers. Only as it increases to the point where politics and economic power
makes it formidable does it overcome opposition. Our competition for jobs
and homes would probably further strain the relations. But as we increase in
number our power along all lines would increase and we would be better able
to meet the antagonism of white workers found in the skilled trades. If in a
few years to come our population in the North has become three millions,
instead of the fraction over one million which it is today, and if these three
millions live better and save more and spend more per capita than today, we
will profit more than we will lose by our greater numbers. For the nation as a
whole it will be beneficial to have the Colored people more evenly sprinkled
throughout the different states. For one thing, it would end the South’s fear of
being dominated by us, and closer contact means that we would be better
understood. Our problem today is to widen our economic opportunities, to
find more openings, and more kinds of openings in the industrial world. Our
chance is right now; we must succeed; we must accurately fill the new
positions offered us; by so doing we will secure a stable position in the
world’s work.26

Editorial writers expected friction, but were hopeful that rising numbers and economic and
political power would help the African American community overcome it. There was much

to be gained in this moment, but securing these positions also put newcomers and the African

 

2’ Gregory, The Southern Diaspora, 53.

25 Stephanie J. Shaw, What a Woman Ought to Be and to Do: Black Professional Women Workers During the
Jim Crow Era (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1996), 56-57.

26 “The Eternal Question,” Chicago Defender, August 12, 1916.

30

7——_———'

American community in the middle of the public eye. There were two ways events might
unfold due to increasing numbers of African Americans. One was that the move up north
might nationalize prejudice and further strain relations between races. The other was that by
succeeding in the opportunities this moment presented and by establishing closer contacts
with the Northemers the influx of migrants would secure a new position. Old settlers of
Chicago understood that newcomers’ actions would reflect on the entire Afiican American
community. Grossman argued that “as the first generation of black Americans to secure a
foothold in the northern industrial economy,” these newcomers represented “a crucial
transition in the history of Afiican Americans, American cities, and the American working
class.”27 African American community leaders were aware of this, concerned about it, and
hence were asking themselves “will the great mass of toilers take advantage of this golden
opportunity? Will they appreciate the fact that they are on trial, and give the very best service
possible that they may make good?”28
Old settlers suspected that with the end of the war immigration would revive or those
who had left for the war would retrnn and reclaim their jobs. They hoped that the newcomers
from the South would do so well that there would be no need for rehiring immigrant labor.
They argued that “if he [African American migrant] makes good this opportunity he will
keep his place against all foreign labor.”29 Incidentally, the African American migrant laborer
would be guided in how to “make good this opportunity” by the college educated leaders,

and ministers “with the best interest of” the African American community at heart.30

 

’7 Grossman, Land ofHope, 5.

21 “The Eternal Question,” Chicago Defender, August 12, 1916.
2’ w. J. Latlnrn, “Migration,” Ibid., August 26, 1916.

’° “World's Great War a Mighty Blessing,” Ibid., July 29, 1916.

31

Old settlers knew and understood urban labor conditions and wanted to make sure
that newcomers from the south did not take their jobs for granted and that they worked hard
enough. Newcomers would have to learn to adjust to new, industrial working conditions.
They would have to go to work every day. They would have to be on time. These were
significant adjustments to make in the transition from rural farm labor to urban industrial
labor. This was a new disciplinary regimen.

As scholars have shown, industrial jobs open to newcomers were largely unskilled
positions in packing and slaughterhouses. It was revealed that while there were about a
thousand Afiican American workers in the Union Stockyards in 1915, their numbers had
exceeded ten thousand by 1918. Packing houses, steel mills, and foundries actively recruited
African American laborers.3 I The prevailing stereotype was that “blacks poorly adapted to
machine tasks but possessed rare endurance for simple, exhausting, labor intensive toil
amidst high temperatures, wetness and filth.” To add insult to injury, they were not likely to
move up the hierarchy.32

Newcomers would have access to these industrial jobs more than ever before, and this
also meant new experiences in learning to handle money made from industrial employment,
in learning to resist temptations “thrown in their way.” They would be making more money,
but they would also be facing more temptations to spend it; so it was realistic to expect that

many newcomers would fall by the wayside. The danger was, however, in that “good and bad

i

3' Onstockyards see Gareth Canaan, “Part of the Loaf: Economic Conditions of Chicago‘s African American
Working Class During the 19208,” Journal of Social History, 35:1 (Autumn, 2001), 149-150; Paul Street, “The
Logic and Limits of Plant Loyalty: Black Workers, White Labor, and Corporate Racial Patemalism,” Journal of
Southern History, 29:3 (Spring 1996), 600; and James R. Barrett, “Unity and Fragmentation: Class, Race, and
Ethnicity on Chicago’s South Side, I900-1922” Journal of Social History, 18:1 (Autumn, 1984). On

recruitment see Spear, Black Chicago, 140.

’2 Street, “The Logic and Limits of Plant Loyalty,” 661.

 

32

are to be found in every race, but unfortunately, there are great many narrow people, who on
finding a bad Colored person, condemn the whole race.”33
It was the recognition that African American migration would place these newcomers
permanently in major cities that led to formal efforts that initially centered around aiding the
newcomers’ adjustment process. Recognizing “the permanency of an urban” Afiican
American population “ill-prepared to meet the strains of northern city life,” key figures in the
National Urban League argued that it would be up to black and white leaders “to ease the
adjustment migrants had to make.” In this undertaking, leaders could use methods similar to
those that helped “other elements of the population.”34 Shortly after three existing
organizations in New York consolidated to form the National Urban League in 1911, efforts
were underway to open a branch in Chicago. 35 Chicago had its share of increasing African
American migration from the South; industrial problems and other tensions were similar to
those African American migrants faced in New York. So New York League officials had

every reason to believe that “their program would be well received” in Chicago.36

 

’3 “Our Industrial Opportunity,” in Chicago Defender, August 12, 1916.

3’ Nancy J. Weiss, The National Urban League: [910-1940 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974), 33.

35 Weiss, The National Urban League, 29 and 9. The Committee on Urban Conditions joined with the National
League for the Protection of Colored Women and the Committee for Improving the Industrial Conditions in
New York in 1911 to form the Urban League. Arvarh E. Strickland, History of the Chicago Urban League
glrbana: University of Illinois Press, 1966), 29-30.

Strickland, History of the Chicago Urban League, 25. The first president of the Chicago Urban League, Dr.
Robert E. Park, shared the National League’s vision that the situation in Chicago required helping the
“adjustment of an essentially rural population to the conditions of a city environment” by meeting immediate
concerns with “work and wages, health and housing.” (40). The Chicago Urban League encouraged the existing
African American organizations to co-Operate and brought together agencies, clubs, settlements, social workers
and their friends, and “others who were in touch with social problems.” (50-52, 36, and 27-32). Investigation
played a big part in the program of the Chicago Urban League. “Fact finding, research, persuasion, negotiation,
public education, and community organization” were key tools of the Chicago Urban League. Whitney M.
Young, Jr., “The Urban League and Its Strategy,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social
Science, 357 (January, 1965), 103. In addition to meeting newcomers at railroad stations, and distributing cards
to encourage newcomers to attend their offices, the League sent club women into the homes of newcomers, and
community workers into their churches “with verbal advice as to things migrants should do and know.
Strickland, History of the Chicago Urban League, 44-45. The Urban League also functioned as an institution
through which white and black leaders could communicate more effectively. Young, “The Urban League and
Its Strategy,” 106, and 103.

33

By the end of 1916, “Mr. Jones,” the associate director of the National League on
Urban Conditions, had visited cities such as “Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis and others” and
reported to having observed that many of the migrants out of the South were securing good
positions. “Those that are sober and responsible and know how to give an honest day’s toil
are holding good positions,” the Defender reported. “The indolent, inefficient men however,
are soon discouraged, become a burden... and bring reproach and humiliation to the thrifty
citizens in communities.” Through the Chicago Defender, Mr. Jones and the League wished
to “discourage the wholesale migration of shiflless people between any two points, be north
or south.” Newcomers were urged to use the fact that labor was in demand “to improve the
efficiency of that labor by demanding” better wages, better working conditions, and better
living conditions. Newcomers were advised that both races would benefit from improved
conditions.37

The Chicago branch of the National League on Urban Conditions held its first official
meeting in January 19l 7.38 Two months later the Chicago Urban League (CUL) opened
headquarters at 3719 S. State Street with Mr. T. Arnold Hill from New York in charge. It was
reported that the League would interest itself “in the housing and working conditions of the
newcomers” and it would also “help to teach men and women to be on time at the work.”
Robert E. Park (white) of the University of Chicago was to be president.39 Members planned
to enlist railroads’ help “to secure addresses of newcomers at stations and what kind of work
they can do?”0 In this way they could keep records of newcomers and place them in jobs. By

the end of 1917, the executive secretary, T. Arnold Hill, reported “that during eight months

 

’7 “Conditions Good in the North,” The Chicago Defender, December 2, I916.

3' Strickland, History of the Chicago Urban League, 29-30.

’9 “Urban League Opens Headquarters,” The Chicago Defender, March 10, 1917.
‘° NoTitle,1bid., March 31,1917.

34

the league had placed a total of 1,381 people; assisted 7,000 persons, and expended
$3,]00.”4| With the help of the Department of Labor, the Industrial Department of the
League was able to place newcomers in white firms through 1918.42
i As it reported on the Chicago Urban League’s activities, The Chicago Defender

addressed the work habits newcomers were expected to learn. Migrants first had to make the
transition from nonindustrial to industrial labor.43 As far as the work ethic went, through the
Chicago Defender self-appointed community leaders, or in George C. Hall’s words “proper
people,” instructed African American migrants in the importance of being industrious. Hall
had pointed out, “The Colored man from the South does not need to be in the north very long
before he learns that Saturday is not a national holiday and that he must be industrious and
thrifty if he wants to get along.” He argued that when “proper people” reached the new
arrivals and gave them right tips, they rapidly adjusted themselves “to their changed
surroundings.”44 This transition to urban industrial labor also comprised being able to
manage wages wisely. These new industrial workers were encouraged to invest their money
in the bank: “What the Chicago Defender would like to see among our people is a ‘Go To
Bank Day.’ It would like to see the ministers of the churches urge its members to have a day
each week or month, the time your salary is received to go to a bank, start a savings account,
no matter how small.”45

By 1918, the idea that what affected one, affected all, came to hold a more prominent
and more specific meaning for the Defender ’3 writers “working with” the CUL. The League

sent letters to pastors and to other business and professional men, “calling their attention to

 

41 “First Annual Meeting Chicago Urban League,” Ibid., November 24, 1917.
‘2 “Urban League Has Federal Employment Bureau,” Ibid., Mar 16, 1918.

‘3 Grossman, Land of Hope, 7. -

“ “Southerner Soon Readjusted” The Chicago Defender, April 7, 1917.

‘5 “Go on Bank Day Urged” rbrd, January 20, 1917.

35

the many causes which contribute to the inefficiency of the Race in employment.” The letter
was also mailed to “men and women who have accepted positions in business houses which,
until recently, did not employ Race members. . .”. The letter stated,

as an applicant for work in the present great area of reconstruction, it is your

duty to remember that in accepting new lines of employment under these

conditions, you are not merely a servant and employee for hire, but one of a

Race whose members cannot afford to be careless and indifferent. You must

always remember that upon your general behavior, good manners, good

conduct, and attention to dress and cleanliness, as well as efiicient service,

will the opportunity to continue in this work remain open to you, and the

members of your Race. Remember that the race in this new work rs on trial in

you, and if you do well you will serve not only yourself but the entire race. 4"

As already mentioned, the effects of this level of race consciousness, as it related to
employment opportunity and work performance, in terms of community building will be
discussed in detail in subsequent chapters.47 The old settlers’ recognition that the Great
Migration of Southerners would place all African American citizens of Chicago on trial has
been criticized as “class hierarchy.”48 What it meant for the newcomers, is a difficult
question to answer. So difficult that one might be tempted not to ask it for the answer cannot

be documented by traditional materials. Yet one can put it in comparative perspective: no

such receiving committee existed in Istanbul. The jobs migrants found in Istanbul reflected

 

‘6 “Urban League Makes Appeal For Greater Efficiency,” Ibid., Nov 23,1918.

‘7 This and the lack of it in Turkey. See Onder $enyap111,Kentleserneyen Ulke, Kentlilesen Ko'ylu'ler (Ankara:
Odtu Mim. Fak. Ara Yayrnlan, 1981), 67-68 for a discussion of Turkey 5 social classes after the War of
Independence: “Coming out of the Ottoman Empire... (l930s) Turkey lacked the bourgeoisie like that of
Europe. There was a weak trading bourgeoisie... but then the bureaucrats took on the functions of the
bourgeoisie... Then in the 19408. .. transition into democracy... migration began, farmers flocked to the cities
with the expectation of gainful employment but the cities were not ready... there was no industrial
born'geoisie. . ."

“ Authors classified the Afiican American community in Chicago as “the Refined, the Respectablec and the
RiffRatf’ in Drake and Cayton, Black Metropolis. Spear discussed the role of “the large scale migration of
poorly educated, unskilled Negroes from the most backward areas of the Deep South” in the formation of the
ghetto, race consciousness and leadership class. Spear, Black Chicago, viii, ix.

36

the economic shortcomings of the city. Their presence in the city was conceptualized as
mining the “appearance” and the “feel” of Istanbul.

The Case of Istanbul

Scholars generally overlook the significance of conditions in Istanbul of the 19505.
Broadly speaking those who are interested in the 19505 political conditions emphasize the
changing national political system and mention Istanbul hurriedly in passing. They are
generally interested in the transition from the single party rule to the two party political
system. Whereas in the early days of the republic attempts to oppose Atatiirk’s party had
failed to take root, it was only in the late 19403 that a working opposition party, the
Democratic Party, finally stuck.49

Economically, the decade marked the end of the etatist ideology and practices, and
the transition from a heavily central government subsidized practice to allowing foreign
investments in. Up to this point, leaders had used the Turkish state as “an instrument to create
a local bourgeoisie under a strict authoritarian bureaucratic rule.” Having to reconstruct the
economy after World War I and the founding of the republic led the central state to undertake
substantial measures “to commercialize agriculture and increase its productivity.” The etatist
period, during the world wide economic crisis of the 19303, brought the state’s efforts “to
industrialize the country through joint investment with foreign capital as well as through
establishing of State Economic Enterprises,” by establishing large scale “import substituting
industrialization type production units (in textiles, sugar, cement, paper, mining)” to

complement private undertakings.50 The stateincreased its economic activity but did not ban

 

‘9 Bernard Lewis, The Emergence of Modern Turkey (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 279-281 for
the early failure of opposition, and 303-309 for “the coming of democracy.”

5° Ziilkfif Aydrn, The Political Economy of Turkey, (London: Pluto Press, 2005), 25-29. See also Osman Okyar,
Development Background Of the Turkish Economy, 1923-1973, International Journal of Middle East Studies,

37

or discourage private undertakings. So that the state’s increased economic activity would not
be understood as socialism, leaders took pains to explain their intentions. Atatiirk addressed
this issue in his public speeches.

Although considering private work and activity as a basic idea, it is one of our

main principles to interest the State actively in matters where the general and

vital interests of the nation are in question, especially in the economic field, in

order to lead the nation and the country to prosperity in as short a time as

possibles '
With the First Five Year Plan (1934-1939), the state did just that. Then, following the end of
World War II the Democratic Party, which now headed the new multiparty government, at
the insistence of the United States and the World Bank, shelved the Five Year Development
Plan and made agriculture its priority. Also at the insistence of the United States and the
World Bank, although state protectionism continued until the 19703, the state scaled back its
role in the economy and took measures “to lure foreign capital into the country.” 52

Scholars agree that the decision to end etatism put the state in a position to encourage
private undertakings, yet there is some disagreement when it comes to how much this
position actually established. Most scholars make sweeping generalizations concerning the
economic conditions in Turkey in the 19503, but over and over again it is stated that this time
period was chaotic, full of ups and downs, and that the intentions of the central government
and what actually took place did not always coincide. Furthermore, leaders are generally

criticized for their ineptness, confusion, misdirection, wastefulness and inefficiency.53 There

is also some inconsistency of the available numbers. One early study reflects that there were

 

10:3, (August 1979), 325-344. Okyar discusses what he sees as the rise of an “economic consciousness” and the
public discussions of this during the 19303.

5' Lewis, The Emergence of Modern Turkey, 286.

52 Zt'ilkfif Aydrn, The Political Economy of Turkey, 25-29.

53 Lewis, The Emergency of Modern Turkey, 287-288.

38

“2,515 private manufacturing establishments” employing more than 10 persons in 1950 and
that by 1955 there were 4,106.54 Another states that the number of private enterprises, which
was 712 between 1940-1949, had reached 2,775 by 1963.55 Notwithstanding the
inconsistency in numbers, private undertakings did increase significantly. It is also argued
that in the 19503, while private enterprises were encouraged, “far from being reduced, the
public sector grew in size.” The Menderes government became a sort of employment agency,
which increased its popularity with its supporters.56 Over time, it became clear that
government encouragement benefited some business leaders, those who did not oppose
government involvement in the economy but who wanted their own piece of the pie, a sort of
a patronage system.57

When scholars concentrate on the 19503 in relation to rural-urban migration, the era’s
significance lies in that it was the beginnings of the gecekonduzation process in big cities
such as Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir. It is also generally recognized that the migration
movement in Turkey differed from those in the West in that, as with other developing
nations, Turkey’s rural migration to urban centers did not depend on industrialization to the
same degree.58 Following World War 11, population in Turkey increased significantly, most
of the natural increase taking place in the rural areas. In this circumstance, many farmers

were pushed out of their farms because of diminishing profits due to sharecropping and,

 

54 Alec P. Alexander, “Industrial Entrepreneurship in Turkey: Origins and Growth,” Economic Development
and Cultural Change, 8:4, Part 1 (July 1960), 350 in footnote.

55 Dogan AVCIoglu, Tilrkiye 'nin Diizeni: Diin ~ Bugiin ~ Yarm (Ankara: Bilgi Yayrnevi, 1968), 333.

56 Andrew Mango, The Turks Today (New York: The Overlook Press, 2004), 47.

57 Ayse Bugra, “Tt’irk Isadamlari ve Liberalizm,” in Modern T iirkiye 'de Siyasi Diisiince 7: Liberalizm (Istanbul:
Iletisim Yayrnlan, 2005), 386. See also Okyar, “Development Background Of the Turkish Economy” for an
earlier discussion of this.

58 Karpat, The Gecekondu, 20-22; Michael N. Danielson and Rusen Keles, The Politics of Rapid Urbanization:
Government and Growth in Modern Turkey (New York: Holmes and Meier, 1985), 6; Istanbul Biiyiiksehir
Belediyesi, Istanbul 'u Bekleyen Sosyal Riskler A rasttrmaSI- 2: Istanbul ’a Muhtemel 06c Dalgalart (Istanbul:
2004), 144.

39

more specifically, because the state modernization project had provided ever increasing
amounts of credit and numbers of tractors, releasing surplus labor and at the same time
mechanizing agriculture. Furthermore, the Marshall Plan helped the Turkish state invest in
new roads and highways, opening up the world for the rural areas.59 While it happened to
varying degrees in rural farming areas, credit availability and the mechanization of
agriculture mainly benefited the old “toprak agalari” (Turkish feudal lords) and turned them
into capitalist producers, while further impoverishing sharecroppers and small land owners.
Considering one tractor displaced ten farm laborers and that the number of tractors increased
from about 2,000 in the end of 19403 to about 44,000 by the end of the 19503, hundreds of
thousands of laborers found themselves unemployed in the farming areas.60

This is not to say that there was little industry or other employment opportunities in
Istanbul to warrant such a movement of rural migrants to the city. Compared to other parts of
Turkey, Istanbul had been the center of industry in the days of the Ottoman Empire. Starting
with the middle of the nineteenth century, “the iron and steel plants, tanneries, gasworks, and
textile plants” had drawn to the city “peasants from the countryside,” as well as foreign
businessmen and investors.6| One of the best examples of the early industries is in the

Zeytinbumu district. With geographic characteristics that ensured the success of tanneries,

 

59 Karpat, The Gecekondu; Onder Senyaplll, Kent/esemeyen Ulke, Kentlilesen Kay/filer (Ankara: Odtfi Mim.
Fak. Ara Yayrnlan, 1981), 4; Ercan Tatlldil, “Gog ve Kentlesmenin Sosyal Boyutu,” in Sosyoloji Dergisi, No. 3
YIl 1992; Giilten Kazgan, ed., Kustepe Arasttrmasz 1999 (Istanbul: Istanbul Bilgi Universitesi Yayrnlan, 1999),
10.

6° Avcroglu, T iirkiye 'nin Duzeni, 284-291; and Sina Aksin, Siyasal T arih (1 950-1960) in T iirkiye Tarihi 4
Cag'das T iirkiye 1908 ~ 1980 (Istanbul: Cem Yayrnevi, 2002), 215. See also Ahmet chuygu, Ibrahim Sirkeci
and Ismail Aydlngiin, “Tiirkiye’de Icgoc ve Icgocfin Isci Hareketine Etkisi,” in T iirkiye ’de lcgoc Conference
Proceedings (Istanbul: Tarih Vakfi, 1998), 221-225; Richard D. Robinson, “Turkey’s Agrarian Revolution and -
the Problem of Urbanization,” The Public Opinion Quarterly, 22:3, Special Issue on Attitude Research in
Modernizing Areas, (Autumn 1958), 398; and Alexander, Industrial Entrepreneurship, 357.

6' Ian Manners and Abraham Marcus, “Istanbul: From Imperial City to Modern Metropolis” essay for the
humanities exhibit organized by Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas at Austin and
Department of International Relations, Marmara University, Istanbul- made available by Texas Humanities
Resource Center, Austin.

40

Zeytinbumu district drew workers and other business establishments to its environs starting a
century and a half before the 19503.62 As far as other employment opportunities went,
Istanbul, as one of the major ports, offered many loading and unloading jobs. In 1927, there
were 3,000 dockworkers in Istanbul. Also in 1927, there were 3,000 tobacco workers in the
city. A year later, there were 500 more tobacco, 300 textile, and 70 iron and steel workers in
various establishments."3

Following the founding of the republic of Turkey, in line with the state’s rapid
industrialization policy, Istanbul had “attracted most private industrial and commercial
investment during the initial decades,” and continued to be the center for private economic
development through the decades of the 19503 onwards.64 Almost fifty percent of Turkey’s
private industrial undertakings were concentrated in Istanbul.65 It was no coincidence, one
scholar argued, that until the end of the 19603 industrialization and urbanization were seen as
identical. Migration to cities in Turkey was seen as a marker of industrial development. It
was expected that the transfer of surplus labor from rural areas would increase industrial
production. Accordingly, even though the state did not openly or actively pursue this sort of
politics, by being passive in the face of it, they actually encouraged it.66

On the other hand, scholars who have studied smaller pockets of Istanbul’s economic

life have found that Turkish industry was “predominantly organized in small units” and an

 

°2 See the official site for the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality http://www.istanbulgovtr/ for more detailed
information on Zeytinbumu. Istanbul’u Taniyalim, Her Semtin Oykfisii, Zeytinbumu. Last accessed September
28, 2007. See also M. Schmus Gfizel, T iirkiye ’de [sci Hareketi: 1908-1984 (Istanbul: Kaynak Yayrnlan, 1996),
144-145.

63 Giizel, T iirkiye ’de [sci Hareketi, 173.

6‘ Danielson and Keles, The Politics of Rapid Urbanization, 56-57.

65 AVCIoglu, T urkiye 'nin Diizeni, 334 and Alexander, “Industrial Entrepreneurship in Turkey: Origins and
Growth,” 354 agree on this point.

6" Ercan Tatlldil, Go'c ve Kentlesmenin Sosyal Boyutu, 1992, 46.

41

“overwhelming majority of companies had twenty-five or fewer workers.”67 There were 321
private establishments in Istanbul in 1950 that employed ten or more persons. By 1963
private enterprises had quadrupled.68 Following the end of World War II mobilization for
opening up more factories, plants, mills, workshops, ateliers, and other manufacturing
concerns transformed parts of Istanbul such as Zeytinbumu, Bagcrlar, Bayrampasa,
Gaziosmanpasa, and Kartal into industrial complexes as population increased. Kagrthane was
likewise transformed. By 1965, along the Kagrthane Creek there were 102 workshops and
factories, places where finished products are made, which made various goods such as
vegetable oil, iron works, textiles, and copper."9

These smaller establishments employed anywhere from five to three hundred
workers.7o For example, a cement factory employed 18 workers who worked two 11-hour
shifts in 1948. Another one in Zeytinbumu was documented as having 130 workers in
1959." Furthermore, the owners of these smaller establishments recruited workers from their
own villages. This made the recruitment, organization, and authority patterns very personal,
unlike the recruitment pattern in Chicago for African Americans.72 Even though some found
jobs through the Is ve Isci Bulma Kurumu (Government Employment Agency), most
migrants found out about jobs through kinship or communal networks usually at the
kahvehane (kahve for short). The kahve served as an employment bureau. It was also an

important communication center where problems were discussed and informal decisions

 

67 Alan Dubetsky, “Kinship, Primordial Ties, and Factory Organization in Turkey: An Anthropological View,”
International Journal of Middle East Studies, 7:3 (July 1976). Dubetsky looked at Gfizelbahce in 1970.

68 Avcroglu, T iirkiye ’nin Diizeni, 333-334.

69 Mahmut Kemalettin Giirliik, “Gecekondu Meselesi ve Kagrthane,” Iller Ve Belediyeler Dergisi, No. 239,
(September 1965), 469-470.

70 Giizel, Trirkiye 'de [sci Hareketi, 175-181.

7' Ibid., 179, and 175.

72 Dubetsky, “Kinship, Primordial Ties, and Factory Organization in Turkey,” 434.

42

were made. Every hemsehri (communal) group had its own major coffee house.73 Smaller
work places and the recruitment pattern affected migrants’ adjustment trajectory directly:
familiar relationships in the city helped adjustment in informal ways, while they did not
necessarily make newcomers “of” the city.

As keepers of the very public record of the public sphere, newspapers reflected the
chaos of the era. Between 1952 and 1953, Istanbul Ekspres announced that one new oil
factory was opened, extolling it on the virtue of being a joint effort by businessmen from
Turkey and Holland. It further announced that three pharmaceutical and seventeen cement
factories would open.74 These celebratory stories aside, opening factories took a long time. In
May 1954, the satirical Akbaba reported on the delay in the construction process:

Readers will remember the soda factory. The opening ceremonies for the soda

factory were held four years ago, and its foundation was laid three years ago,

followed by the ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the completion of its first

floor last year. Eight months ago we joyfully celebrated the retiling

ceremonies, and yesterday we celebrated the installation of the windows. In

the next few weeks we are looking forward to celebrating the installment of

the door latches. Plans for the celebrations of the next few years are

underway.75
Progress was slow and painstaking even if factories were being encouraged and people were
investing in them.

Otherwise, Istanbul Ekspres made brief references to the industrial workers and told
the story of peddlers and builders. Peddlers and builders were depicted as disturbing the quiet

of the city with their increasingly loud yelling to sell their wares on the streets or their

merryrnaking on construction sites at night and as disturbing the beauty and order of the city

 

73 Mehmet Tanju Akerman, Istanbullu (Istanbul: Elci Yayrnerllk, 2005), 46. The kahvehane served as “the
center of employment,” according to Akerman. Or as a “communication center,” according to Karpat, The
Gecekondu, 133.

7‘ “Yeni Acllan Yag Fabrikasr,” “Sehrimizde yakmda iic ilac fabrikasr kurulacak,” and “Yeniden Onyedi
Cimento Fabrikasr Kuruluyor,” Istanbul Ekspres, 1952-1953.

75“Ka1k1nma,”in Akbaba 112, 13 May 1954.

43

with their attire and increasing numbers blocking the streets.76 An Akbaba cartoon captioned
“Kadrkoy Vapuru: II” (Kadikoy Ferry) depicted a newspaper seller on the ferry peddling
loudly as one of the passengers who was trying to read his newspaper hushed him like a
nurse would in a hospital. In the next square four peddlers were depicted as screaming at the
top of their lungs.77 Clearly the “original Istanbulites” were losing their hold on the city and
the civilized manners it stood for.

A3 Karpat revealed, migrants who came to Istanbul between 1950-1957 arrived
during a construction boom. However, besides being builders, migrants found jobs as
“drivers, waiters, maids, servants, dairyrnen, cook, mason, gas station worker, janitor, porter,
coffee seller, salesmen, hawker, peddler, gardener, photographer, grocery men, florist,
blacksmith, watchmen.”78 According to Istanbul Ekspres reports, there were 7,000 bakers
who were dissatisfied with their conditions, 35,000 street vendors who displayed their wares
at every possible street comer a city resident turned, as well as over 74,000 shoemakers and
about 60,000 mi’rstahdem.79 Along with the types of employment available to newcomers, the
numbers of the people engaged in these types of jobs reflected a concern in rising
unemployment. Rising unemployment was portrayed in a satirical way in a story in Akbaba.
Due to increasing competition, even the very low paying jobs had become hard to come by.
The story discussed an announcement for the position of a “hademe.”80 Requirements for this
position were listed as

1. Having at least graduated from the University (those who speak a foreign
language will be preferred) 2. Having completed the compulsory military duty

 

7" Istanbul Ekspres, 24 July, 1952; 142 August, 1952; 12 October 1952.

77 “Kadrkoy Vapuru: II,” in Akbaba 110, 22 Nisan 1954.

78 Karpat, The Gecekondu, 87, and 101.

79 Istanbul Ekspres, 24 July, 1952; 1-12 August, 1952; 12 October 1952. Mfistahdem is difficult to translate into
English. A miistahdem is a person who had various duties ranging from cleaning (janitorial) to serving tea and
coffee, from being a messenger to a doormen in a government office.

80 Like miistahdem, a hademe is a person who cleans and runs errands in government offices or schools.

44

(Those who provide a photo in uniform will be given preference) 3. Being no

older than 30 years of age (Those who have reduced the number of their years

through a court order will be accepted) 4. Providing a report of endurance that

testifies to one’s ability of surviving anywhere in the nation on the salary

offered. . . 48. After passing the written exam, those who meet all the

requirements listed must provide a notarized written contract that testifies that

they will not take their life. Those who trust themselves please apply.“

Listing such high requirements for such a low scale job, the story addressed the impossibility
of placing newcomers in gainful employment. Migrants continued to be drawn to Istanbul
during this time period, but clearly the level of industrialization in 19503 Istanbul was
nowhere comparable to that of Chicago earlier in the 20th century.

Yet, even if one did not find a job in one of the industrial and manufacturing ventures,
one could trade, go into sales, or peddle (marginal sector).82 As one “esnaf emeklisi” (retired
tradesman) remembers, Istanbul provided a wide field for employment with a wide spectrum
of jobs.83 At times even peddling and street vending in Istanbul was more profitable than
sharecropping in rural areas.84 At other times peddling was used as additional income.85
Profitable or not, one man’s livelihood became another man’s nuisance. Original Istanbulites
were not pleased with the increa'sing numbers of street peddlers and vendors and this period
was the beginning of the government’s cat and mouse chase with the peddlers. As one
Akbaba story depicted, the government tried to deal with the menace of peddlers by chasing

them, which could be quite comical.

Officials in Eminonfi put on a hunt to catch peddlers this past week in
Mahmudpasa, Postane 6nfi, and Yenicami. Officials pursued five lemon

 

3' “Hademe Alrnacak,” in Akbaba 111, 6 Mayis 1954.

82 Istanbul ’da Enfonnel Sekto'r: Isportacrlar, Tekin Akgeyik, Arif Yavuz, Halis Yunus Ersoz, Si‘rleyman
Ozdemir, Hasan Senocak (Istanbul: Erguvan Yayrnevi, 2004), 19, 25-28.

83 See interview with former shipper (nakliyeci: one who operates a transport company; forwarding agent), now
a sales retiree in Kazgan, ed., Kustepe Arasttrmasr, 92; Senyapllr, Kentlesemeyen (like, 64 and 36.

8’ This is what the author calls “relative wealth.” Included in this arrangement/view is the availability of better
services in the city and opportunities for education. Senyaprlr, Kentlesemeyen Ulke, 47-48.

85 Giizel, T iirkiye ’de [sci Hareketi, 140.

45

peddlers, four sock peddlers, three peddlers who sold combs, and one who

sold clothes hangers. They missed three soap sellers, and two who sold

roasted chickpeas. They caught one juvenile peddler because he was running

barefoot and stepped on pieces of broken glass. Meanwhile, in this hunt to

catch peddlers, a peddler named Moiz who was being pursued broke the

record of the nation’s leading long distance runner. Another peddler named

Durmus, from Sivas, broke the national high jump record by jumping over a

truck while still carrying a basket of wares on his back.86

On the whole, one had to read between the lines to get a sense of the newcomers in
this rapidly growing city. Only then were the signs obvious. Newspapers widely reported that
city services were falling behind demand, but this was depicted as the shortcoming of the
municipality. For example, existing transportation services had to be improved, additional
services added, and old buses repaired. New roads and avenues were being built, such as
Vatan Caddesi and Bagdat Caddesi, while existing ones were being expanded mercilessly,
with little regard to the historical buildings. Newspapers photographed the conditions of road
construction without a single mention of the workers. They criticized the mentality that built
without regard to historical sites, but not the workers.87 In a recent interview, one migrant
from Sivas, who arrived in Istanbul in 1953, was asked “how did Istanbulites treat you upon
coming to Istanbul?” He replied, “Back then they admired us. Back then Istanbul needed
workers. The Democratic Party was in power and Istanbul’s roads were expanding. They
needed laborers to build those roads. Who built their roads? People who came fiom Anatolia,

that’s who. They loved us then. They used to offer us tea and coffee on site then.”88 Along

with the existing and slowly expanding industrial economy, new buildings were springing

 

8" “Si'rrek Avr,” in Akbaba 111, 6 May 1954.

87 Sema Erder finds that “each of the groups that arrived in the city could settle without experiencing much
resistance or a sense of alienation and could comfortably establish their own networks” which is important for
the comparison between the existence/ activity of old settlers in Chicago and lack of it in Istanbul. Sema Erder,
“Nerelisin Hemserim?” In Caglar Keyder, ed., Istanbul: Kiiresel ile Yerel Arasrnda (Istanbul: Metis Yayrnlan,
1999, 198 in Turkish- or Sema Erder, “Where Do You Hail From?” in Caglar Keyder, ed., Istanbul: Between
the Global and the Local (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1999), 166.

88 Kazgan, ed., Kustepe Arasttrmasr, 122.

46

up; these events drove workers to Istanbul, yet little attention was being paid to them in the
press. There was no fear of invasion. No provocative headlines. No militant editorials. Rather
interestingly, even though migrants were flocking into the city by tens of thousands, Istanbul
newspapers made no such systematic and alarming announcements of a mass movement
from villages. There are only few accounts of rising unemployment.

When it came to finding work, for all of the strengths of the informal networks,
newcomers could also find employment through formal means. Some found jobs through the
Is ve lsci Bulma Kurumu (government employment agency), while others frequented the
offices of newspapers in their search for jobs. In a story titled, “Looking For a Maid, a Cock,
or a Nanny?” the author argued that innocent girls and women who came from various parts
of Anatolia were being taken advantage of in the hands of the kaprcr, even the milkman, the
butcher, etc. The kaprcr, milkman, and/or butcher charged both the girl looking for
employment and the prospective employer finder’s fees, and returned shortly after placing a
newcomer in a gainful position to offer another, more profitable, position somewhere else.
The author wanted both the employers and job seekers of this story to be informed that there
was an institution which would provide the most qualified maid, cook or nanny, free of
charge. All housewives had to do was to “dial 81849 or apply at the Calrsma Bakanlrgr Is
Bulma Bt’irosu at Besiktas Akaretler Street No. 54.” Bahire Zaim (female), the director of the
bureau, reported that those seeking employment were 80 percent middle aged women, and
that the numbers of those seeking employees far exceeded the number of those seeking
employment.” The Bureau also had a branch in Beyoglu. There seems to have been some

disparity between the skills applicants reported they were qualified for and their actual

 

89 17 October, 1952. In May 1958 numbers of those seeking employees still exceeded the numbers of those who
were seeking employment. Havadis, 15 May, 1958.

47

performance of those skills, because some examinations had been instituted to properly
identify the skills of applicants. The bureau placed about four to five thousand employees
annually and certain establishments only hired through the Bureau."0

By 1954, hundreds, sometimes thousands, of newcomers waited outside some factory
gates and hundreds more also applied at the Vilayet, the municipality, Calrsma Mfidfirlfigii, 1s
ve lsci Bulma Mfidfirliigfi, and the newspaper headquarters. Yet the way unemployment was
framed is interesting. The increasing numbers of unemployed were seen as a threat to tourism
in Istanbul.” Akbaba commented on the fact that peddlers caused tourists to run away. One
cartoon depicted numerous street peddlers including newspaper, vegetable, fruit, milk, and
fish peddlers. The caption of this cartoon borrowed from the title of the poem by Orhan Veli
Kamk that this chapter began with: Istanbul’u Dinliyorum Gozlerim Kapalr (1 am Listening
to Istanbul With My Eyes Shut).92 Istanbul’s sounds had become so overtaken by peddlers
and become unbearable that peddlers were running the tourists out of the city with their noise
poflufion.

By 1957, Akbaba cartoons were visually making the point that rural newcomers were
loud (crying baby, snoring man), smelly (flies around their peddling goods as well as all
around their shoes and bare feet), poor (they are clearly dressed in rural clothes patched in

the knees and elbows), nuisances to the urban people. One woman representing the urban

woman in the cartoon was in high heels and a mini skirt, fully made up and she had a

 

9° Istanbul Ekspres, November 1952.

9' Son Saat, 25 February, 1954.

92 Cartoon title: “Istanbul’a Gelen Seyyahlar; Gi’rriiltfiden Kacryorlar (Gazetelerden);” Caption: Istanbul’u
Dinliyorum Gézlerim Kapalr, Akbaba 124, 29 July 1954.

48

scandalized look on her face as she sat between a rural couple. The hat of one of the urban
man on the ferry was blown off by the scene/presence of the rural travelers.93

Unlike the informal networks that provided jobs for newcomers in Chicago, the
government took some measures to meet unemployment in Istanbul. As a result of
government involvement four years later, in 1958, the Bureau provided a series of classes
(kurs) that taught twenty-nine attendees on how to improve their waiter skills. The classes
provided instruction in math, service instruction, tourism, Turkish, (adabi mfiaseret) and
those who passed their exams would go on to complete their internship at hotels such as the
Hilton and Divan, and restaurants.94 There were also rumors that a School of Tourism was
being planned to meet the need of sheltering and training qualified personnel.95 The 1s ve Isci
Bulma Kurumu drew on foreign officials to design its functions and activities. In a meeting
of this institution those present deliberated on issues such as the protection of the deserted
children, the population density in Istanbul, and the placement of those who came to Istanbul
in search of employment in city jobs or sending them to other provinces that needed labor. A
commission was established to continue work on such issues, and it was decided to make a
wide-ranging survey.96

By July 1959, recognizing that rural newcomers to Istanbul were not sure of what to
do about finding employment, the Employment Bureau decided to meet them at their ports of
entry. The Bureau considered sending jeeps to meet newcomers at sea ports, bus stations, and
the main railroad station and announcing employment opportunities through loudspeakers.

Likewise bureau agents were to go to the kahvehane where the unemployed newcomers

 

93 Cartoon: “Yalova Vapurunda Bir ada Yolcusu!" Ibid., 385, 30 July 1957.

9" Havadis, 5 May, 1958.

95 Ibid., April 1953.

96 The roots of such attitudes can be traced back to the Ottoman elite’s attitudes. Ibid., 23 February, 1958.

49

congregated and do the same. It is not clear if this decision was carried out, but its mere
consideration tells of the official fears that the unemployed newcomers were becoming an
urban problem, a threat to the image of the city.97 ~

Employment opportunities for both groups of rural newcomers were restricted by the
state of economic development of each city. Yet, these opportunities were also constrained
by race in Chicago. In Chicago, the city of broad shoulders, African Americans from the
South were paid better than they would have been in the South. Still, the jobs open to them
were mainly unskilled industrial jobs or menial and domestic labor. This meant that some
migrants actually took a step down the occupational ladder. Further, these jobs lacked
opportunity for advancement for a very long time. In Istanbul, migrants mainly worked in
construction, in small scale manufacturing and industrial establishments that were owned and
run by their kinsmen, or in the informal/marginal sector. It was equally difficult for them to
move up the occupational scale, but this was mainly due to economic conditions and not
racial prejudice. In both settings, one could eventually improve his/her chances for

employment. The possibilities for good housing, however, were quite a different matter.

 

97 Ibid., July 1959. In the pages of Hiin'iyet, or Istanbul Ekspres little was mentioned on the need to instruct
newcomers on industrial conditions perhaps due to the fact that there were no readily available large-scale
industrial jobs for which newcomers needed instructions. Istanbul’s industrial boom came around the 19603 and
the early 19703. Even afier the boom though, throughout the 19703 and 19803, the migrants’ chances were being
engaged in “the tertiary economic sector” at best. By then, the more recent the migrant, the more difficult it was
for him to find employment. The avenues that were open to them as they waited for factory or city sanitation
jobs were “hawking small items on street comers or selling peanuts and sandwiches at sports events, in
transportation terminals, or in parks. See Antan, pp. 6-8, and 31-32. See also Tansr Senyaplll, “A New Content
in Metropolitan Areas: The Gecekondu Women” in Women in Turkish Society edited by Nerrnin Abadan-Unat
(Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1981) “The transition of the migrant from unorganized to organized urban work is not
realized in a clear, single-step passage. Instead, the migrant draws a pendulum-like curve moving among jobs in
the section of urban work space reserved for him, according to his skills, experience and social relations in
hopes of landing a permanent and secure job.” p. 197. Or they could be employed in construction, technical
operations, trade and crafts. See Karpat, The Gecekondu, 38-39.

50

Chapter 2
Settling into Place: Housing

Once set in place, urban housing patterns are difficult to alter. Homeownership
provides homeowners a sense of permanency and stability in the urban setting.l Further,
owning one’s dwelling can become an investment, a financial security against the future
unknown, and it can evolve into a profit-inducing venture. Housing, perhaps more than
employment opportunities, determined the experiences of newcomers to cities. In both
Chicago and Istanbul this was the case, and housing patterns established early on defined
the struggles of both groups in their respective cities. Looking at how housing was
conceptualized and how Chicago and Istanbul dealt with housing issues of the arrival of
the newcomers under study here gives us an opportunity to observe the forces at play in
setting those patterns. By looking at the patterns in housing, we can understand the failure
and successes of governments (regulations, enforcement, and provision of decent
housing). Examining the tensions over housing, moreover, helps us to trace the issues that
led to newcomers’ inclusion or exclusion in these two cities during their urbanization
processes.

Settling into Chicago

In Chicago, the issue of housing acquired a sense of urgency and took place at the
center of public debates early on, marking the players in the contest over housing to i
come. The urgency stemmed from periodic epidemics, easily spread by the congested

living conditions of working classes in the middle of the city, which heightened questions

 

I In the US. the understanding that property brought stability and status was not new in the late 191" and
early 20lh century, but by then property in urban home ownership had evolved to symbolize respectability
for all classes in society. Margaret Garb, City of American Dreams: A History of Home Ownership and
Housing Reform in Chicago, [871-1919 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2005), 177.

51

and concerns over this particular type of housing. Officials and interested parties alike
quickly connected lodging house and tenement conditions to the spread of disease. Yet,
municipal measures were makeshift and short-lived until the last quarter of the twentieth
century.2 From the 18703, following the disastrous 1871 fire that nearly destroyed the
city, housing investigations and passage of new municipal codes enhanced the power of
the city government to monitor housing conditions. Each municipal intervention,
however, brought with it opposition from varied groups concerned either about the
sanctity of property ownership or access to affordable housing.3 By then, owning one’s
house had become a way of augmenting household income, and working class owners
viewed their residential property as long term investments, “a hedge against future
uncertainties. .a strategy for leaving something of value to the next generation.”
Inversely, residing in a tenement began to symbolize vulnerability, dependency, and a
danger to public health. Increasingly, the tenement was seen as an “emblem of a wide
array of social problems in the industrializing city”; and further, once disease became

linked to “race or national origin of tenants,” propertied Chicagoans avoided “investing

 

2 Edith Abbott, The T enements of Chicago, 1908-1935 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1936), 1, 14-
15, 9, 26-29, 35-43. Afier many years of periodic cholera and smallpox epidemics, with Health Committees
abolished when the epidemics subsided, and creating new ones when epidemics came back, finally in 1867
“the legislature authorized the creation of a Board of Health,” in the name of permanence. “The creation of
the Board led to an elaborate Sanitary Survey of the city, by wards, covering among other subjects the
general features of the district, the grade and pavement, the drainage, the water supply, and the buildings.”
As can be seen, the early (1867-1877) reports of “the Board and of the health officer had to do with the
outside insanitary conditions.” Between 1877-1882, official Chicago Department of Health Reports
followed.

3 A Municipal Building Department was organized in 1875, headed by the inspector of buildings, whose
duty was “to grant permits for the erection and removal of buildings and who had a staff of ten fire wardens
to serve as inspectors.” An elaborate building code was adopted also in 1875 “requiring the submission of
plans and specifications to the superintendent of buildings, who must, in turn issue a permit before building
operations could begin.” This technical ordinance contained “provisions with reference to the materials of
which foundations, walls, and roofs might be constructed, the thickness of walls, and required among other
precautions the erection of fire escapes on dwellings of four or more stories.” See Abbott, The T enements of
Chicago, 54-57. For more detailed opposition from homeowners to the ban on “wood frame construction
within the city limits” 1872-1875, and later opposition to the 1880 Department of Health housing ordinance
see Garb, City of American Dreams, 11-35, and 73-81.

52

capital in improving tenement dwellings.”4 By the end of the 19‘h and the beginning of
the 20‘” century, investigations undertaken by civically-motivated citizens became the
engine of efforts to improve tenement conditions and use the powers of government to do
30. Groups consisting of housing reformers and settlement workers, particularly reform
minded social workers and investigators who resided at the Hull House Settlement,
investigated conditions, published their findings, educated the public in hopes of creating
a public consciousness, and pushed for new housing legislation.5

When large numbers of African American newcomers entered the Chicago
housing market between 1916-1919, they were caught in an unwinnable situation:
property values ruled, and white racism assumed that black neighbors would devalue
property. Newcomers had little choice but to locate in already crowded and dilapidated
areas of the city where they paid some of the highest rents. Because landlords’ prejudice
kept improvements at a minimum, the dilapidated conditions worsened, as then did the
prejudice that was responsible for their demise in the first place. Once located in the
Black Belt, newcomers’ chances of moving out into better areas became slim. This was
orchestrated in large measure by real estate agents who played into homeowners’ fears
that having African American homeowners would depreciate the value of all the property
in a given neighborhood. Aware of these circumstances, old settlers instructed
newcomers in certain ways so that the community could at least dispel the notion that

Afiican Americans depreciated property values.

 

’ Garb, City of American Dreams, 55-57, and 60-63; Robin L. Einbom, Property Rules: Political Economy
in Chicago, 1833-1872 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1991); and Christine Meisner Rosen,
The Limits of Power: Great Fires and the Process of City Growth in America (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1986).

5 Examples include: Robert Hunter, Tenement Conditions in Chicago: Report by the Investigating
Committee of the City Homes Association (Chicago: City Homes Association, 1901); Series of publications
on Chicago Housing Conditions conducted and published by the students and professors of the Chicago
School of Civics and Philanthropy (1908-191 1); and Abbott, The T enements of Chicago.

53

The beginning

Poverty, insanitary living conditions, and disease had presented themselves as
associated problems from the beginning of city growth, and increased both in their scale
and their association as industry and commercial development expanded in Chicago.6
From the cholera epidemics of 1849 and 1850, to that of 1867, which was accompanied
by a smallpox outbreak, officials linked disease and contagion directly with poverty and
the living conditions of the poor. An 1878 Chicago Board of Health Survey found

9’ 66

“overcrowding,” “lack of sanitation, wretched housing” in the poor districts of the city,
conditions which further deteriorated as industrial development advanced.7 As population
flow into Chicago increased, overcrowding in the poor districts became the “tenement
problem.” Because the majority of the tenement dwellers were immigrants, the tenement
problem came to be regarded as the immigrant problem.

Following the survey of the Chicago Board of Health and others by the US.
Immigration Commission and the US. Department of Labor, the city instituted some
public measures intended to improve tenement conditions. Unfortunately, enhancing the
powers of the city government did not always yield better tenement conditions because

tenements were also privately owned. As such, private ownership entitled owners with

the right to object to the city’s involvement in, what owners pointed out, was private

 

6 Abbott, The T enements of Chicago, 1-43.

7 In this early period a tenement house was defined, quite vaguely, as “dwellings occupied by three or more
families” and generally associated with being the center and breeding ground for disease. Tenement houses
were frequently referred to as “the foci of infection” and regarded as “a great menace to the public safety
and health.” Abbott, The T enements of Chicago, 44-46. Meanwhile the (federal) United States Immigration
Commission took notice of questions related to immigration and immigrants’ work, and after recognizing
that conditions were bad, concluded that Chicago’s tenements compared favorably to those of other cities.
Chicago’s tenements were not as crowded as those seen elsewhere. On the survey of the Immigration
Commission see, Abbott, The T enements of Chicago, 30-31.

54

property.8 In the 18803-18903 growing public interest in housing reform led to more
inspections and reports that emphasized the unsanitary conditions in the dwellings,
followed by recommendations for more effective legislation.9 In their conceptualizations
of the tenement problem, some concerned residents equated the tenement problem with
the immigrants themselves, attacking their nationalities and foreign habits. Others pointed
out that it was the poverty of immigrant wage earners, not their national origins, that was
responsible for the tenement conditions. '0

Discussions of housing conditions, whom to blame, and how to fix them, took
interesting turns. A3 discussions centered mainly on the issues of immigrants’
backgrounds and their suitability for Chicago living continued, an understanding that
their wages prohibited them from doing better entered the mix. Builders and
industrialists, landlords and property owners were regarded as culpable in the
deterioration of property and inside and outside sanitary conditions in general. It was in
these decades that George Pullman built his model company town, where he took
responsibility for housing the company’s workers. The Pullman town was to operate on a
strictly business principle that would bring profits. Regarding housing the poor on
anything other than the business creed-- even a brief mention of municipal corporations

to take on the role of providing low cost housing for the industrial classes or rent

 

8 For a more detailed account see Garb, City of American Dreams, 74. For example, following the 1878
Boardof Health survey the city passed the first housing ordinance. According to the 1880 ordinance,
owners had to remove stench-causing refuse and provide their residents with garbage containers. Owners
refused to comply. Subsequently, the states passed its first tenement and factory ordinance in 1881 giving
health officials the right to inspect and regulate tenement housing like they would inspect and regulate
factories and requiring all new construction plans to be approved by the Health Department. This new
ordinance drew objections from property owners, builders, architects, and plumbers alike.

9 Abbott, The T enements of Chicago, 52-53.

'0 Garb, 78-79; and Thomas Lee Philpott, The Slum and the Ghetto: Neighborhood Deterioration and
Middle-Class Reform, Chicago, I 880-] 930 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978), 15-17. Following
Pullman’s example there was some movement towards building working class tenements among the
prominent businessmen but nothing tangible came out of these efforts.

55

regulation-- was scorned for harboring socialistic sentiment, which American business
rejected.”

As the 19th century drew to a close, attempts to define functions and powers of
city departments in charge of construction and inspection procedures gave way to the
efforts to improve the efficiency of these departments. Even as ordinances were being
formulated, tenement conditions worsened. Property owners and landlords continued to
blame the immigrants for the worsening housing conditions even as they challenged the
ordinances that obviously would have solved many of these housing problems.

Shortly after the founding of Hull House in 1889, settlement house workers
associated with the settlement were asked to aid the agents of the U. S. Department of
Labor who were “conducting a comparative survey of slums” in four cities, a survey the
findings of which became the 1894 Slums of Great Cities. After the publication of the
findings, settlement workers further pursued their studies of tenements and published
Hull House Maps and Papers. A group of settlement workers then founded the City
Homes Association and a resident of Hull House directed the housing survey that resulted
in the publication of Tenement Conditions in Chicago in 1902.

In this report the City Homes Association recognized that it was harder to fix
what has been ruined than to take necessary precaution before housing conditions
worsened. After clearly laying out the “typical” (not the worst) conditions in the tenement
housing of the West Side of Chicago in tables, diagrams, photos and commentary to.
complement the photos, and comparing the pasts of other great cities such as London and
New York with what the Association saw as the impending future of Chicago, the

Association concluded that the tenement problem was on its way to becoming an evil for

 

” Philpott, The Slum and the Ghetto, 54 and 90.

56

the new century. Left unregulated, slum landlords would continue to build in a manner
crowding the city lots, the Association warned. And as clearly seen in the examples of
other American cities as well as older foreign ones, overcrowding the lots would further
worsen the existing wretchedness of the sanitary conditions inside and out, leading to
increased social pathology as well as increasing death rates. Even though Chicago lacked
the necessary data collection to link tenement conditions directly with increasing disease
and death rates (because Chicago collected such vital information by wards, and wards
contained wealthier districts as well as tenement areas), the Association drew from
studies conducted in other cities. Coupled with the conditions detailed in the study,
drawing on other cities’ statistics did indeed draw a horrific picture, and these areas were
not even the worst in the city.12 When the City Homes Association made its survey of
tenements in the late 18903, it excluded the Black Belt on the South Side on the basis that
the interior conditions were the worst in the city, and therefore not “representative” of
other areas in the city the Association set out to survey. '3

For the purpose of comparison with Istanbul, it is necessary to explain briefly the
contents of the City Homes Association Report, which specifically aimed to stop the
spread of lot crowding, but contained more general issues as well. Authors of the report
pointed out that before any steps could be taken towards betterment, the definition of a
tenement, standards of cleanliness both inside and outside, regulations, and enforcement

mechanisms all had to be classified and systematized.” Once these measures were taken,

 

'2 Hunter, Tenement Conditions in Chicago. See also Abbott, The T enements of Chicago, 58-61 on the City
Homes Association; and Martin V. Melosi, The Sanitary City: Urban Infrastructure in America from
Colonial Times to the Present (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000).

'3 Philpott, The Slum and the Ghetto, 27.

'4 The rhetoric, intensions and results of Progressive Era reforms may have differed, but systematic
investigation was a typical method of the era. See Maureen A. Flanagan, America Refonned: Progressives
and Progressivisms [8903-19203 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007); Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore,

57

the report concluded, interested citizens could assist city departments when they
themselves undertook investigations, and they would also be able to determine if the city
officials were actually doing their job. The Association emphasized the need for
preventive work (new laws on lot crowding and heights) before the overcrowding of lots
became as acute as in other cities where too much money went towards the demolition of
such evils. The city could accomplish this by enacting “definite laws” that would not
leave the details of sanitary construction to the discretion of employees, who in a political
climate, might be easily swayed. Further, city residents would benefit from forming a
“single responsible body” that would unite the various responsibilities divided between
various other official bodies. But none of this would have any staying power without
frequent and regular inspections. Lastly, the Association ended with special emphasis on
the need for small parks and gardens, making public baths places of recreation to draw
larger crowds, and the importance of the Sanitary and Housing Associations (which
created and maintained public sentiment to support the Health Department’s efforts,
provided help towards obtaining better legislation, conducted investigations and educated
the public).'5 In 1902, the City Council passed a new ordinance in accord with the

recommendations of the Association.'6

 

ed., Who Were the Progressives? (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002); Arthur 8. Link and Richard L.
McCormick, Progressivism (Arlington Heights: Harlan Davidson, Inc., 1983).

'5 Hunter, Tenement Conditions in Chicago, 161-179. At the time the report was published, many potential
landlords wielded political power, which left the city employee defenseless in the face of his power, and
often led the employee to make exceptions. Also at the time construction and sanitation responsibilities
were divided among the Building Department, the State Factory Inspectors, the State Board of Health, the
City Board of Health, the Bureau of Streets and Alleys, and other official bodies.

'6 According to the new ordinance of 1902, which closely followed the publication of Tenement Conditions
in Chicago, a tenement acquired a more specific definition: “any house or building or portion thereof which
is intended for or designed to be occupied or leased for occupation as a home or residence of two or more
families, living in separate apartments, and included all apartment houses, flat buildings, and residential
hotels,” reducing the original number of families from three to one. The allowance of building space on lots
was reduced and further measures were taken to increase ventilation and clean air inside the buildings.

58

From the 1902 ordinance through the 19303, both official statutes and citizen
pressure continued to confront the housing problem. In 1908, with the establishment of
Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, the city gained a permanent non-
governmental housing research body. The Department of Social Investigation of the
Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy drew professors such as Edith Abbott and
Sophonisba Breckinridge from Hull House.'7 The investigations they conducted collected
numerical data concerning the number of rooms per apartment/house, dimensions of
rooms, number of people per apartment, the amount paid in rent, and general housing
conditions. The numbers compiled allowed the investigators to clearly define the

problems and identify certain commonalities in the various communities.‘8

 

This ordinance, however, had little influence on the “old tenement” because of a general lack of
enforcement. Tenements built before 1901, did not have to comply with its the provisions. As the City
Homes Association had drawn attention to overcrowding of lots, the new ordinance ordered that “no new
tenement house was to occupy more than 85 percent of a comer lot, nor more than 90 percent of a corner
lot bounded on three sides by streets or alleys, nor more than 75 percent of the area of any other lot,
provided space occupied by fire escapes not more than 4 feet wide be deemed unoccupied.” Provisions
were also made for space and ventilation of rooms: rooms had to have a window leading to outer air to be
considered habitable. Along with increasing the air-space required for each person in rooms and
apartments, insisting that there be at least one sink per floor and a toilet facility in each apartment, the new
ordinance also addressed the hygiene of the premises. For more details, see Abbott, The T enements of
Chicago, 59-60.

'7 Towards the end of the first decade of the 20“1 century professors and graduate students in the University
School of Civics and Philanthropy canvassed 15] city blocks house-to-house, covering 18,225 apartments
of one-family dwellings in the tenement districts in every section of Chicago. As the study had initially set
out to prove, the results revealed that tenement ordinances failed to be enforced. Additionally, a Board of
Survey was established in 1908 “to inspect any building alleged to be a public nuisance.” Numbers of
sanitary inspectors and appropriations for the work were increased. For firrther information on the Board of
Sanitation, its administration and the role of inspectors after 1908, see Abbott, The T enements of Chicago,
preface, and 65-71; and Philpott, The Slum and the Ghetto, 104-107. While conducting their investigations
the canvassers found many houses were built before the tenement law of 1902, but even those that were
built after 1902 displayed conditions that were outlawed by the tenement law of 1902. By the time the
University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration published The T enements of Chicago:
[908-1935 in 1936, the national government had finally taken notice of the acuteness of the housing
situation, and there was much talk of slum clearance. Abbott, The T enements of Chicago, 9.

'8 Further, the numbers and facts allowed them to make some moral commentary concerning the danger
such conditions posed to children, and their demoralizing effects on all as well as commentary on health
hazards they constituted, and the barrier they posed on immigrants’ adjustment to American culture. See
Milton B. Hunt, “The Housing of Non-Family Groups of Men in Chicago,” The American Journal of
Sociology, 16: 2 (September, 1910); Sophonisba P. Breckinridge and Edith Abbott, “Chicago’s Housing
Problem: Families in Furnished Rooms,” Ibid., 16: 3 (November, 1910); Breckinridge and Abbott,
“Housing Conditions in Chicago, 111: Back of the Yards,” Ibid., 16:4 (January, 1911); Breckinridge and

59

“Chicago Housing Conditions, VI: The Problem of the Negro” was number six in
the series of publications which resulted from the investigations. Investigators picked the
largest two of the well-defined African American districts: the Black Belt on the South
Side and one community on the West Side. Canvassing four blocks on the South Side and
three on the West Side, the study reported that the houses occupied by the African
American population in these districts consisted of, in large measure, small frame houses
of one or two stories with fairly large backyards. The presence of these backyards was
significant for investigators who knew that large backyards, even if covered with grass
and shrubs, dirt and rubbish, afforded access to fresh air which was increasingly
important for overcrowded apartments with inadequate windows and indoor ventilation.l9
Overcrowding inside apartments, especially in sleeping rooms, was caused by a few
different reasons. It was sometimes due to lodgers. Housing reformers perceived the
lodger issue as a moral issue that ruined family life as it invited strangers into the family
home, yet lodgers were sometimes family members who had recently arrived from the
South, and at times they enhanced family stability by allowing the mother to make money
by staying home with her children.20 For African American residents who paid higher
rents than other groups elsewhere in Chicago, the extra income from lodgers also helped
pay that rent. Other times, overcrowding was due to the fact that African Americans took

pride in having five to six rooms, not all of which were used for sleeping purposes. They

 

Abbott, “Chicago Housing Conditions, IV: The West Side Revisited,” Ibid., 17:1 (July, 1911);
Breckinridge and Abbott, “Chicago Housing Conditions, V: South Chicago at the Gates of the Steel Mills,”
Ibid., 17:2 (September, 1911).

'9 Alzada P. Comstock, “Chicago Housing Conditions, VI: The Problem of the Negro,” The American
Journal of Sociology, 18:2 (September, 1912).

20 Chicago Commission on Race Relations, The Negro in Chicago: A Study of Race Relations and A Race
Riot (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1922), 154-165; and James R. Grossman, Land of Hope:
Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1989),
133.

60

used some rooms as kitchen, parlor, and/or dining room, which was a source of pride and
status in the community. Yet, the investigation commented, some of the problems such as
overcrowded sleeping rooms could have been solved with the elimination of their use
other than for sleeping purposes.2 '

This investigation was the first to confirm “the general impression that the rent
paid” by Afiican American tenants was “appreciably higher than that paid by the people
of any other nationality.” It was also the first public and official acknowledgment that
higher rents were due to the racial discrimination faced by the Afiican American
community in housing.22 Breckinridge herself now claimed that every black man was
entitled to “a decent home for his family in a respectable neighborhood” at “a reasonable
rental.” The housing problem of African Americans, she announced, differed from that of
white immigrants. “With the Negro the housing dilemma was found to be an acute
problem, not only among the poor, as in the case of the Polish, Jewish or Italian
immigrant, but among the well to do.”

I She firrther denounced the unscrupulous practices of real estate agents who

“register and commercialize what they suppose to be a universal race prejudice are able

 

2' Refonners continually commented that it was legal to sleep in such overcrowded quarters, yet it was as
unhealthy as if it were illegal. In all of the publications this group of investigators reiterated that an adult
person needed about 400 cubic feet of air space and a child 200 cubic feet of fresh air for a room to be
considered healthy. The building code regarding air and window requirements appear in the first study and
then in all the studies that followed. Hunt, “The Housing of Non-Family Groups of Men in Chicago,” 162.
Another problem, the condition of toilet facilities in these dwellings, added to insanitary inside conditions
and once again it was not illegal but unhealthy. Investigators found that one third of the families did not
have “closets within the apartment.” Residents used “yard, basement, and hall closets” which were within
legal parameters since most of the buildings had been built before 1901, whereas new-law tenements were
required to have “one water-closet for every apartment of more than two rooms, and one water closet for
every two apartments when the apartments consisted of one or two rooms.” The toilet facility requirements
are first mentioned in the second publication and then frequently mentioned in the subsequent publications.
Breckinridge and Abbott, “Chicago’s Housing Problem: Families in Furnished Rooms,” 296.

22 Comstock, “Chicago Housing Conditions, VI: The Problem of the Negro.”

61

to enforce one in practice.”23 Real estate agents played into the fears of property owning
whites by spreading rumors that blacks were moving into the neighborhood and that soon
the whole neighborhood would be taken over by black neighbors. Because white
homeowners believed blacks depreciated property, realtors profited handsomely when
they scared white homeowners into selling their homes for less than its market value and
then sold it to Afiican Americans for more than its market value.24

The truth was dilapidation and deterioration resulted from a few different sources.
In the first place, the buildings that African American newcomers moved into were
already old. Secondly, the sheer numbers of newcomers who were directed to and
crowded the areas were responsible for some of these conditions. As Chicago’s Afiican
American population increased by more than one hundred and fifty percent between 1910
and 1920, the black belt was forced to absorb many of these newcomers. Besides the
factor of increasing population, tenants in such areas also faced difficulty getting the
landlords to invest in the upkeep of their property. Deterioration continued through the

decade and by 1922, when the Chicago Commission on Race Relations published its

 

23 Sophonisba B. Breckinridge, “The Color Line in the Housing Problem,” Survey, February 1, 1913 in
Illinois Writers Project Box 37 Folder 4. By the time T enements of Chicago was published in 1936, these
originally well defined earlier areas were “seen to be very greatly expanded, and more than twice as many
new Negro areas had developed.” Since this last study included previously investigated areas, they were
able to trace deterioration across the prewar, war and postwar periods. On the South Side they found that
things had “greatly deteriorated” between the first and second canvasses and foresaw further deterioration.
They came across “general evidence of neglect by the proper city departments” in the outside sanitary
conditions in that streets were “poorly paved and inadequately cleaned” and the community had “small
resources in the way of municipal playgrounds.” Also on the outside they found “considerable amount of
vacant space in the lots... sometimes with grass and shrubs growing in them, but more frequently
disfigured by shacks and rubbish heaps.” Along with junk-dealers’ heaps, many lots housed stables. On the
inside, canvassers found little effort towards repair evidenced by “broken doors and doorways, unsteady
flooring. .. windowpanes were out, doors hanging on single hinges or entirely fallen off, and roofs rotting
and leaking.” It was “difficult to exaggerate the wretchedness of the housing accommodations which the
poor Negroes endure in this area,” they pointed out, and “inside and outside buildings compare unfavorably
with those in other districts.” Abbott, The T enements of Chicago, 1 17-124.

2‘ William M. Tuttle, Jr., Race Riot: Chicago in the Red Summer of I 9] 9 (New York: Atheneum, 1970),
168-169; and Philpott, The Slum and The Ghetto, 148-149.

62

report, The Negro in Chicago, “the only change in the situation was firrther deterioration
in the physical state of the dwellings.” Commissioners classified black housing into
Types A through D, with A being the houses in the best condition, and D the poorest.
They concluded that scattered around the districts, 5 percent of the African American
population lived in Type A housing, 10 percent in Type B, 40 percent in Type C and 45
percent lived in the poorest houses.25

The Chicago Defender takes charge

The Chicago Defender writers were well aware of the difficulty in the housing
situation. They recognized that for the Afiican American community moderate rentals
were almost impossible to secure in “a desirable neighborhood” both for flats and houses.
“The white man of whatever caliber” had no trouble “in getting any place” providing he
could pay the price, the Defender explained, which was “invariably from ten to twenty-
five per cent less than the same accommodations offered to the colored man.” Writers
blamed this on those whose “flimsy excuse” was that African Americans “depreciated”
property, destroyed “the plumbing,” burned up “the woodwork,” knocked off “the
plaster,” without any differentiation between the “rough, ignorant” and the better
elements.26 By being excluded from dwelling in a desirable neighborhood, the middle
class and working class African Americans together were denied a good address, and the
respectability that it would bring.27

Writers were also aware that landlords who failed to invest in the upkeep of their

property were violating city ordinances and wanted to draw the community’s attention to

this by establishing a Complaint Department. In February 1916, the Defender began a

 

25 The Chicago Commission on Race Relations, The Negro in Chicago, 186.
26 “How We Live In Cities” in The Chicago Defender, January 8, 1916.
27 Philpott, The Slum and the Ghetto, 148; and Grossrrran, Land of Hope, 133-135.

63

campaign against violations of city ordinances in housing, against tenement buildings
without proper lights in the hallways, safe elevators, and fire escapes. They announced
the establishment of the new department that would “have charge of the prosecution of all
complaints made to the Defender by its readers concerning the housing and food
conditions of this city.” The newspaper requested the “co-operation of its readers,” and
encouraged them to participate by emphasizing that the paper’s service would cost them
nothing.28

In April 1916, the Chicago Defender began a neighborhood-level campaign.
“Because you don’t own the property is no reason why you should not see that the
surroundings are kept in a clean, sanitary condition,” it advised its readers. “If you are
fortunate enough to have a yard—front or back—see that it is kept free from debris.”29 As
discussed earlier, lot crowding was prevalent in the city, and having a yard was almost a
privilege. As one would expect, it would be emphasized since yards and the fresh air they
provided balanced the insanitary inside housing conditions. Taking a few minutes to
clean the yard would mean, “so much to the health of those around and about, to say
nothing of the ugly appearance a littered yard presents.” The author next reminded
readers that it was the city’s duty to keep the streets and alleys clean. If the city did not do

its job residents were encouraged to find out why. As with the creation of the Complaint

 

28 “Chicago Defender Opens New Department,” The Chicago Defender, Saturday, February 19, 1916.

29 “Spring Cleaning,” Ibid., April 15, 1916. Throughout this period the Chicago Defender, along with the
Urban League and Wabash Avenue YMCA, organized other community cleaning campaigns. One example
was Tin Can Day. “Tin cans here and tin cans there, tin cans everywhere; rubbish piled high, garbage
strewn in every direction, with disease and vermin lurking about with a death message more serious than a
Hun shell.” This description on a Second Ward alley was given by a reporter who argued that it was time
for the public to extend “a helping hand toward prompting a general clean-up. Sanitary heads fear that
unless some immediate steps are taken in an attempt to get the public interested an epidemic may possibly
sweep this city with as telling effect as the war’s casualties.” See “Looking down your alley,” Ibid., April
20, 1918. In one instance a competition was conducted and prices offered to the children who collected the
greatest number of cans. See Tuttle, Race Riot, 169-170; and CCRR, The Negro in Chicago, 194.

64

Department, the Defender wanted newcomers to understand that the city had obligations
towards its residents; but if the new residents did not hold their government to its
responsibilities, then improvements would not come around on their own. “As to faulty
plumbing, leaks, sewer gas, etc.,” the author continued, “this should not be tolerated at
all. If it is, it simply means one is courting typhoid fever or some disease equally as
serious.”30 The neglect of landlords was not to be tolerated if people valued their health.
Getting landlords to comply with city ordinances was easier suggested than done.
Home ownership appeared to be the alternative if not the solution to suffering landlords.
“Why pay rent?” one editorial asked. The newspaper recognized the hardship in
becoming a homeowner in a desirable neighborhood, but advised “it should be the
ambition of every man, married or single, and every woman too for the matter of that, to
own a home of their own.” And it was as easy as putting down “a few hundred dollars in
earnest money,” and the rest of it could be paid as if paying rent. “Opportunity does not
knock upon the door with a sledge hammer, it taps gently, the ear must be turned to hear
it,” he warned. The piece ended with the advice that “it is always a safe investment, and

”3 I As a matter of

the person with property always has a safer standing in a community.
fact, a large portion of newcomers did become homeowners within the Black Belt by
putting down a few hundred dollars and paying the rest in installments. Yet they did not
necessarily socially benefit from it as much as they would have benefited from owning a
house in a more desirable neighborhood, nor was it always a safe investment. The houses

newcomers bought in this area were already old, they could not afford to spend extra for

upkeep until the house was completely paid for, and sometimes taking in lodgers to make

 

3° “Spring Cleaning,” The Chicago Defender, April 15, 1916.
31 “Why pay Rent?” Ibid., April 30, 1916.

65

the installments caused overcrowding which led to further deterioration. And there were
other reasons why values depreciated, some which were out of the African American
newcomers’ hands. Remodeling of residences for business purposes in the area
depreciated neighboring property. The city’s failure to protect this area from gambling
houses, cabarets, saloons and other places of immoral character further devalued
proveny”

If educating newcomers could stop some of this depreciation, then the Defender
was determined to urbanize newcomers from the South by outlining what not to do even
if it meant publicly humiliating citizens who lived like they had not left the South.
Writers signaled that certain sections of Chicago, “especially on the South Side,”
resembled “some of the back streets in southern cities.” They counseled newcomers not
to be too lazy to cut the grass or too stingy as to get it cut, pointing out that “on Wabash
Avenue, in many blocks,” the grass was so high that it resembled “early wheat fields.” In
this vein, the paper printed the story of “a little boy [who] was thought to have been lost.
The police were called and they looked all over on the South Side for him. Finally they
stumbled in the grass and there lay the boy asleep, covered by grass.” Visible signs of dirt
and disarray brought shame on the entire community. “Grass on the pavements, dirty
curtains, and shades in many houses tell that that is where Race people live.” Pressuring
newcomers to take upkeep more seriously, the Defender even published avenue, street,

and block names and numbers of offenders.33

 

32 CCRR, The Negro in Chicago, 200-203. .

33 “On some blocks on Wabash Avenue,” for instance, the Fifiy-third street block was an example, “in the
Thirty-second street block and further north” the way front yards and pavements looked were a shame and
a disgrace. The Chicago Defender urged that “more care be given to homes and that they should be so clean
that it cannot be pointed out that there lives members of the Race, whether it be on Armour Avenue or St.
Lawrence Avenue.” See “Keep Front of Your Residence Clean” in The Chicago Defender, July 15, 1916.
In line with these warnings the Defender also published Do '3 and Don ’ts of housing in their Lists. Some of

66

Editorials may have encouraged residents to become homeowners, but writers
knew very well that the real estate business was a complex and troublesome matter. The
newspaper believed “every citizen has a legal right to buy where he or she chooses, and

”34 When a committee of representatives from the Chicago Real

wherever they elect.
Estate Board called for a meeting with leaders of the Afiican American community--
Jesse Binga, Robert S. Abbott, and A. L. Jackson among them-- “to discuss the
practicability of block-by-block segregation” and “asked them to persuade the black
realtors to ‘desist’ from selling homes to their people in white neighborhoods,” the black
leaders refused. Binga announced that there was justice in the state of Illinois and
encouraged those who were in any way affected by segregation to consult their lawyers.35
With the money he made in the real estate business, Jesse Binga had opened the
first African American bank in Chicago. Loans to potential Afiican American
homeowners were hard to come by and attempts to obtain loans from white owned banks
for the purpose of buying a house in the Black Belt especially proved futile. The Binga
Bank, as it was popularly known, did provide loans, but could provide only so much.36

As homeownership debates continued 1916-1919, Binga continued to deny that African

Americans depreciated property and explained that “the value of property is taken from

 

the “don’ts” were issues taken up all along. “Don’t let your property run down. Don’t let it stay run down,
if it’s that way now. Don’t fail to paint up or make your landlord do it. Don’t forget to cut the grass. Don’t
forget to keep all trash and garbage in proper receptacles. Don’t neglect washing your windows often.
Don’t leave the windows without screens, and also doors. Don’t leave your home shut up all day. Don’t
hang out the windows. Don’t sit around the yard and on the porch barefoot and unkempt. Don’t fail to air
you home every day. Don’t let your curtains get black with dirt. Don’t be damphool and say this is none of
your business. It is.” Along with “planting flowers” in their yard, “having music in the home,” and
“sweeping the house and scrubbing the kitchen everyday if needed” readers were urged to try to make their
homes “the prettiest and most comfortable in town.” See “A Few Do and Don’ts” in The Chicago
Defender, Saturday, July 13, 1918.

3’ “Quit Real Estate Meeting In a Body,” The Chicago Defender, April 21, 1917.

’5 Tuttle, Race Riot, 171-173. “Quit Real Estate Meeting In a Body,” The Chicago Defender, April 21,
1917.

3” Garb, City of American Dreams, 188-189.

67

the location, improvements, income, or rentals, transportation facilities, and last but not
least, the mortgage or incumbrance it will carry to make it merchantable.” The
widespread belief that blacks depreciated property often made landlords hesitent to rent
and owners refused to sell, yet landlords asked top prices and increased their profits
further by spending very little in the upkeep of their property. Since housing was in such
demand newcomers often accepted the conditions presented to them. Binga summed up
the perpetual cycle in the following way:
Unfortunately in not giving the better class protection, when their leases
expire they move to more desirable places, and the owner or agent accepts
the first applicant who comes along with the money, and is willing to take
the place in the conditions they find it. The tenants who follow take no
pride in protecting the property or the sanitary conditions and many times
sub-rent each room for light house keeping, crowding the place beyond all
limitations, with undesirable roomers. This creates unfavorable comments
in the neighborhood and discrimination follows. Again unscrupulous
agents call a meeting of property owners in certain localities, start a secret
propaganda, with restrictions in selling and renting; then later find some of
their number making profit by dealing any one who has the money to buy.
When these sales are consummated this starts a controversy, and the others
become disgusted, throw their property on the market for sale regardless
of value, and we are receiving all benefits from their corrupt practices.
'Binga believed that deterioration and depreciation would lessen if owners investigated
“the character of their tenants and superintend the repairs to the property keeping it in
good condition,” saving millions of dollars in money and property.37
Outside sanitary conditions continued to make the news, but as much as the
Defender liked to give directives to newcomers, it also wanted to report on the progress
made. In the summer of 1918, it proudly reported on the success of Aldermen Anderson

and Jackson in getting second ward streets repaired. “The asphalt streets in the Second

Ward, principally State, Indiana and Cottage Grove Avenue, and the cross town streets

 

37 Jesse Binga, “Weekly Talks on Real Estate: Property Values,” The Chicago Defender, February 22,
1919.

68

were repaired last night by a large force of asphalt pavers, due to the vigorous efforts of
Aldermen Anderson and Jackson in convincing the Commissioner of Public Works that
the need of this repairing was urgent and pressing.”38 That summer, again due to
alderrnanic efforts, more streets were cleaned. But there was a limit to what the alderrnen
could achieve as their ward’s appropriation for 1918 was 45 percent below the previous
year. Nonetheless, Alderman Anderson “called the Commissioner’s [Commissioner of
Public Works, Bennett] attention to the fact that in a number of other congested wards...
the department had used prisoners from the House of Correction to make a general clean-
up” and suggested the same be done in the Second Ward. When the newspaper realized
that the appropriation for cleaner streets and alleys had been reduced by half, it renewed
its efforts to generate the residents’ help in keeping alleys and streets clean. “Under the
ordinances of the city landlords are required to furnish ash and garbage cans, and if they
fail to do so it is only necessary to report it to the alderrnen and they will see to it that
such accommodations are furnished.”39 This clean-up campaign brought about cleaner
alleys and streets and did get citizens to take “a greater interest in their localities,” the
newspaper next commented.4O

By 1919, the Defender was much more aggressive in the way it instructed readers
about behavior in and around housing. Identifying behavior such as sitting “in open

windows and upon the steps half-clad” as having belonged “to a day that should have

 

38 “Second Ward Streets Being Repaired: the Reason Why,” The Chicago Defender, July 6, 1918.

39 “Streets Cleaned,” Ibid., August 3, 1918.

’0 “Aldermen Anderson and Jackson Doing Good Work,” Ibid, September 14, 1918. For more information
on the street cleaning efforts in the early 19103, African American women’s “Chicago Women’s Street
Cleaning Bureau,” and broader implications of these efforts such as the idea that the “government and
citizens had to work together to provide a common welfare,” that “keeping the city was a public
responsibility,” and that a portion of ward appropriations” should be spent towards clean streets, see
Flanagan, Seeing with Their Hearts, 102-103.

69

long since passed,” the writer reminded that “such practices may find ready excuse upon
the country cross roads of the South, but people living in large cities are intolerable of
such things and mark the neighborhoods where these things are observed as plague
spots.” The Defender was very firm in its instructions, “Don’t live in insanitary houses,
or sleep in rooms without proper ventilation. Don’t throw garbage in the back yard or

”4' The more aggressive tone of the newspaper paralleled

alley or keep dirty front yards.
the worsening housing conditions in the South Side. Due to a halt in the new housing
construction between 1917-1918, an increasing number of African American newcomers
had to look for housing as lodgers. Furthermore, as James Grossman established, the
housing available to migrants was already decrepit and in some cases migrants had to
close off drafty rooms to reduce heating costs.42

In 1919, too, the Defender was making an equally firm point about neighborhood
and community improvement and how essential these were to creating community pride.
“Community pride, when evidenced in group form gives sustenance and life to the
argument that we are entitled to an equal share of self-respect.” Community pride also
meant that migrants should “Stay out of windows.” “Visiting front windows in bedroom
clothes” and “discussing the issues of the day with neighbors across the street” were
antithetical to the claims of being possessed of “sufficient personal pride to entitle us to
domicile in a respectable community.” To convince landlords that their presence did not
depreciate property, readers were advised to “first present your argument in concrete

form that you have an abiding respect for neighborhood and community improvements.”

Vindicating rights to purchase in select communities would begin by establishing that

 

4' “Some Don’ts,” Ibid.,, May 17, 1919.
’2 Grossman, Land of Hope, 135.

70

they could keep a respectable front yard and back porch. “Boudoir gowns, night caps and
bedroom slippers were not made for street apparel, nor were they intended as the proper
garments to lean out the windows to talk to friends across the street.” Not only did the
newspaper announce their pride “in the efforts put forth by those communities” which
formed community improvement associations, but to ensure that these communities
would continue to succeed, they decided that they would publish “letters of not more than
200 words dealing with How Best to Improve Our Community and pointing out the name
and addresses of those who refuse to heed the request.”43

In the next issue, the editor of the Neighborhood Improvement column announced
that he had received the following from the Calumet Improvement Association:

33—Ca1umet Avenue, Chicago, Ill.—Dear Madam: Last night between 12

and 2 o’clock one of your roomers on the second floor front sat in the

window and whistled incessantly for two hours. We are warning you that

if it happens again the police will be called, as this is a nuisance. We also

wish that you would help us to keep up the neighborhood by keeping your

lawn, front and appearance of your tenants out in front in a creditable

condition.
Accentuating that he had withheld the last two numbers of the offender’s address,
he threatened that upon a second complaint he would publish not only the full
address, but also the names of the occupants.44

By 1919, thus, the Defender had taken it upon itself to act as the regulator of those
who misbehaved in African American communities. The newspaper was continuously

instructing newcomers on how to act in and around housing and encouraged them to keep

up their property, or to force their landlords to do it.

 

’3 “Neighborhood Improvements” The Chicago Defender, June 7, 1919.
’4 “Neighborhood Improvements, A Noisy Bunch,” Ibid., June 14, I919.

71

After the 1919 racial rioting that convulsed the city, and the establishment of the
Chicago Commission on Racial Justice, multiple studies detailed the dire conditions of
Afiican American housing needs. Following the Commission’s 1922 Report, St. Clair
Drake and Horace R. Cayton wrote that newcomers experienced a relatively heightened
sense of physical and political freedoms in the North, and “discrimination in public
places is not widespread and being illegal can be fought.” Yet the authors acknowledged
two areas “in which the color line is tightly drawn- employment and housing... The job
ceiling subordinates Negroes but does not segregate them. Restrictive covenants do
both.”45 After 1919, the housing issue came to represent exclusion, segregation,
increasing friction, and white hostility. Housing became a contested urban area where
reformers, city officials, real estate agents, property owners, landlords, and tenants all had

differing and competing interests.46

Even after African American newcomers had been in the city long enough to
know it better, or had made enough money to move out of what was rapidly becoming
the ghetto, they could not easily break through this physical b'oundary. Within these
constraints, the older African American residents constantly worked to dispel the
misconception that African Americans depreciated property values by instructing
newcomers in how to take care of their property (inside and out) even if they were
tenants. But the established patterns became increasingly difficult to change. Afiican
American newcomers who came to Chicago in the late 19103 and beyond struggled with

the housing boundaries set by prejudice and racism for decades, just like the gecekondu

 

’5 Drake and Cayton, Black Metropolis, 111-113.
’6 Allan H. Spear, Black Ghetto: The Making of a Negro Ghetto I 890-] 920 (Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press, 1967); Tuttle, Race Riot; Philpott, The Slum and The Ghetto; Grossman, Land of Hope.

72

phenomenon, which proved to be a lasting institution regardless of the laws instituted,
and regardless of the times structures were demolished.

Settling into Istanbul

1n Istanbul, the situation, if not the need for housing, was different. Newcomers
built “gecekondu” houses wherever they could: generally on the outskirts of the city, on
lots owned by the government or owned privately by Istanbulites, and literally overnight.
Settling on the outskirts of the city placed newcomers out of sight for a while. Because
they were out of sight, they were also out of mind for the “original” Istanbulites.
Moreover, these areas lacked any kind of decent, acceptable infrastructure: there were no
water or sewer connections, no electricity, no gas, and the roads both leading to the
settlements and inside them were merely dirt tracks. Newcomers needed certain basic
services, which only the municipality could provide. As such their houses were seen as a
legal issue with which only the state was able to deal. In this Istanbul differed greatly
from Chicago. The municipality was directly involved in providing not only basic
services but also affordable housing from the beginning. .

Also in contrast to Chicago, Istanbul’s older residents rarely thought about the
newcomers in the early years of their arrival and settlement. Since it was the state’s
modernization project that brought rural newcomers to Istanbul and the state welcomed
their arrival as it would facilitate rapid industrialization, both the state and original
Istanbulites tolerated gecekondu conditions as a temporary measure. In the early] 9503
reports about migrant settlements in Istanbul appeared sporadically in newspapers.

Among the few initial reports there were even some positive portrayals of the gecekondu

as a very safe and organized community. When original Istanbulites turned to the state, it

73

was with the expectation that it would take measures to protect property owners’ rights
and bring an end to gecekondu construction.47 Working with the central state, the
municipality tried to enforce a series of housing laws between 1948-1960 intending to
end gecekondu construction, and tried to meet the housing shortage by providing land
legally on long term, low interest credit and by building low cost housing.48 However,
unable to meet the housing shortage as fast as increasing population demanded, the state
ended up passing measures that provided permanency to the settlements by distributing
land deeds and by bringing services to the areas.

There was some opposition to this at the time, but it was after gecekondu-the-
dwelling became gecekondu-the-rental-property, a profit making venture, that opposition
increased. In more than a few instances criticism targeted newcomers but for the most
part it was directed more at the municipality than the newcomers themselves. Istanbul
columnists and journalists mainly criticized the municipality’s handling of such dwellings
and its inability to meet the housing shortage. Largely because of the “illegal” nature of
these settlements, but also because of the spatial distance of the settlements from original .
Istanbulites’ everyday living quarters and because of the belief that they were only

temporary settlements, Istanbul residents left the matter up to the authorities. Thus any

interaction, cooperation, or form of guidance that might have happened between the two

 

‘7 Even if it were the state’s responsibility to deal with the new structures, Karpat reminds us that the
designation of newcomers’ dwellings as “gecekondu” by Istanbulites reflected some negative feelings
towards them from very early on. Kemal Karpat, “The Genesis of the Gecekondu: Rural Migration and
Urbanization,” in European Journal of Turkish Studies, Thematic Issue No. l, Gecekondu
Iggy/www.citsorg/documentfi.html Last accessed on 10/17/2007.

’8 Rusen Keles, [00 Soruda Tiirkiye 'de Kentlesme, Konut, Ve Gecekondu (Istanbul: Gercek Yayrnevi,
1978); Metin Heper, Gecekondu Policy in Turkey: An Evaluation With A Case Study of Rumelihisan'istii
Squatter Area in Istanbul (Istanbul: Bogazici University Publications, 1978); Semra Senol, Istanbul
Kentinde 2. Diinya Savasrndan Sonra Gelisen Yasal Olmayan Konut Tipleri ve Olusum Nedenleri Uzerine
Bir Inceleme (Zeytinbumu Omegi), Unpublished MA Thesis Sumitted to Mimar Sinan Universitesi, 1996;
Hfiseyin Celik, Tfirkiye’de Gecekondu Sorunu, Unpublished MA Thesis Submitted to Ankara Universitesi,
2000.

74

groups of citizens was minimized by both groups’ turn to the government to resolve
problems.49

The beginning

Following the end of World War II Istanbul’s housing situation began to draw
increasingly more attention. Even though Turkey did not enter the war, building activity
had halted in Istanbul. By the late 19403, population increase due in large part to rural-
urban migration to major cities like Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir, made provision of
affordable housing one of the biggest public issues.50 Further in the 19503, two issues
compounded the housing shortage in Istanbul. One was the growing middle class’s desire
to adopt the dictates of “modern” life, which was directly tied to modern apartment I
building Iife—-an ideal borrowed from the West. The second one was the Menderes
government’s Haussmannesque large-scale road constructions, which claimed large
numbers of existing housing structures, displaced many residents and forced them to look
for alternative dwellings. Already overburdened and understaffed, municipalities tried to
adapt to such .changes.

Municipalities’ responsibilities to solve housing problems dated back to 1930 to
Turkish Law Number 1580. This law provided the municipality with the power to
regulate vacant lots. This power was voluntary; any municipality, if it wanted, could
purchase vacant lots and resell them at low cost to those who wanted to build on them. A

series of laws followed this initial law, both facilitating and encouraging construction by

 

‘9 The municipality in turn turned to the central government, which was otherwise occupied: general
improvement of the city, widening streets, etc.

50 The Turkish phrase for this is “ucuz evler” which translated directly means “cheap houses,” but they
connote affordability for middle and lower middle class people. Sometimes in English usage the phrase low
income housing is used. I will use “affordable dwellings” in translation here since I find it to be the closest
to the meaning intended in Turkish usage.

75

providing cheap lots, credit, and discounted construction materials. One side effect of
such laws was that each successive law pardoned gecekondus built before it took effect
and outlawed the new ones that may be built afterwards. Yet considering new laWs took
effect annually in the last years of the 19403, there was little room for outlawing the
gecekondu. Then in 1950 a new law took away the voluntary of nature of housing
provision, and required a municipality to provide it, placing the decisions in the hands of

1.5' In the decade that followed, debates concerning the site of such

the City Counci
dwellings, and who qualified for them kept officials and reporters busy.

The Building Market in Istanbul

A Housing Commission, made up of the govemor/ mayor Giikay, Prost
(architect), professors from the Technical University, members from the City Council
Development Commission (Schir Meclisi lrnar Komisyonu azalan), the Municipal
Development Director (Belediye Imar Miidiirii), and development engineers, met in April
1950 and discussed the housing shortage situation and how to provide “the people”
dwellings they could afford. “The Commission will build affordable dwellings in city
districts determined by the municipality,” a story in Hiirriyet announced. “They are still
debating just what type of dwelling to build on these designated plots. Some members
want single story, single-family houses while others are encouraging multistory
apartment buildings and arguing the benefits of apartment buildings.” While the

deliberations continued the majority still leaned towards building blocks of apartment

buildings.52

 

5 ' Nuray Bayraktar, “Toplumsal Degisim Sfirecinde Konut ve Gecekondu Sorunu, Yasalar ve Belediyeler,”
Iller ve Belediyeler Dergisi, No. 631, (May 1998): 295-296; Rusen Keles, “Gecekondu Kanunu Tasarrsr ve
Belediyelerimiz,” Iller ve Belediyeler Dergisi, No. 245 (March 1966): 49.

52 “Mesken Komisyonu di‘m uzun bir toplantr daha yaptr,” Hiirriyet, 22 April 1950.

76

As deliberations on what type of building to construct continued, the public
wanted to know the location of the designated lots on which the affordable dwellings
would be built. The govemor/ mayor told the reporters that he would not reveal the
location of the sites under consideration for the imminent construction of affordable
dwellings because he did not wish for there to be any speculation. He further pointed out
that he was not authorized to give out that information anyway since the City Council,
not the mayor, was responsible for making that decision. The only piece of information
reporters could get out if him was that as soon as the Council decided the location of the
construction site in a June meeting, the construction activities would commence.53

This was a very bureaucratic process that required guidelines before building
could commence. While the project competition was still taking place, regulations that
had already been drawn up waited until the City Council met next. Once the Council
accepted the regulations, building activity could commence. The regulations addressed
particulars such as who might be eligible for the affordable dwellings. It was agreed upon
that eligibility would absolutely exclude anyone who owned a dwelling. To be eligible,
one would have to have a steady income, but the income was not to exceed a certain
amount. In case the head of household died while still paying the installments, it was
decided that the dwelling would not be taken from the family.“

About two months after the Commission met in April, the City Council picked a
winning project, passed the guidelines for design and eligibility requirements, and set the

location. The dwellings would be built in the area between Yedikule and Silivrikapr. The

 

5’ “Ucuz evlerin nerelerde yaprlacagr malum degil,” Ibid., 8 May 1950.
5’ “Ucuz mesken proje miisabakasr 29 Mayrsta bitiyor,” Ibid., 1 1 May 1950.

77

Council requested a development plan to be drawn up immediately.55 Yet, these locations
were on the outskirts of the city and immediately provoked dissension. With all the
services the municipality would have to provide, just how affordable could the dwellings
be became an important question. Furthermore, as one author pointed out, Istanbul faced
the threat of becoming a “spread out city of villages” if these dwellings were constructed
in the areas designated by the Council. This author further suggested charging very high
taxes on vacant city lots so that those who hoarded such lots with the hope of making
many more returns on such prime city property in the fixture would have to either sell
their property or build on it.56 So the Council had finally announced the designated sites,
but debates continued, and nothing guaranteed the realization of this project.

In January 1951, about half a year after the Council had agreed to build in
Yedikule and Silivrikapr, the City Council and the municipality still disagreed over the
exact building sites, stalling the commencement of construction. The Council wanted the
blocks to be built on empty lots within municipal limits, while the municipality, whose
job was to carry out the construction process of these plans, wanted to build outside the
city. The empty plots in the city were highly expensive and this would likely preclude the
affordability of dwellings.57 By February 1951, however, a final decision had been
reached. Hiirriyet announced that building activities would begin on municipal lots
within the municipal budget in Uskfidar, Krsrklr, Besiktas, Kadrkéy, and Mecidiyekby,
providing about 1,000 dwellings. Construction would be considerate of the aesthetics of

the city, and some of the dwellings would be single-family units, others apartment

 

55 “Sehir Mecllisinde ucuz evler projesi Kabul edildi,” Ibid.,l7 June 1950.
56 Hikmet Bil, “Dfisi'rnceler: Bir Hasbrhal,” Ibid., 14 September 1950.
57 “Ucuz evler suya m1 dirsiiyor?” Ibid., 17 January 1951.

78

blocks.58 But before the public even had time to celebrate this new information, the
problem of overlapping authorities intervened to further delay the project. All decisions
had to be further discussed in the Vilayet Umumi Meclisi, the other local (provincial)
administrative unit that had control over public works.59 The location of the buildings had
finally been resolved between the municipality and the City Council but now the project
was stuck being taken to a higher council. By March, however, newspaper reported that
construction would soon begin behind the Gureba Hospital and in Kadrkiiy."O

Once put in place, municipal construction progressed speedily. More good news
followed. By May 1952, affordable dwellings in Uskfidar-Selamsrz and Kadrkéy-
Kosuyolu were almost completed, with an opening ceremony scheduled for June. The
municipality annbunced that it would build 2,500 additional dwellings in Zincirlikuyu on
municipal lots, followed by 1,500 more in various areas of the city. Because the number
of applicants exceeded the number of dwellings, there was a drawing to determine who
could buy them.61 In February 1953 the municipality announced its decision to build even
more affordable dwellings on the Istanbul Londra Asfaltr, on the property (Baruthane
arsalan on the Bakrrkoy-Yesilkdy axis) provided by the central government and deliver
them to citizens on long-term installments. Istanbul Ekspres reported in February that the
property had already been divided up into lots. Meanwhile, the empty Municipal lots

scattered all over the city would also be used for the same purposes.”2 Gokay reminded

 

58 “Ucuz evlerin insaatma baslanlyor,” Ibid., 1 February 1951.

59 “Ucuz evlerin insaasr gene geri kalryor,” Ibid., 2 February 1951.

”0 “Ucuz ev insaasr kararr di'rn kati saflraya girdi,” Ibid., 9 March 1951.

6' “Atatfirk Bulvarrnda Belediye, blok halinde apartman yaptrracak,” Ibid., 20 May 1952.
”2 “Dar gelirli vatandaslarrn ev ihtiyacr karsrlanryor,” Istanbul Ekspres, February 1953.

79

Istanbul Ekspres readers that the municipality had completed about 1,000 dwellings by
February 1953, delivering its 1950 promise.63
By April of 1953 the municipality reported that it would soon be putting up to
tender the construction rights for 150 low income, low cost houses in Rami, and 50 more
in Yenibahce. Preparations had also begun for the block apartments along the Atatiirk
Boulevard.64 By July the newspaper praised and listed all the positive steps taken towards
progress and improvement towards the provision of low-income housing: “The
production of cement will soon be increased 4 million tons. The proposal to increase
Emlak Kredi Bank’s capital has been submitted and well received in the National
Assembly yesterday. New brick factories have been set up.”65 News reporting an increase
in cement production and new brick factories provided builders and future homeowners
some relief. For a long time Turkey had been dependent on imported cement and other
building materials, which had resulted in a black market of such goods. Now production
of building materials at home would speed up construction and perhaps reduce prices.
Yet the municipality could not keep up with housing demand. Rural-urban
migration to Istanbul did not let up. In addition to building low income housing the
municipality decided to provide cheap land for construction purposes. The municipality
was seeking different ways of meeting the housing shortage, and for a while provision of
cheap land was seen as the best solution. Istanbul Ekspres reporters speculated that the
government would sell these lands both to individual builders and the major bank at the

time, Emlak Bankasr. The central government would sign some treasury lands over to the

municipality, and the municipality would then divide the lands into plots. After selling

 

”3 “1953, Genis Capta Bir insaat yrlr olacak,” Ibid., 27 February 1953.
6’ Ibid., 6 April 1953. (“eksiltrneye crkartmak” is putting up to tender)
65 “Vatandasr ev sahibi yapmak icin miisbet calrsmalar,” Ibid., July 1953.

80

some plots to citizens at very reasonable prices, the municipality could then sell some
land to the Emlak Bankasr, which would build and sell houses on a long term, low
interest installment plan.66 Scattered all over the city, these plots would accommodate
thousands of dwellings. Further this being a government operation, officials would see to
it that infrastructure such as roads, water and electricity systems were put in before
construction began."7 1953 was declared “a year of building,” and various building
activities and improvement projects commenced around different parts of the city ranging
from blocks of apartment buildings to avenues to shopping centers.

All of this activity created chaos in the building market. The municipality was not
the only force in building projects. There were private builders and the public’s need for
dwellings left it open to being taken advantage of by swindlers. In “The nightmare of
being a home owner,” an Istanbulite recounted the story of how he was swindled:

I have a small piece of property left over from my father. The neighbor’s son,
who was practically born into our hands (whom we have known since he was
born), is an engineer. He said to us, ‘let us build a villa on your property. Without
the expense of the property, it won’t cost anything.’ We thought, well he is an
honest, educated young man. We began by making installments to him. He
proceeded as we made him the monthly installments. On the first installment the
foundation holes were dug up. On the next installment the concrete was poured
into the foundations. I began going to the site everyday. Two months passed. The
neighbor’s son only showed up to collect the installment. Three months. They
never began building the brick walls. One day I gave it my all and like a police
dog I searched high and low and finally tracked him down. He did not look too
pleased to see me. I asked him, ‘well why haven’t the brick walls been started
yet?’ He answered, ‘if you’d like we can begin right this minute. However, it is
hard to find the quality brick that you picked. And the prices have gone up.’ I was
surprised and asked him ‘it is summer time now. Aren’t prices lower?’ and he
answered ‘yes, normally prices would be lower in the summertime. But it rained,
and so the prices have gone up. And then, you know, up until recently one would
pay half the cost of things before the shipment and the rest upon delivery.
Nowadays suppliers want the whole amount upfront.’ So you see, I felt obliged to
make another payment. Meanwhile, there was another house being built across

 

6" Ibid., 20 January 1953.
67 “Halka ucuz arsa veriliyor,” Ibid., 20 January 1953

81

the street from our new house. Even though they had started working on that one
a month after our construction began, it was moving along speedily. Before our
brick walls were completed, they had closed the roof on that one. Some more time
passed. Then suddenly one day the roof was placed on our house. I became a little
suspicious. Then the engineer showed up and I realized I had ample reason to be
suspicious. He said that he had mortgaged my house. I reminded him that we had
enough money in the bank and that we did not have to borrow money from any
bank to pay the rest of the cost, to which he replied, ‘you are not going to get the
money from the bank, I am.’ As this made little sense to me I wanted to know
why. He explained that he had other buildings that had to be completed. Why
would my house have to be mortgaged to pay for other buildings? (Because
apparently he had used other people’s money to finish mine.) ‘Because’ he
expanded, ‘when your first installment was not enough to cover the cost of the
building materials to proceed with your house, we used other people’s money to
pay for the cost of the materials used in your house.’ Since this explanation made
a little bit more sense, we paid him the last two installments and the money we
borrowed fiom the bank. And that’s when the disaster hit. We never saw him or
the master builder again. We looked for him to no avail. We took turns staying in
the house (there was a roof but no windows or anything else) to make sure no one
stole the pipes and the fixtures. The other house across the street was almost
completely finished. One day I stopped to ask the builder whose house it was. He
said it belonged to some engineer. 1 remarked on how fast it had been completed,
adding ‘of course things proceed with speed when you have lots of money.’ The
builder pointed out that it was not a lot of money that sped up the process, it was
trusting fools. He further explained that the said engineer had six clients and he
used all of their initial payments to start his own house and then he used one
client’s money to start work on the other’s and made them mortgage their houses
when he needed more money. You can imagine the rest of this story.68

This satirical sto'ry addresses the emergence of the yap-satcr (construction for the

market). This style of construction depended on small operations, generally of a single

civil engineer, architect or a master builder (insaat ustasr). In this case the storyteller was

having a single-family house built, but as a matter of fact, this sort of dwelling was

decreasing in quantity as the prices of urban lots increased throughout the 19503. Rather,

a property owner would sign over his rights to the builder who would pay the property

owner back in kind, with the mutually agreed-upon number of apartments in the

 

6’ The disaster of home ownership, by an Istanbulite, in Akbaba No. 34, 6 November, 1952.

82

apartment building constructed."9 Not all such builders were swindlers, but swindling
soon became a group activity. Stories began to multiply. For example in one story a
construction company was reported as having swindled 42 citizens out of their savings;70
in another story 40 people had invested in a questionable firm and due to rising
suspicions the bank had blocked the firrn’s account.71

There had always been many hardships involved in getting a house built in
Istanbul. One columnist captured the essence of the difficulty. He wrote, “to be a
homeowner one has to: 1. Find a suitable plot of land, 2. Obtain a title deed from the
government, 3. Get house plans drawn up 4. Obtain permission from the municipal
department of technical services (Fen Isleri Miidiirlfigii), 5. Wait in consumers line for
cement, 6. Try to come up with more money because the engineer underestimated the
cost of building materials, 7. Pay various taxes, 8. Obtain a residency permit, 9. Finally
rent out the house thus built to pay up the debts incurred during construction!”72

To avoid continuing chaos and provide standardization, a municipal commission
put together some guidelines to regulate the state of construction, development and
improvement. These guidelines determined that in order for construction to be permitted,
the size of the land on which it would be built had to meet the minimum standard
requirement of 250 square meters. Unfortunately some pe0ple had already purchased lots
smaller than the standard and to make matters worse, some of these lands were outside
the municipal limits. Lands within municipal limits, having been registered in a cadastre,

awaited permission from the Directorate of Development (Imar Miidfirliigii) for

 

(’9 Istanbul, Insaat: Yap-Satcr Konut Uretimi, p. 3957.

70 “42 vatandasrn yuvasrnr yapan insaat sirketi,” Istanbul Ekspres, September 1954.

7' “Halkr dolandlrdlgl iddia edilen bir insaat sirketi hakkrnda tahkikat actrdt,” Ibid., March 1955.
72 “Mesken davasr,” Hiirriyet, 8 April 1950.

83

construction. However, it was clear that some land both inside and outside the municipal
boundaries were not suitable for construction, and some would never receive electricity
and water facilities by the municipality because they were outside the municipal
boundaries. So the people were advised not to buy land smaller than 250 square meters in
the future and were highly encouraged to check with the municipality before purchasing
any land.73 Larger and more established building firms received this notification from the
municipality very positively.74

Rents in Istanbul

While local officials were building “low cost housing,” the question of rents
became a national issue. As well as building, the national government was reforming
housing practices and new laws were being proposed. While rent regulations were being
discussed in the Grand National Assembly (Biiyiik Millet Meclisi) at the end of 1952, the
press and the citizens, tenants and landlords alike, eagerly awaited some news on the
matter. A front-page headline announced that section 30 of the National Defense Law
(Milli Korunma Kanunu), which had given the government extensive emergency
economic powers in 1940, was being brought up for changes in the Assembly’s meeting
along with the reports of the Budget Commission. The Commission on Budgets
suggested that the restrictions on dwelling rents be lifted effective the beginning of 1954,
and those of businesses in 1955. The new law would take 1939 rent rates as a base and
allow a gradual increase of fifty percent on dwelling rents in the first year, and one

hundred percent following that. This was expected to stir up heated debate in the

 

73 “Belediye zarara ugramamaSI icin halkr ikaz ediyor: Ikiyiiz elli metre kareden kiici'rk arsa almayrnrz,”
Istanbul Ekspres, 14 July 1955.
7‘ “Arsa Satlslarr: Belediyenin ikazr buyiik firmalar tarafrndan miispet karsllandl,” Ibid., 15 July 1955.

84

Assembly.7S Within a few weeks into 1953, a proposal for a new law to amend the
National Defense Law was being drawn up. Once the Budget Commission finalized the
proposal it would go back to the Grand National Assembly. Some penalties were being
worked into the new law proposal such as a jail sentence of up to a year for those who
collected or paid “hava parasr,” (the cash payment demanded of a renter before he takes
possession, or money paid beyond what can be shown on a receipt), and charging them
double the amount asked or offered.76

Once the proposal for the new law was finished, the Budget Commission
requested that the Assembly pass it as an emergency law. But the proposal concerned the
whole nation, so it came as no surprise when the Assembly turned down the Budget
Commission’s request. “There is no need to hurry in the matter of rents,” a newspaper
headline read. “In deliberations yesterday it was decided to discuss further and in more
detail the issue of rent increase which concerns the whole country. The petition to speed
things along was turned down.”77 The petition to pass an emergency law was turned
down precisely because the matter concerned all of Turkey and not just Istanbul.

Authorities were somewhat correct to want to slow down the process and discuss
matters in much more detail. Matters were much more complex than they first met the
eye. There were very serious differences among the tenants and landlords themselves.
Fr'iruzan Tekil, representing Istanbul in the Grand National Assembly pointed out just
such differences between property owners: that some owned one apartment, others more,

yet some owned a combination of apartment and business structures, and some were

 

7’ “The Grand National Assembly will discuss the rent increase today,” front page headline news in

Istanbul Ekspres, 22 December 1952. See also “Kiralar tasansrna konulan mi'rhim cezai hi'rlciimler,” Ibid., 6
January 1953 for further details.

7" “Kiralar tasansrna konulan mfihim cezai hiikiimler,” Ibid., 6 January 1953.

77 “Kiralar meselesinde acele karara li'rzum yok,” Ibid., 13 January 1953.

85

newly coming into being property owners because their building or apartment was just
completed.78 These differences gave lawmakers some pause.

It caught Akbaba writers’ attention too that the new “law” under discussion made
broad generalizations by regarding all landlords as rich and all tenants as poor. Akbaba
writers knew better. In a story titled “The landlord and the tenant” an author sketched
varieties of landlords and tenants. For example, an old widow who lived in a single room
with a family of four and rented out the two extra rooms in an old wooden house in an
obscure part of Istanbul (Karagiimriik) was also a “landlord.” Or a young businessman of
means who drove a sports car, who could afford a maid, expensive European vacations,
etc. who rented a flat overlooking the Bosphorus on Harbiye Emlak Street was also a
“tenant.” The gist of the story was that lawmakers needed to take into consideration the
nature of both the landlords and tenants.79

Enacting a law that would protect the rights of both sides was no easy task. “We
have to admit that in the last 13 years of ‘bickering,’ rents have become a very sensitive
issue for all, tenants and landlords alike. Hence it has become exceedingly difficult to
please either side,” Tekil, who represented Istanbul in the GNA, started her column. But
she defended the possibility of making certain changes that property owners would
benefit from while causing no discomfort to tenants. Drawing on the Swiss example, she
suggested leaving room for some negotiation between the tenant and the landlord. “We
are not out to punish the landlords or property owners,” she explained. But even a
country like Switzerland regulated rents. “People should be able to hold whatever

property they can afford. But the government should have complete records of these and

 

7‘ “Kira kanunu dfin gérusiilmege baslandr,” Ibid., 31 January 1953.
79 Akbaba No. 13 page 3, 12 June 1952.

86

be able to regulate as seen fit. Meanwhile,” she continued “those who are still paying
rents equivalent to those charged in 1939 should be accepting of some proportional
increase in rents, keeping in mind that in the last 13 years prices of various goods have
gone up 400 percent.” Some people of means were still paying rents adjusted back in
1939. The Grand National Assembly wished to address just this type of inequalities.80
Tekil defended her neutrality, saying that a comparison with Switzerland would
be a fitting comparison since Turkey borrowed many laws and the civil code from them
and interpreted and applied them to Turkish society. “They are way ahead of us. They are
also our guide in the understanding of laws and how they should work. Swiss Federal
Council met February 6 to discuss prices and rent regulations. The majority of the people
voted for regulations to stay in place until the end of the year.” Furthermore, “the Council
was also given the power to continue regulations in the next four years, and the Council
explained how this was to be done.” The Swiss central government regulated abundantly
but with attention to detail, taking into consideration varieties in each situation, the
overall economy of the nation, the rise in prices, inflation, mortgage rates, wages and
salaries- making sure to look at it from all angles. Even in a “freedom loving country like
Switzerland,” the government had regulating powers.8|
Tenants, for their part, collectively feared being thrown out on the street. By 1952
the gecekondu had entered the consciousness of Istanbul residents as some held the ever-
changing nature of decision on rents responsible for the gecekondu. In a series of issues

that seemed to be dedicated to housing problems, an Akbaba cartoon portrayed a family

displaced by what was obviously high rent. This family was doomed to live in a

 

8° “Kiralar meselesi” Ffiruzan Tekil, Istanbul Ekspres, 31 January 1953. (Cekisme is bickering).
8' Fiiruzan Tekil, “Kiralar Meselesinde Bir Mukayese,” Ibid., 12 February 1953.

87

gecekondu. Their gecekondu was portrayed as an open book, turned upside down so that
it looked like a tent, titled “the new rent law.”82 Another one depicted a family of three
looking at an open grave as the father of the family pointed to it and told his family that
the open grave was perhaps the most comfortable place in the city since there was no
threat of eviction there. Fear of eviction and the lack of the prospect of finding a new
place to live drained the joy from tenants’ lives, as evidenced by another cartoon of a
tenant family of four. The husband reminded his wife “there are fifteen days to the
bayram dear wife” to which the wife replied, in shock, “have you lost your mind? What
bayram do you expect the tenant to have in this day and age?”83 These cartoons showed
that while officials decided to take more time to discuss rent measures in detail, families
were suffering in anticipation. And they did not expect the measures to be in their favor.
The prospect of increased rent rates appeared as a fearsome ghost, an evil apparition that
scared the hat off the tenant’s head.

Meanwhile the “landlord” image grew increasingly unpopular in the public mind
and stories appeared about landlords without a conscience. In one story, the author, who
called himself “the tenant,” ran into his landlord who seemed angry about the 30 percent
raise in rents. A landlord who was angry about rent increase was quite an anomaly.
“What a just, equitable man you will say,” the author mused, “but this is hardly the case.
The landlord was angry because he would have liked an even higher raise in rents!” The
landlord told the author “You are an author. Go ahead and write this in your magazine. A
raise of 30 percent is hardly enough,” he retorted, “a raise of 30, 50, 100, no 200 percent

would not be enough. Everything else has gone up six fold. The government cannot

 

‘2 Akbaba No. 10 page 7, 22 May 1952
83 Ibid., No. 13, 12 June 1952. Bayram is used to refer to both religious and national holidays. Here it is not
specified which, so it can very well be read as an unspecified festivity, but a festivity nevertheless.

88

control the meat, vegetable, fruit prices so they are taking it out on the landlords.” The
landlord asked, “do you know what I have been through to get this apartment building
built?” to which the author replied,
Of course I do. Let me tell you what you have been through. First you bought a
lottery ticket. Then when you won lots of money, you sent your wife a telegram
giving her the good news. Meanwhile you got very drunk. After this building
came into being you wasted no time protesting tenants who did not pay their rent
on time. Then you beat up the kaprcr when he did not collect the rents on time.
This is what you have been through. Do you want to hear the list of things you put
us through? When the coal cellar was overflowing with coal you turned the heat
down and claimed there was no coal. Two occupants caught pneumonia because
of you. Then you increased the amount collected for the coal and water bills. Of
course 30 percent increase in rent is not enough for you. Off the record you
collect much more money from us.
Shocked, the landlord pointed out that it was no wonder the writer was a tenant, that he
probably could never manage his own property with that kind of thinking. The author
replied “you are probably right. But then again at this rate you will never have a
conscience.” The author concluded with “the landlord walked away, probably wondering,
what is conscience? How many stories tall is it? How much rent do they charge there?”84
One did not have to be poor to fear or suffer the rising rents. One well-dressed
family of three was portrayed as walking up to a camping goods counter to ask for a big
tent. When the sales representative asked if this was for camping purposes the man of the
family replied “no, it is to be lived in.” Another seemingly well-off couple was portrayed
in the bedroom with the husband fast asleep and the wife unable to go to sleep thinking

“goodness what a laid back man! He sleeps as though he does not know about the new

 

8‘ Ibid., No. 13, 12 June 1952. Here, the landlord uses the term “cekmek” to portray his suffering (woes).
Cekmek has many different meanings such as to pull and to be going through something. When placed in
front of other verbs and nouns it can be used to create many more meanings such as to buy a lottery ticket
as in “bilet cekmek,” to send a telegram “telgraf cekmek,” to get drunk “kafayl cekmek,” to protest
“protesto cekmek,” to beat someone up “sopa cekmek,” and to withdraw money “para cekmek.” The author
creatively uses all the variations of this term to construct the whole story around one word. It is quite
difficult to translate the satire in this story in its entirety.

89

rent law.” Yet another cartoon illustrated a family of three having walked up to a realtor,
asking to purchase land. When the realtor wanted to know whether the buyer intended to
build a house or an apartment building on the land, the buyer replied, “We will be

’9
!

building a gecekondu on it Family imagery, both poor and rich, served the purposes of
cartoonists in their efforts to appeal to the sympathies of officials. Everyone suffered as
illustrated in another cartoon which depicted a whole mixed group of tenants, well
dressed and worse off alike, leaving the city with their belongings on their backs with a
caption that read “migrants from an apartment building.”85

Akbaba cartoons satirized the communal suffering in the hand of landlords across
the city while the “bickering” continued on the institutional level. In the next two months
the reporters continued to follow the matter closely. It was finally decided that within one
month of the passage of the law, dwelling rents would increase by 100 percent (not the
gradual fifty percent that would lead up to 100 percent as discussed initially) of the 1939
rents.86 But when the proposal was accepted with a vote of 247 to 12 and 4 neutral, it was
again decided that as soon as the new law was published in the Official Gazette (Resmi
Gazete) tenants would have to pay an increase of fifty percent.87

Tenants panicked and organized a Tenants Association. The director of the
Association, Hfisrev Gerede, explained their purpose was “to ensure our rights are
protected within the limits of the new law and to take prOper legal measures against the
merciless landlords, against the possibility of landlord cruelty.” The Association did not

mean to break the law, Gerede explained, as a matter of fact they wanted to ensure that it

was executed justly. “We are against landlords with malicious intent,” the director

 

85 Ibid., No. 13, page 7.
8" “Mesken kiralarrna yfizde yi'rz zarn esasr kabul edildi,” Istanbul Ekspres, 18 April 1953.
87 “Kiralar Hazirandan itibaren yiizde 50 zarnla odenecek,” Ibid., May 1953.

90

explained, “we will explore the options of tenants within the scope of law when we have
cause to believe that the said tenant is being unjustly treated.”88

If the Association worked hard, it worked quietly because the next time it made
news in this newspaper was eighteen months later. To clarify the parts of the law that
caused conflicts in opinion and a lot of disputes between tenants and landlords, the
Association consulted experts and had them shed light on vague points. The experts
prepared a report that answered many questions (Long list of questions and answers).89
Another two years later the Association made the news again for having submitted a
report to the government that detailed how increasing rents hurt the middle class and
listed suggestions on how to end it. Gerede called attention to the fact that it was no
secret that the city was in the midst of a housing crisis and that the radical solution to it
would be through a fundamental and long term building program like those being carried
out in Europe and the United States, and by putting an official between the tenant and
landlord thereby removing the kaprcr, commissioner, private agents and the landlord from
the mix altogether.90

Deliberations on rent regulations were hardly finished. In 1955 it was decided that
rents would be adjusted according to the value of the property. According to a decision
reached in the City Council meeting, the annual amount of rent the property owner could

then ask for could not exceed 10 percent of the property’s real value. The Council was

 

8" “Kiracrlar Cemiyeti Resmen Tesekkfil Erti,” Ibid., September 1954.

89 “Kiracrlar Cemiyetinin Mfitehassrslara Hazrrlattrgr Rapor. Kira Kanununun Tereddr'ide Yol Acan
Noktalarr Nelerdir?” Ibid., 2 March 1956.

9° “Gayrimenkul kiralan sebepsiz yiikseltiliyor,” Ibid., 21 February 1958.

91

given the authority to adjust rent increase rates up to 25 per cent, in accordance with
increase or decreases in the price of building materials.9|

The gecekondu comes into being... and stays

While a few victims of rent law did construct gecekondus, these settlements were
largely the result of rural-urban migration. Migrants, unable to afford high rents,
constructed shacks initially near their jobs but then wherever they could. Even as the
municipality was undertaking various steps towards helping to improve the housing
situation by constructing new housing itself, or providing cheap land and credit for others
to build alongside, the gecekondu was becoming more prominent in Istanbul. It seemed
to be well accepted as a temporary condition even as the municipality was doing all in its
power to eradicate it. The housing shortage, high rents for the available housing, frequent
lapses in executing the regulations regarding illegal constructions, helping established
settlements better their living conditions, and the growing population all added to the
staying power of the gecekondu.

In early April of 1950.Hilrriyet published the observations of an official visiting
the Kazlrcesme settlement who reported that people should not believe the positive
descriptions of gecekondu in the newspapers. Even though the general media depicted

this area as if it were a modem Swiss village, the lack of electricity and water, sidewalks

 

9' “Kiralar gayrimenkulfin krymetine gore ayarlanacak,” Istanbul Ekspres, September 1954; and “Kiralar
meselesi yeniden ele alrndr,” Ibid., 30 March 1955. Despite any agreements, published stories seemed to
indicate that the problems between tenants and landlords did not abate. For example, in one case a tenant
ended up in a coma. The said tenant had gone to his landlord to discuss the rent increase and in the height
of the heated debate the landlord attacked and wounded his tenants with a kitchen knife. “Ev sahibi
kiracrsrnr yaraladr,” Hu'n'iyet, 17 January 1955. In another case, the public prosecutor’s office was notified
that Serpuhi, who lived in Rumelihisarr, sent a petition claiming that the owner of the apartment where she
resided and the owner’s daughter together wanted to throw her out on the street, and when they could not
do this, they beat her up severely and that she was put in the asylum as a result of their disagreement.
“Mfiddeiumumillige yaprlan mfihim ihbar: Bir kiracr deli diye trmarhaneye sokulmus,” Istanbul Ekspres, 1
July 1955.

92

and sewerage made him question the stories published in newspapers. “Where were the
school house and the cinema these newspapers spoke of? Where were the cobblestone
sidewalks, the roads paved with asphalt?” he asked. “There was not. even a coffeehouse
with two chairs,” he remarked. “I want to ask the media: why do you make up such
lies?”92 In reality, gecekondu settlements consisted of makeshifi shacks put together
illegally and lacked basic amenities.

General outside conditions might have been bad and amenities lacking, but
another story emphasized the safety and neighborliness of the “Gecekondular mahallesi”
(Neighborhood of gecekondus) across the tracks from Kazlrcesme. Astonished with the
lack of crime in a neighborhood of 30,000 that had not a single case of crime for three
years, the author argued that the area was so safe, people were so trustworthy here, that
residents did not have to lock their doors or close their windows. They took care of each
other’s children, lent a sympathetic ear when one was needed, and helped each other take
care of the sick. “Even though this area is in the hills,” he continued, meaning it was
considered outside of civilization, “it is so much more organized than any community in
the city.”93

It did not take too long for bad news to follow. Two weeks later, according to the
complaints registered with the Province, gecekondu dwellers around the Ferikoy area had
begun fencing in parts of the graveyard lots to use as their own backyards. Also included
in the complaints was that gecekondu dwellers did not pay due respect to the existing

graves and broke the headstones; even worse, some used the headstones to build a

gecekondu. Family members of those resting in the gravede requested that the

 

92 “Kim soyledi? Ne soyledi?” Ham'yer, 4 April 1950.
93 Faruk Nafiz Camllbel, “Haftanrn Manzarasr, Cinde Macinde Degil,” Ibid., 9 April 1950.

93

municipality put an end to this. The municipality began looking into the matter and
decided gecekondu dwellers who let their children play in the graveyard and those who
used headstones to build a gecekondu would be taken to court.94

Gecekondu dwellers moved swiftly to organize themselves into a vocal force in
the city. By May of 1950 they had formed a committee and visited the govemor/ mayor
and “asked for municipal involvement in bringing electricity and road construction to
their neighborhood.” Not only did such association give them a voice in demanding
schools, bus service, public utilities, street improvements, and the legal deeds, these
associations linked gecekondu dwellers with political parties and the local and national
governments.95 By June the newspaper reported that a “plan for the development of the
gecekondu neighborhood” was to be turned into the City Council. The Commission
working on this plan had almost completed its work and had decided to suggest,
“completing the roads and other incomplete construction in the area as well as supplying
electricity” to the neighborhood.96 This was simple enough because municipalities had
been accorded this right to develop gecekondu neighborhoods by a 1948 law that
“authorized the municipal government to develop/ improve gecekondu areas.”97

Regrettably for the squatters, by July 1950 the Ministry of Internal Affairs sent
the Province a telegram that stated they had heard rumors of new gecekondu construction

activity in some parts of the city and that the Province should follow this matter closely

and absolutely ensure that new construction not take place, and see to it that any new

 

9‘ “Feriko mezarlrgr gece kondulara bahce mi oluyor?” Hiirriyet, 23 April 1950.

95 “Gecekondu sakinlerinin mfiracatr” Ibid., May 3, 1950. The squatter settlement residents created
neighborhood organizations called Gecekonduyu Gilzellestr'rnre Demegi (Association for the
Beautification of the Squatter Settlement). See Untidy Gender, 13.

9° “Gecekondu mahallesinin imarl” Hilrriyet, June 6, 1950

97 Danielson and Keles, 174.

94

gecekondus be demolished. The Ministry was also looking into the procedure followed
by the Province in the handling of the already existing gecekondu. They would soon send
the Province new regulations.98 Although it seems that demolition would have been
contradictory to the 1948 law, it was nevertheless supported by 1924 and 1949 laws that
authorized municipalities “to demolish dwellings built on land that belonged to persons
other than the builder himself,” and “to demolish buildings without construction permits”
respectively.99 The previously built gecekondu neighborhood was to be left intact and a
week later the newspaper reported that “the mayor/ governor would investigate
Kazlrcesme dwellings.” Three police stations were to be opened in the area, in
Merkezefendi, Balrklr and Kazlrcesme.loo

Twelve gecekondus were demolished in early September following the municipal
elections. “While investigating around the city yesterday, the municipal police force
(zabrta) carried out the demolition ordinance when they came across new construction
activity on the hills in the vicinity of the Hacr Hfisrev mosque located near Baruthane
between Ferikoy and Kasrmpasa.”'°' The municipal police force continued to demolish
newer illegal constructions throughout September. It was clear that residents whose
gecekondus were demolished would need a place to stay. The municipality announced
that it would allow some people to transfer their dwellings to a municipally designated
area. “As winter is around the comer, the transportation, sewage, and electrical facilities

are being examined in areas that will be designated for future gecekondu construction,”

one newspaper story explained. Further Hfirriyet gave good news to the Kazlrcesme

 

9“ “Gecekondular hakkmda yeni bir emir” Hilrriyet, July 1, 1950

99 Danielson and Keles, 171, 254.

“’0 “Vali gecekondulara gidiyor” Hilrriyet July 8, 1950

’0' “Dim oniki tane yeni gecekondu yrkrldr,” Ibid., 5 September 1950.

95

settlement: they would soon get “the bakery, a police station, and street lights” they had
requested. '02

After the Kazlrcesme gecekondu settlement reached population 35,000, it was
suggested that the settlement be divided up into neighborhoods. The regulation was that
when a settlement reached a population of 35,000 then it would be divided up into five
administrative units.103 Once a settlement was established and had been around for a
while, it even warranted an occasional visit form the mayor/govemor. '04

Housing shortage was often used to justify the inception and the continued
existence of the gecekondu so officials continued to work to build to meet that housing
shortage. Meanwhile though, they also took the time to recognize and to try to improve
gecekondu dwellers’ troubles. For example, the growing Kagrthane settlement in Sisli,
which had about 20,000 gecekondu dwellings by 1965, organized a beautification
association (Sisli Gecekondulannr Ihya ve Gfizellestirme Demegi) and appealed to
authorities in all levels of the government. In a letter writing campaign, the association
sent letters to GNA Representatives, Council of lntemal Affairs, Prime Minister’s office,
City Council members, and the govemor/mayor as well as newspapers requesting new
roads, sewers, water lines, electricity, schools and doctors.'05 In another instance Istanbul
Ekspres reported that the commission working for the solution of the gecekondu problem

had just returned from Ankara having “brought the gecekondu dwellers’ troubles, the

difficulty of their living conditions, their wishes and desires to the president” of the

 

'02 “Yeni Gecekondular yrkrllyor,” Hilrriyet, 26 September 1950.

'03“Di'myada 24 saat, icerde,” Istanbul Ekspres, 2 February 1953.

'0’ “The governor visited the Bakrrkoy and Kazlrcesme gecekondu settlements and heard citizens’
complaints.” See “Dfinyada 24 saat, icerde,” Ibid., 26 March 1953

'05 Mahmut Kemalettin Gfrrlfrk, “Gecekondu Meselesi ve Kaglthane,” Iller Ve Belediyeler Dergisi, No.
239, (September 1965), 469-470; Rusen Keles, “Gecekondu Meselesi,” Iller ve Belediyeler, No. 147,
(January 1958), 41-42.

96

Grand National Assembly, Refik Koraltan. Meanwhile the govemor/mayor Gokay had
begun his visits to Istanbul gecekondu districts. Additionally, Istanbul Ekspres informed,
the Commission requested that the investigations on the proposal regarding “building
encouragement and building without a license” be moved along quickly for deliberation
in the Grand National Assembly. The president promised that the proposal would be
brought into the Assembly in 15- 20 days.'06

It may have resulted from housing shortage and high rents charged for the
existing housing, but gecekondu building had to end. The Assembly deliberated the
conditions of the new law. It would ensure that occupants of buildings built on other
persons’ property for purposes other than family occupancy would demolish such
structures within six months. The municipality would step in and demolish the structure if
said occupants failed to follow the requirements of the law. In the case of buildings built
on other peoples’ property but in use as family dwellings, if the family in the said
dwelling had nowhere else to go, the family would have to officially register the dwelling
and pay the owner of the property the proper fee. If a person had built more than one
dwelling without a license or deed, he was required to pick one for himself and sell the
other, or the others, to the municipality. In the case of demolition of a building for the
purposes of the progress of the development/ improvement plans, if said building was
built on someone else’s property without a proper deed, then the amount spent on the
building would be given to the builder and a plot of land provided in low-income housing
areas, but the builder would himself carry out the demolition and remove the debris.

Owners of dwellings built on grounds not permitted for settlement by the municipality

 

'06 “Gecekondu davasr,” Istanbul Ekspres, July 1953. The law was “bina yaprmlnr tesvik ve izinsiz yaprlan
binalar hakkmadaki kanun.”

97

would be held responsible for the transfer of such dwellings over to proper settlement
areas. '07
Once the law was published in the Resmi Gazete, it was in effect. The building
encouragement law of 1953 (Law No. 6188 Bina Yaprmmr Tesvik Yasasr) legalized any
gecekondu built prior to 1953 and again prohibited further gecekondu construction, and
allowed the Municipality to allot land to those who wanted to build legal dwellings. '08
New gecekondus had to be demolished immediately, but old ones were given some
options. If the land on which the dwelling gecekondu was built belonged to the
municipality then the owners could take up to five years to pay off the land’s value and
keep it. Owners of dwellings built on private property would have to reach an agreement
with the owners of the land. If, in an effort to profit from the new law, a person made a
false declaration then that person would be jailed three to six months, and pay a monetary
fine of up to 500 lira. Henceforth the Municipal Council would carry out the demolition
of units built on others’ property, the cost to be transferred to the offender/s. Should a
mayor or other municipal employee fail to follow the law, said persons would receive a
jail sentence of 3-12 months.109
While the newer gecekondus were demolished, the long established settlements
“awaited government help and protection.” With fourteen thousand dwellings and a

population of seventy thousand, Zeytinbumu was such a settlement. There was at the

time one schoolhouse for ten thousand school age children. Foodstuffs were expensive

 

'07 “BM Meclisi Gecekondular Hakkmda Hi’rkmi'rnfi Verdi,” Ibid., July 1953.

'08 Celik, “Tiirkiyede Gecekondu Sorunu,” and Senol, “Istanbul Kentinde 2. Dfinya Savasrndan Sonra
Gelisen Yasal Olmayan Konut Tipleri ve Olusum Nedenleri.”

'09 “Gecekondu kanunu dfin meriyete girdi,” Istanbul Ekspres, 30 July 1953.

98

and spoiled, and the district was fast becoming a criminal haven. “This district is clearly
deprived of many things,” one report began,

At the top of the list is the lack of proper roads, schoolhouses, and police

protection. The dwellers are requesting that Gokay keep his promises.

There is no control, and there is very little regulation in Zeytinbumu. The

Municipal Council’s decision to open a bazaar on the 64"' and 65th streets

have not been followed thorough, forcing the residents to pay higher

prices for spoiled vegetables and fruits. The health facility is even worse:

there is a dispensary with two doctors, one nurse and one midwife. Since

1949, the dispensary has seen about twenty six thousand citizens.

Fortunately, the dispensary works efficiently and there has been no

contagious diseases. Yet the fact that there are no telephones in the area

coupled with the lack of transportation makes it very difficult for the

dispensary to function effectively in emergency cases.I '0

Gecekondu settlements, thus, became a site of mixed messages. Some received
services, and some were demolished. Gecekondu was tolerated as an inescapable but
“temporary” part of urbanization. Yet it multiplied, even while the municipality fought to
eradicate it. By 1955 individual gecekondus had spread to sixty districts in the city,
housing 250,000 newcomers, or approximately one fifth of the whole population of the
city. Istanbul’s most modern gecekondu settlement was in Kustepe, and gecekondus

111 Three years later, the

continued to be built on the land provided by the government.
gecekondu was far from becoming obsolete. A new site was born: Giiltepe had reportedly
come into being due to absolute necessity, just like the Zeytinbumu “gecekondu sitesi.”
Giiltepe was a settlement of twenty three thousand (23,000 out of the 49,000 families
who did not have anywhere else to go), consisting of two thousand dwellings, founded by

tenants whose dwellings were expropriated, and citizens whose houses were demolished.

“Today, on the one hand the modern roads and avenues are being built in accordance

 

11o “Zeytinbumu Himmet Bekliyor,” Ibid., 1 August 1953.
”' “Land big enough for 306 dwellings have been supplied by the government and 200 gecekondus have
already been built.” See “Sehir halklnm beste biri gecekondularda oturuyor,” Hilrriyet, 22 August 1955.

99

with the new modern architecture, while on the other hand a patchwork of settlements are
taking shape outside the municipal boundaries,” one story pointed out, “Gfiltepe is 1.5
kilometers away from Levent—somewhere between the workshops in Mecidiyekoy,
Kagrthane and Eczacrbasr. It is connected to the paved road on the Bosphorus by a rough
cobblestone pavement of about 1.5 kilometers. It was supposed to be settled temporarily
by those whose property or rented dwellings were expropriated during the improvement
activities.” The municipality had distributed among those without other means 62.5
square meter lots. Now the area was covered in two story brick buildings and single story
wood shacks and it was divided into neighborhoods, the names of which reflected
settlers’ place of origin in Istanbul: ledrzlrlar, Aksaraylrlar, Sangiizelliler, Fatihliler,
Yenicamililer, Tophaneliler, Cerrahpasalrlar, and Sulukuleliler.l '2

The Municipal Development Directorate worked feverishly to put an end to
gecekondu. They supposedly worked “around the clock” on the project to replace the
gecekondu with blocks of apartment buildings. “In the next few days the number of
gecekondus will be known along with who live in them and where they came from.” The
project would start with Zeytinbumu. The new project aimed to move people out of the
gecekondu, have them construct new gecekondu on lands provided to them by the
municipality, and finally move them into the apartment blocks once said blocks became
available. ' '3

Amidst reports that “the gecekondu problem would be eradicated from its roots,”

Emlak Kredi Bank announced its plans to build apartment blocks big enough to house

one thousand families who were residing in gecekondu dwellings in Zeytinbumu at the

 

”2 “Yeni bir site dogdu,” Yeni Istanbul, August 1958.
"3 “Gecekondular yerine blok apartmanlar,” Istanbul Ekspres, 8 January 1958.

100

time.I '4

The governor and mayor at the time, Miimtaz Tarhan, held a press conference
and explained to the reporters that the reports on the “imminent and absolute demolition”
of the gecekondus were unfounded and that instead of carrying out such drastic measures
the municipality was concentrating on a much more constructive solution: building
faster.l '5 Meanwhile Zeytinbumu was now being provided with an additional
dispensary.l '6 The next plan was to buy the eight thousand square meter land on the
Crrprcr cayrn from the Vaklflar, have the Emlak Kredi Bank build 5000 apartments,
empty out the 5000 gecekondu dwellings and demolish them after the residents have

moved into the apartments. Then the land taken away from the gecekondu settlements

would be used to build new blocks.l '7

Possibilities for good housing for newcomers in these two cities were slim in the
time periods examined. Afiican American newcomers to Chicago entered a city in which
property values ruled, homeownership defined stability, security and respectability, and
racial prejudice blocked newcomers’ possibilities to attain those ideals. The old settlers of
Chicago, on the other hand, took responsibility for the urbanization of newcomers in
order to ameliorate some of the misconceptions of the homeowners in better
neighborhoods so that they, and anyone else who could, would be able to have a “better
address.” There were things they could do to prove to others that they did not always
depreciate property values, and that not all Afi‘ican American homeowners let their

property deteriorate. Yet, there were other factors that they could not control such as real

 

”‘ “Gecekondu derdi kékiinden hallediliyor,” Istanbul Ekspres, 10 January 1958

”5 “Istanbul Belediyesi Birbucuk ayda 45 milyon lira odedi,” Ibid., 11 January 1958

”6 “Zeytinbumunda dispenser binasr hizmete giriyor,” Ibid., January 1958. It is opened in February.
”7 “5 Bin dairelik blok apartman yaprlacak,” Ibid., 3 February 1958.

101

estate agents and their drive for profit, or the location of vice districts near their
neighborhoods.

Rural newcomers to Istanbul, for their part, entered a city in which their means of
housing was a legal problem in the public mind, the solution of which lay in the hands of
city and national officials. Even though the municipality constructed new dwellings to
meet the housing shortage, the demand far exceeded the supply. Building low cost
housing, providing long-tenn, low interest credit for construction, and passing new laws
did not end the problem of gecekondu. In welcoming rural migration to Istanbul, the
modernization project of the national government had overreached its means to cope with
urban problems, yet migration could not be reversed. Istanbulites, whose city was
changing in ways they could not control, could do little but watch and wait.

Health problems that accompanied the overcrowding produced by rural migration
were another matter confronting both cities. In Chicago, again old settlers would shoulder
the responsibility to urbanize newcomers in Chicago, teaching, directing, cautioning, and
explaining to newcomers their own role in prevention of disease. For Istanbul residents,
health matters were another area over which the local and national officials presided,

while Istanbulites sat on the sidelines, watching and waiting.

102

Chapter 3

Health

Examining the different approaches to health in Chicago and Istanbul affirms that
responses to modernization varied across time and place. Citizen participation in health
matters in Chicago and the government’s provision of curative facilities in Istanbul
reflect two very different approaches to health care needs necessitated by increases in
urban populations.

In Chicago, local participation was reflected in milk quality and regulation issues,
Chicago Department of Health campaigns, and the Chicago Defender’s columns that
instructed African American migrants about how to live healthily so as to prevent
disease. Afi'ican Americans who migrated to Chicago in 1916-1919 entered into a city
that had been largely linked together by health concerns dating back to the first half of the
19'” century. Starting in the 18908 the work of settlements, medical charities, physicians
and nurses bear testament to how citizens organized locally to address health problems.
Such efforts had very much to do with mothers and children especially and everything to
do with newcomers to the city. Citizens’ local organizations, however, remained truly
local, which meant that even when leaders did not specifically mean for them to be,
health services, like housing, were segregated. African American community leaders,
men and women, provided health services and education for newcomers from the
southland. By the time rural-urban migration of African Americans had reached its

height, local efforts initiated by Chicagoans had been joined by the Department of

Health, and the department soon undertook an intensive educational campaign in which

103

they disclosed information about the existing diseases and preventive measures. In
fairness to the Chicago Department of Health, the department aimed citywide education
and worked with all groups—Afiican American leaders included. The Chicago Defender
became a conduit between health officials and newcomers. Through the columns of the
Chicago Defender, Afi'ican American community leaders did for the growing Chicago
African American community what the Department of Health was trying to do for the
whole city: prevent diseases for a healthier Chicago. These efforts contributed to a
growing sense of community living in the city.

Turkey, at the time of nrral migration into Istanbul, was trying to modernize by
catching up with the latest medical advances and technologies. The Turkish state directed
the health of Istanbul by opening more curative facilities, hoping the effects of these
would trickle down to all residents. Rural newcomers to Istanbul in 1950-1955 entered a
city in which many of the directives to address health care were driven by the central
government in Ankara. With the passing of the 1930 Public Hygiene Law, the health of
all Turkish citizens was placed under the care of the central government. Operating
through municipalities, the central government took on the duty of ensuring preventive
and curative facilities for its citizens. A Ministry of Health was founded to guide and
oversee municipalities’ actions.l Istanbul met the increasing health concerns of “the
people” by opening new hospitals, increasing the number of beds, adding new wings to
existing centers and opening dispensaries throughout the city. The dispensaries were
strategically opened in parts where new gecekondu settlements were mushrooming.

Newspapers kept Istanbulites informed about the health related developments in the city.

 

' Fahrettin Tatar, and Mehtap Tatar, Yerel Yo'netimler Ve Sag/1k (Ankara: Ti'rrk Belediyecilik Demegi,
1998), 109-110.

104

When reporting to the press, rather than concentrating on real or potential diseases,
officials generally emphasized numbers: numbers of new facilities, of increasing capacity
and of people being helped by the expansion of health services. In this matter especially,
Istanbul became a showcase for the nation’s modernization efforts.

Chicago

From its incorporation as a city in 1837, Chicago had suffered severe outbreaks of
diseases such as scarlet fever, smallpox, cholera, typhoid, dysentery, diphtheria, and
measles that had resulted in fearfirl increases of deaths.2 The Board of Health established
in the early years had very limited powers such as moving boats suspected of carrying
diseases, removing visitors suspected of carrying diseases, and collecting patient
information from physicians. In the next two decades the powers of the Board grew as
need arose to control many outbreaks. In 1860 the Board of Health was abolished due to
“a financial depression, and the absence of any alarming conditions.” The next year
guarding public health, removing nuisances and enforcing ordinances became the charge
of the Board of Police created thesame year. Seven years and many disease-related
deaths later, the Board of Health was reestablished. In 1876 a permanent and more
soundly established Department of Health replaced the 1867 Board of Health in
Chicago.’

The events leading up to the creation of the permanent Chicago Department of
Health resemble the typical way that health was dealt with in the two centuries preceding
the late 19th century, when “public health work was occupied chiefly with attempts to

control the spread of smallpox and to a lesser extent yellow fever” through quarantine,

 

2 G. Koehler, M. D., Annals of Health and Sanitation in Chicago, Microfiche 24/26, Chicago Public

Library.
3 Koehler, Ibid., 1469-1492.

105

isolation, immunization and disinfection. The efforts to control the spread of such
diseases were temporary; public and private measures taken in the face of an epidemic
were usually repealed and discontinued after such epidemic ended. Efforts to prevent
various nuisances were limited to addressing general pollution issues. At the close of the
18‘h century, as nuisances became linked to smell and decay of goods, it was agreed,
“municipal cleanliness was about all that was necessary to preserve public health.” In
light of filth theory of disease sanitarians, tried to improve environmental factors.4 Efforts
to provide municipal cleanliness continued through sanitary reforms, but starting in the
18703 the filth theory of disease gave way to germ theory of disease.

Once the scientific proof of the germ theory made it understood that germs
(microbes, bacteria, bacilli) “existed in air and on all substances,” and that they caused
diseases,5 knowledge of germ theory changed the course of modern attempts to prevent
disease, and “the attempt to control contagion became the chief function of the health
department.” The environment continued to receive attention but the individual became
the focus of efforts as interested parties educated the society at large in preventing the
spread of disease.6 The gradual switchover from the Board of Health to a more soundly
established Department of Health paralleled the advancements in scientific knowledge of
disease. As filth theory gave way to the germ theory, attempts to control contagion
through methods such as disinfection, elimination of disease causes, protection of food,

and developing individual immunity, informed groups tried to prevent diseases. In

 

’ Charles V. Chapin, M. D., Sc. D, “History of State and Municipal Control of Disease,” in Mazyck P.
Ravenel, M. D., ed., A Half Century of Public Health (New York: American Public Health Association,
1921), 133-136; and Martin V. Melosi, The Sanitary City: Urban Infrastructure in America from Colonial
Times to the Present (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000).

5 Lent D. Upson, Practice of Municipal Administration (New York: The Century Co., 1926), 244.

6 Chapin, M. D., Sc. D, “History of State and Municipal Control of Disease,” in Mazyck P. Ravenel, M. D.,
ed., A Half Century of Public Health, 136.

106

addition to changing practices, the germ theory of disease began to transform
“understandings” of disease. For middle and upper classes this would mean abandoning
the general belief that diseases were caused by a deficiency in one’s character. For
immigrant and migrant groups it meant that they could no longer regard diseases as an act
of an Angry God or try to cure diseases with home remedies.

Thus, acknowledgment of the germ theory, and establishment of a more
permanent Department of Health, was the context into which immigrants with rural
backgrounds arrived in Chicago. By the end of the 19’h century, efforts to Americanize,
urbanize, and modernize newcomers in health issues appeared throughout ’the city.7 For
example, when, due to social changes that came with urbanization, Chicago mothers
stopped breastfeeding their infants and turned to cows’ milk, and infant deaths soared,8
these deaths were linked to the low-grade quality of milk in the city. Officials recognized
the need to improve the milk supply by ordinances.9 Ordinances, and regulations were
passed to end milk adulteration, to bring about pasteurization and refiigerated shipment
of milk, to eradicate the evil of disease carrying cows. But passing ordinances did not
always translate easily into improved practices in daily life. Ordinances met Opposition
from providers of milk at every step. To meet this challenge, and as citizens who
envisioned a healthier city that worked for everyone, women increasingly became active
in promoting health issues. The history of Chicago women’s engagement with municipal

affairs has been well documented'0 and their efforts in regard to public health pushed the

 

7 Lynne Curry, Modern Mothers in the Heartland: Gender, Health, and Progress in Illinois, [900-1930
(Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1999), 47-48.

8 Jacqueline H. Wolf, Don ’t Kill Your Baby: Public Health and the Decline of Breastfeeding in the 19'” and
20'" Centuries (Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2001), 105-110.

9 Koehler, Annals of Health and Sanitation in Chicago, 1488-1491.

'0 Maureen A. Flanagan, Seeing With Their Hearts: Chicago Women and the Vision of the Good City,
1871-1933 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002), 86.

107

Department of Health to expand its services. Medical charities, physicians, visiting nurses
and later the Department of Health turned to educating mothers in child health.

Visiting nurses (VNA) brought tents, or “portable hospitals for sick infants,” to
the congested neighborhoods. These portable or field hospitals took traditional medical
settings into immigrant communities thereby succeeding in the intricate task of gaining
immigrant mothers’ trust by demystifying examinations and procedures.II Following the
success of the visiting nurses, the Chicago Infant Welfare Association also sent nurses to
immigrant neighborhoods to instruct mothers in their homes on how to properly care for
their infants. Medical charities and doctors together operated free medical dispensaries.
Even though the Afiican American community received some assistance from visiting
nurses, it was through segregated means. The IWS ignored Afiican Americans altogether
while the VNA sent Afiican American nurses to African American communities and
white nurses to white mothers. By 1907 the Department of Health had joined in the
efforts for infant welfare through surveys, interviews, campaigns, posters, bulletins, and
films. In 1913 the Department of Health opened four infant welfare stations. Together,
nurses, physicians, and the Department of Health shouldered the broader responsibility of
citywide disease prevention by educating the masses that their city was a single
organism.l2

Chicago Department of Health Bulletins

First circulated in 1906 as a weekly publication, the Chicago Department of

Health Bulletins for the years 1916-1919 did what it advertised in the caption under the

title: they privileged sanitary instruction. In each issue the Bulletin provided the names,

 

” Wolf, Don ’1 Kill Your Baby, 105-110; Curry, Modern Mothers, 47—48.
'2 Wolf, Don '1 Kill Your Baby, 121-126, 102.

108

addresses, offenses and punishments of individuals whom sanitary inspectors caught
violating sanitation requirements. Some of the offenses listed in the pages of the Bulletin
included “failing to wash glass in clean ’water after each using,” “failing to sterilize all
bottles, cans, utensils, etc. daily,” “failing to provide facilities for sterilization,” and
“failing to provide sanitary machine for filling bottles.”'3 The Bulletin, furthermore,
reported the numbers of diseases recorded by the city, informed readers about the causes
and prevention of these recorded diseases, reminding them repeatedly that diseases were
preventable; it gave advice in short “health notes;” it instructed the general public about
ordinances and above all it tried to create co-operation for a healthier, safer city.
Sanitary instruction played a significant role in the efforts to make Chicago a
healthier city. Health officials and publicists believed that among the options of “To
relieve, to cure, to prevent” the greatest one was “to prevent.”'4 They emphasized
prevention further by declaring hospitals were “monuments to ignorance, carelessness
and selfishness.” Chicago needed hospitals and sanitariums, the Bulletin explained, “to
cure and relieve sickness and disease.” But sickness and disease resulted “largely from
wrong living.” Wrong living stemmed from “ignorance, selfishness and carelessness.”
Chicago had a large number of hospitals; these monuments to wrong living, and their

growing numbers caused one author to question “What’s the matter with our system of

 

'3 Department of Health Bulletin, September 16 and 30, 1916; October 21, 1916; November 4, 1916,
Chicago Public Library. The caption read: “Sanitary instruction is even more important than sanitary
legislation.” By 1919, the Annual Report John Dill Robertson, M. D, Commissioner of Health listed the
health maintenance fundamentals of the Department, the first five of which were: a clean water supply; a
clean milk supply; the maintenance of an uncontaminated general air supply; economical buying, proper
preparation and serving of foods; publicity and health education, etc. See John Dill Robertson, M. D.,
(Commissioner of Health), Report and Handbook of the Department of Health of the City of Chicago for
the Years 1911 to 1918 inclusive (Chicago: 1919) Microfiche No. 1/26, Chicago Public Library. Xiii-
xxxvrn.

" Department of Health Bulletin, August 5, 1916, Chicago Harold Washington Public Library. Hereafter
CHWPL.

109

education and training?”'5 The Bureau of Publicity and Education of the Chicago Health
Department soon tried to right the problem that question insinuated.

The Department of Health operated on the understanding that citywide
cooperation would bring about a healthier Chicago. The January 1916 issue of the
Department of Health Bulletin opened with words from Commissioner Robertson in
which he addressed the toll of the influenza epidemic that hit Chicago at the close of
1915, and urged “upon all good citizens the importance of a citywide cooperation for
health.” He believed that “just to the degree” Chicagoans were willing to work for
community health and safety would they be “free from those disease that are amenable to
sanitary administration.”H5 At times when the Department could not employ more
sanitary inspectors due to budgetary deficiencies, such publicity came in handy, making
“appeals in the interest of community pride and welfare.”17

Citywide cooperation could only be obtained through arduous educational
campaigns. To this end, the Bureau of Publicity and Education of the Chicago Health
Department was established “on the assumption that concealed information has no
value.” Initially, the Bureau dealt with “knowledge of how to escape sickness and live
long.” Recognizing that “sixty-odd nationalities” lived together in Chicago, many of
whom were “ignorant of the first principles of cleanliness,” and many of whom further
knew “little of the structure and function of their own bodies, the importance of pure

water, pure food and pure air, or the effects of dust and dirt on personal health,” the

Bureau educated the public through various services, namely lectures, films, addresses,

 

'5 Ibid., September 2, 1916, CHWPL. ,

'6 John Dill Robertson, M.D., Commissioner of Health, Ibid., January 1, 1916, CHWPL.

'7 Report of the Commissioner ’s Oflice: Publicity and Education 1911-1918, Microfiche 5/26, CHWPL,
265.

110

bulletins, posters, etc. Lectures consisted of “five hundred health talks” in 1915 delivered
to over “one hundred thousand persons.” Further, there were moving picture films that
reached “audiences totaling over sixty thousand” in their sixty-eight showings. Volunteer
physicians and laymen addressed others in “churches, clubs, schools and before other
bodies.” The Department also distributed about “three hundred thousand copies” of the
Bulletin through their mailing list. “The weekly press service furnished material to one
hundred and forty papers published in Chicago,” including the Chicago Defender, and
“printed in almost every known language,” reaching an estimated “one hundred
thousand” readers each week. “School teachers, school engineers, food dealers, women’s
clubs, ward improvement organizations and other civic bodies” also benefited from
lectures and talks. Posters, maps, circulars, cards, leaflets, cartoons, diagrams, charts,
blue prints and pictures were issued. The Bureau increased its cooperation with other city
departments, “notably with the Police and Public Works.” They firrther enlisted “the aid
of citizen cooperators in every block” citywide. And health gram bulletins were “posted
in each end of some five thousand surface and elevated cars.”'8 In short, the public was
bombarded with information.

Educational campaigns had to be continuously repeated. During World War 1

“The Chicago Public Health Association” was organized to further the public health

 

'8 Department of Health Bulletin, Annual Review Number, February 5, 1916, CHWPL. See also January
12, 1918 on “concealed information is of no value to anyone... So if every daily newspaper in Chicago
were to carry on its front pages a daily warning as to the dangers of neglecting a slight sore throat in
children, and urge that parents call the family doctor and have antitoxin administered at once, it is certain
that publicity of this kind would soon produce definite results in the shape of fewer cases and fewer deaths
due to diphtheria.” And it was “hard to get people interested in a subject they know nothing about. This is
why the educational side of public health work is of value as an aid to bring about better health conditions.
For example, when the people of a community are informed as to the dangerous character of the fly; and
when they are educated on this subject to the point that they understand the relation of neglected piles of
stable refuse to the existing swarms of flies in their community, they become willing workers in clean up or
health promotion weeks because they know the importance of fly extermination as a means of protection
against some of the most dangerous disease.” Ibid., May 10, 1919.

111

movement. The Association divided Chicago into seventeen districts along the same lines
as those used by the Department of Health for medical work. To meet the “great need for
arousing public interest in all matters affecting public comfort and safety...” the
Association undertook field work, “as broad as the city itself’ to enlist “the interest and
active support of every good, loyal citizen.” This project translated into a monthly
meeting at a local public school in each of the seventeen districts. In each meeting the
same “one paper, of an educational character on some important health subject presented
by a member of the Department of Health” was read, followed by a second paper
“contributed by someone selected by the members of the local association.” Additionally,
these meetings served as public forums, where “any citizen may discuss any subject of
public interest to the community, or present any complaints relating to health or
community matters and involving the public service.”'9 For example, topics ranged from
presentation of specific diseases such as smallpox, whooping cough, TB, to discussions
of enforcement of quarantine in cases of measles, modern superstitions in medicine, the
purity of Chicago’s water, and the importance of education in the control of contagious
disease.20 The November Bulletin estimated that 15,000 people had attended the October
meetings.”

Certain truths had to be widely disseminated, accepted and internalized by the
community as a whole before change could be brought to life. For example, an
individual’s entitlement to pure air was one that the Bulletins stressed. “Every man is

entitled to pure air, without which he cannot live,” the Bulletin reasoned. Pure air was

 

'9 Ibid., July 21, 1917, CHWPL.

2” Ibid., August 18, 1917, CHWPL. Chicago hosted the American Public Health Association’s 46th Annual
Sessions on Industrial Hygiene and Industrial Disease. Ibid., December 14, 1918.

2|Ibid., November 3, 1917, CHWPL. ‘

112

defined as air free from “such irritating and infectious dust as is responsible for the
carrying of the germs of tuberculosis, and pneumonia; of pus germs, influenza germs, and
other microbes that give us serious colds; and all the other microscopic enemies” that had
to be constantly fought “both as individuals and as a community.” Individuals were
likewise entitled to pure water, food and sunshine,” but the call for clean and fresh air
appeared in many forms: children deserved to play in it, adults work in it and everyone
ought to live in it. Throughout the pages of the Bulletin authorities could not advise it
enough in various different ways. “Ventilate persistently your home and your shop; and
battle for fresh air in public buildings and ears.” “Good ventilation means fewer germs-
gerrns diluted.”23 Improper or insufficient air supply caused what were called “dirty air
diseases” such as coughs, colds, bronchitis, and pneumonia.24 There was even a
Ventilation Division established in 1912 within the Bureau of Sanitation that set
standards by ventilation ordinances, made sure that public theaters were “equipped with
ventilation systems in compliance with the ordinance,” cooperated with the engineers of
the Board of Education to work out changes in public schools, and worked with the
Chicago Surface Lines to ensure the provision of “suitable ventilation” in their services.25
Clean air and clean surroundings were directly linked to a healthier life. The
Bulletin made calls for spring-cleaning as early as February and March, reminding its

readers that spring was right around the corner and encouraging that everyone, including

children, participate in a citywide campaign against “flies, filth and disease.”26 Beginning

 

2’ Ibid., January 8, 1916, CHWPL.

2’,1bid., January 8, 1916, CHWPL.

2‘ Ibid., January 15, 1916, CHWPL.

25 Ibid., Annual Review Number, February 5, 1916, CHWPL. Coupled with the findings of the Chicago
Housing Conditions Surveys this insistence on fresh air is understandable. Working class homes lacked the
proper window requirements and most windows did not open to fresh air, depriving many of fresh air.

° Ibid., March 2, 1918, CHWPL.

113

the cleaning process in March would make it a “flyless summer,” a summer during which
babies lived and thrived. After all, swatting a fly in March would “save a million swats
later on.” This meant “work for all, not the few, but the many. Now is the time for all
good men to come to the aid of the city.”27 Albeit a year later, it was also in March when
complaints “concerning dirty, vacant lots, backyards, and alleys” increased. The
Department took these complaints as a good sign of early “cleanacitis” setting in, and
cleanacitis was one of those rare diseases that the Health Department liked to see,
especially in epidemic proportions.28 April, the Department observed, brought with it a
“housecleaning fever” which the Bulletin reminded was a “very desirable disease to
have” and which the Department further encouraged by holding a “Clean up Week.”
Chicagoans were called to pay special attention to “the winter’s accumulation of ashes,
rubbish, and the many kinds of cast-off material and refuse” which accumulated during
the winter months, and urged to whitewash basement walls and ceilings.29

City Ordinances backed up the Department’s efforts, and the Bulletins instructed
Chicagoans about various regulations. For example: “Section 1437 of the City
Ordinances” pertained to “rug beating.” The Bulletin printed the Ordinance and advised
everyone to keep clean, but with some cautions about how to do it: “observe the law and
think before you act, lest you work injustice to those other perfectly good folks whom the
ways of the big city crowd into such small spaces and close proximity. Don’t tread on
your neighbor’s toes.”"0 In another instance, the Bulletin addressed that Section 278 of

the Municipal Ordinances required repair of broken windows better to prevent fire.

 

’7 Ibid., March 18, 1916, CHWPL.

2‘ Ibid., March 17, 1917, CHWPL.

2" Ibid., April 21 and 22, 1916, CHWPL. ,

30 Ibid., April 29, 1916, CHPL. The rug beating fever was later termed “shakeabus-rugabus-back-
porchabus.” This was a complication much associated with “cleanacitis.” Ibid., March 17, 1917, CHWPL.

114

Moreover the Bulletins urged readers to live up to the Ordinance because it “will improve
the looks of your house,” and also keep out “bugs, mosquitoes and other crawling, flying
vermin. These insects bring increased risk of sickness in the family, as well as petty
annoyance.” By promptly repairing a broken window one not only protected one’s self
and family from burglars and fires but one also spent “a few cents to buy insurance
against expensive sickness, and perhaps needless death, from one of those common
communicable diseases carried by flies and mosquitoes.” Other examples followed,
encouraging citizens to report ordinance violations by directly addressing readers
individually, “Who will save the day? You will, Mr. Citizen. You will not wait for
somebody else to report the case, but will do it yourself without delay.”3 ' Citizens were
repeatedly encouraged in this fashion: “The control of communicable diseases can only
be made effective when health officials know where the cases exist and how the infection
is being spread,” the Bulletin maintained. “The first important step is in reporting
promptly to the Department of Health.”32 In this manner not only did these bulletins tell
readers what to do by explaining city ordinances, but they also explain to city residents
why it would be in their best interest to obey such laws.

Spreading consciousness of city living was established, thus, through persistently
addressing the power of one’s actions to harm or help others. After the police caught
Peter Bendenak of 850 Bismarck Street in violation of scarlet fever quarantine, his name
and address were used publicly to expose him and he was fined ten dollars. This man had
acted “with a full knowledge of his wrongdoing.” His behavior was considered criminally

selfish because he knowingly endangered his fellows, and he was further branded as a

 

31 Ibid., May 6, 1916, CHWPL.
32 Ibid., January 5, 1918, CHWPL.

115

bad citizen. “Laws that are enacted for the purpose of safeguarding the public health
should be rigidly enforced, not by officers of the law, but by the people themselves,” the

author reminded readers."3 “

The citizen who reads this is appointed a committee of one
by community interest to clean your yard and neighboring lots of" ashes, tin cans, and
rubbish in general.34 The issue of clean hands; a health measure of first importance:
“When so many people have to live together in one community and come into close
relation in each others service and society, it is vital that each should practice extreme
care in keeping clean hands?”5

The Chicago Defender Steps In

Disease and educational campaigns did not segregate, but Chicago’s health
activities were largely segregated. The press service provided health information to city
newspapers weekly, including the Chicago Defender."5 While the Department of Health
concerned itself with preventive measures, and “had shouldered a more public

.. . . 7
assrgmnent to educate the masses as a srngle unrt”3

through its educational campaigns, it
was The Chicago Defender that extended the information on diseases and their
prevention and the citywide concern to the Afiican American newcomers. In doing so, it
shouldered a similar but more specific duty. It emphasized raising individual as well as
community consciousness, yet it was more specific in that the community consciousness

it sought to raise revolved around race. If newcomers did not observe the general public

advice and regulations and contracted disease, then the precarious place of all Afiican

 

’3 Ibid., May 13, 1916, CHWPL.

3‘ Ibid., June 3, 1916, CHWPL.

35 Ibid., August 12, 1916, CHWPL.

36 Report of the Commissioner '5 Office: Publicity and Education 19] [-1918, Microfiche 5/ 26, CHWPL,
265-266.

37 Wolf, Don 7 Kill Your Baby, 102.

116

Americans in the city would be shaken. This was also due to the inclination of non-
Afiican American groups in the city to group all Afiican Americans, old settlers and
newcomers alike, in one category by race. But if they were instructed in city ways and
educated to adopt the new scientific advances (and shed their old country
misconceptions) then newcomers could concentrate on the progress of the race.

Dr. A. Wilberforce Williams, and Provident Hospital—the city’s only Afiican
American Hospital-- led the effort to educate, instruct, and organize the African
American community through his columns in the Chicago Defender.38 Dr. Williams had
a lot on his plate. From detailing the causes of diseases to giving instructions on how to '
prevent them, from dispelling old country customs to instilling in newcomers the
discipline to seek physicians’ help, from ingraining in old settlers responsibility to
newcomers to teaching newcomers how to live in the city, his columns titled “Dr.

Williams Talks on Preventive Measures, First Aid Remedies, Hygienics and Sanitation”

 

’8 Provident Hospital “opened in 1891 with twelve beds in a three story house,” and it was “the first black
controlled hospital in the United States and a major institution in Chicago’s black community.” Smith, Sick
and Tired of Being Sick and Tired, 21-25. See also Christopher Robert Reed, Black Chicago '5 First
Century: Volume I, 1833-1900 (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2005), 234, and 284.

Provident Hospital was located in the most densely populated African American part of the city. It had
been founded “primarily for the education and training of young colored women in the science and art of

’ nursing; and secondarily, for the purpose of giving Negro physicians an opportunity to develop their skill in
training along medical and surgical lines.” See Dr. A. Wilberforce Williams Talks on Preventive Measures,
First Aid Remedies, Hygienics and Sanitation: “The Provident Hospital and Training School—The
Importance of This Institution in Relation to the Health of the Community,” The Chicago Defender,
February 19, 1916. The medical department of Provident Hospital housed a “surgical department, a
department of disease of women, department of disease of children, and a department of eye ears and throat
disease.” The Dispensary associated with the Provident Hospital treated “over 3,000 patients annually free
of charge, except a nominal fee or the charge of their medicine” regardless of race or nationality. A nurse,
and a pharmacist were present at all times. Dr. A. Wilberforce Williams Talks: “Provident Hospital
Dispensary” Ibid., March 4, 1916. Even though Provident Hospital was founded primarily for the
education and training of African American nurses and secondarily for the practice of African American
physicians, the hospital had not started out as a segregated institution. At its inception, the hospital
assembled “an interracial staff drawn from the best medical talent in the city and admitted patients of all
races.” But because of segregation in the hiring practices of other hospitals, even though African American
nurses and physicians completed the training school or the internship program and thus qualified to
practice, they did not get positions in white hospitals. By 1916 African Americans made up the majority of
the nurses and staff physicians at Provident Hospital, and the percentage of white patients had dropped 25
per cent. Allan H. Spear, Black Chicago: The Making of a Negro Ghetto, [890-] 920 (Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press, 1967), 98- 99.

117

addressed all. And sometimes he addressed more than one issue at the same time. For
example in January of 1916 he had influenza very much on his mind, as did the
Department of Health, when the number of deaths from influenza had reached alarming
rates. Williams imparted some general guidelines: “Ease work, go home, take a hot bath,
remain in bed until your strength is restored, drink hot fluids, eat light meals,” and
“ventilate your sick chambers.” Mirroring the citywide campaign for cleaner and safer
air, “Ventilate!” became a recurring piece of practical advice regarding this and other
diseases/ illnesses. He cautioned against home remedies, hoping to help newcomers
unleam old habits and learn some new ones. “In the first place we hope you will not try
to do certain things to work off the grippe by filling your stomach full of whisky,” he
advised. “Do not fill yourself up with rock candy, linseed oil, glycerin, rum, or gin, nor
with cod liver oil. These things upset the stomach and make your condition worse.” He
insisted on the importance of having a relationship with doctors, nurses, and health
authorities, and emphasized that many illnesses were preventable. He continued to detail
what not to do about the grippe since one’s actions had the potential to hurt others: “avoid
crowds” simply to avoid endangering others, “do not sneeze, hawk, and spit in the
cuspidor of your home, on the floor, or on the sidewalks.” Drawing readers’ attention to
the fact that they lived in a community in which an individual’s illness might endanger
others was another thread that ran through Dr. Williams’ columns. He ended his column
by reminding his readers that using patent medicines on the market did not cure, they

actually banned and that such medicines were not made to cure disease but made to make

9
money.3

 

’9 Dr. A. Wilberforce Williams Talks on Preventive Measures, First Aid Remedies, Hygienics and
Sanitation: “Two Hundred Thousand Cases of Grippe in Two Cities,” The Chicago Defender, January

118

Black women were involved with the health of their community as early as the
founding of Provident Hospital. “Black female professionals and community leaders
formed the backbone of the black health movement and were central to the founding and
maintenance of black public health projects.”40 Nurses who completed their training at
Provident Hospital “took on public health work in the Afiican American community.”
Educating “especially poor mothers who had recently arrived in Chicago from the rural
Sout ” Provident Hospital and local black women’s organizations together “supervised
an infant feeding program for new mothers and operated a well baby clinic within the
Hospital Building.”4| No sick child was ever denied treatment in the Children’s
Department of the Dispensary or the hospital as long as there was room. A fresh air tent
was provided on the roof of the hospital building. Mothers were taught how to prepare
and keep fresh their babies’ food. The Children’s Department boasted 20,000 “bottled
feedings” a year, made possible by proceedings from the Tag Day, initiated by the
Woman’s Auxiliary Board. The hospital also employed a “social service nurse” who
visited “the worthy poor” in the vicinity of the hospital. The social service nurse brought
basic goods such as food, clothing, coal, milk, and ice. Like immigrant mothers, African
American mothers from the South were “taught in their homes how to care for their sick
babies, and how to keep their homes in the best possible sanitary and hygienic

condition.”42 Community organizing and fund raising events rested on the shoulders of

 

1916. The next week, influenza was still very much on his mind. This time he explained the disease and its
causes directly and in more detail: “The real cause of the disease is the bacillus influenza,” he stated. This
was the primary cause but there were many “predisposing” causes such as the seasons, colds, dampness,
bad house hygiene, poor ventilation, foul air, crowding, over heating, bad personal hygiene, promiscuous
kissing (which was actually banned in Milwaukee at the time as a health measure). Dr. A. W. Williams,
“Influenza, La Grippe,” Ibid., January 8, 1916.

’0 Smith, Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired, l.

4' Curry, Modern Mothers, 35-37.

’2 Dr. A. Wilberforce Williams, “Provident Hospital Dispensary” The Chicago Defender, March 4, 1916.

119

black women as well as the contributions of the churches, and women also made cash
contributions themselves. The Woman’s Auxiliary Board, established in 1896
institutionalized women’s role. “Female board members expanded into public health
programs designed to lower high infant mortality rates and improve the health of
children” such as the infant feeding program and the fresh air tents.”3 They provided
some of the same basic services and met the same babies’ needs, but the middle class
health professionals in the Afiican American community were also motivated by their
fear “that persistently high rates of illness and death from causes regarded as largely
preventable could easily be dismissed by whites as yet another sign that black mothers
were somehow failing in the proper conduct of their womanly duties?"4

Much of Dr. Williams’ advice in his Defender columns was dedicated to detailing
symptoms and preventive measures, instilling the fear of disease if such measures were
not followed, and conveying the developments in laws. Tuberculosis was another health
issue that Williams continuously addressed in his columns. As Sylvia Hood Washington
argued a series of essays published between 1912-1933, by contemporary M.D.s and
prominent African American leader W. E. B. DuBois, on the association of Afiican
Americans with the so-called “white plague” underlined the link between poverty, living
conditions (caused by the large influx of Afiican Americans to Chicago and the
congested living conditions due to their inability to leave the black belt) and

tuberculosis.”5 Throughout the time period under study here, Dr. Williams took it upon

himself to familiarize his readers with the available facilities in the city by introducing

 

’3 Smith, Sick and Tired of Being Sick and T ired, 21-25.

’4 Curry, Modern Mothers, 35-37.

’5 Sylvia Hood Washington, Packing Them In: An Archeology of Environmental Racism in Chicago, 1865-
1954 (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2005), 147-152.

120

them to the Oak Forest Tuberculosis Sanitarium and outlining how one would benefit
from this facility.46 He also worked to dispel the notion that Afiican Americans were
racially prone to contracting tuberculosis. He emphasized the importance of conditions
over race in the contraction of this disease.”7
The doctor had received some letters that assumed that marriage cured
tuberculosis. In one case a man who might have had a touch of tuberculosis explained, “I

haven’t any good home surroundings; the food at my boarding place is bad, the room

where I sleep is not suitable for good ventilation,” and he stated that he believed if he got

 

’6 With a capacity of 3,500 to 4,000 persons, the Cook County Infirmary located in Oak Forest, was twenty-
two miles from Chicago and housed the Cook County Tuberculosis Sanitarium (700 capacity). The
equipment, facilities, medical staff, and nursing force were “fully competent and obtain their positions
through rigid civil service examinations.” The laboratories, operating rooms, and food all passed muster.
Further, the institution did not discriminate or segregate but admitted all “deserving poor.” The institution
provided “cottages and porches for open air treatment,” and even operated a public school where children
were taught. Whereas the municipal tuberculosis sanitarium only admitted patients in the early stages of the
disease, Oak Forest Sanitarium admitted “patients in all stages of the disease.” All one had to do to get in
was “make application through the county agent’s office, Mr. Wilson, 213 Peoria Street, or have your
physician make application for you, or you may call up the county agent’s office and request that the
county physician be sent to you, and he will recommend you for the Oak Forest sanitarium or the county
hospital, tuberculosis department.” They even paid the train fare for patients who could not otherwise
afford to pay it. Patients sometimes had to wait at the Cook County Hospital until space became available
at Oak Forest, or if their disease was too far advanced they were retained there. All was well except “a
southern gentleman from Kentucky” had arrived recently and imposed his southern prejudices on persons
of color. Dr. Williams called to the attention of this gentleman that “patients should be classified according
to their disease and not according to their color or race” and reminded him that so long as he was “living
off of the public money” he had the responsibility to treat patients humanely. Dr. A. W. Williams, “Oak
Forest Tuberculosis Sanitarium,” The Chicago Defender, January 29, 1916.

’7 He fleshed out this point by detailing the factors that contributed to the prevalence of tuberculosis in
certain communities: personal, community and public hygiene; poor diet; overwork under unsanitary
conditions; bad air; bad housing. In his closing words, he vehemently attacked the advice that non-medical
people gave and encouraged readers to attend the public meetings held “at the City Club every Monday and
Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30 o’clock” to learn more about the nature of the disease, and the
prevention of its spread. Dr. A. W. Williams, “Facts About Tuberculosis: Sex, Age,” Ibid., April 1, 1916.
The following week Dr. Williams approached tuberculosis from a different angle. Acknowledging first that
tuberculosis was as old as civilization, the doctor remarked that “the only way to learn how to control and
prevent tuberculosis is by and through and thorough campaign of education.” Dr. Williams approached
tuberculosis as a community problem, “a state and national problem and not an individual problem.” He
wanted patients to understand that tuberculosis was curable albeit through a long and tedious process that
was best brought about by institutional care. He reported that the United States was spending “thousands,
and millions of dollars in the building and the equipment of institutions and sanitan'a for the care and
treatment of tuberculosis.” Over 200,000 people died annually in the United States, and 4,000 in Chicago
where over 15,000 people were sick and diseased with tuberculosis in the city. As worrying as the statistics
were, some misconceptions were more upsetting.

121

married he and his bride would occupy separate rooms but she could care for him and he
would soon get well. Dr. Williams advised him to postpone the wedding indefinitely,
until after cured. He detailed all the upsetting events that would likely result from such a
union, leading up to the wife getting pregnant and bearing sickly children doomed to an
early grave. Further, he asserted, “If you marry a young woman, knowing at the time of
marriage that you are afflicted with tuberculosis, this act endangers the life of the young
wife, vice versa: to that extent you have committed a crime and the courts in some states
of this country so regard it and have freely granted divorce to the deceived and injured
person.”48

Dr. Williams relayed the Health Department’s message and measures to his
readers.49 He followed Health Bulletins (and new findings) closely and in August he
quoted the Quarterly Bulletin of the Louisiana State Board of Health in its entirety hoping
that his readers would benefit from its advice. He reiterated that fresh air cost nothing. He
provided the breakfast, lunch and dinner menu for general good health.50

Meanwhile, the new municipal tuberculosis sanitarium had become the pride of
Chicago. Dr. Williams explained to his readers that the municipal sanitarium was built

out of the taxes of all citizens and it operated for the public, like public schools. “It is not

a charitable institution for the poor or for those who cannot afford better institutional

 

’8 Dr. A, W. Williams, “Tuberculosis and Marriage,” Ibid., April 8, 1916.

’9 “The Health Department has decided to first instruct all persons of open cases of tuberculosis, that they
must obey the doctor and nurse in regard to ventilation, in being careful not to cough or sneeze in the face
of others, in being careful of their sputum, not to spit on the sidewalk, upon the floors and other places that
are inhabited by human beings.” Through dispensaries, and district nurses the Department was to fumish
cups, and bags for the proper disposal of sputum, which was to be gotten rid of by burying or burning in the
fumace. If such persons continued to treat their tuberculosis as a milder form of disease such as “a heavy
cold,” or “a bad cough” and thus endangering the lives of innocent persons, such persons were to be
quarantined against their will. Dr. A. W. Williams, “Quarantining Tuberculosis: The Tuberculosis Situation
in Chicago,” Ibid., July15, 1916.

5" Dr. A. w. Williams, Ibid., August 1916.

122

care,” he cautioned. It was “an institution fine enough for the most refined, and fastidious
citizens, and at the same time, it is plain enough and democratic enough for the humblest
and poorest citizens of this city to feel perfectly at home,” he extolled. Over two million
dollars of the taxpayers’ money was spent towards this institution with the capacity for
700 patients, patients who were at the early stage of tuberculosis. Dr. Williams identified
its educational feature as the institution’s greatest feature. Patients were taught the values
of “rest, sunlight, nourishing food and fresh air,” as well as the importance of the sputum
cup and the napkins and how to use them properly.5 ' As with all institutions the
sanitarium had rules'and regulations, but “there is absolutely no discrimination among the
patients,” Dr. Williams pointed out, all patients had to do was obey the rules. He then

explained the rules to his readers.52

 

5' Dr. A. w. Williams, Ibid., September 2, 1916.

’2 By cooperating with the institution’s authorities patients would be assisted. Getting in was competitive as
there was a waiting list of over a hundred. And there were rules to make it to the waiting list: As this
institution aimed to take patients and restore them to health, “Disease must not be advanced.” The doctor
detailed the procedure to be followed: “Apply first to a municipal tuberculosis dispensary in your district,
go to the dispensary. Be seen by a nurse and a physician. If you are a suitable case they will make an
appointment for you. The application will be placed on file, if accepted or approved, on the waiting list and
as soon as there is an opening you will be notified by letter or card through the general office.” (Never ’
mind that with a waiting list that long, a person might have advanced tuberculosis by the time it was
decided that they were a suitable case. They might be placed within two- eight weeks he said in one of the
earlier TB stories.) The law further required that the dispensary have “three aftemoon temperatures” of the
applicant before an application could be filed. Applying directly to the municipal tuberculosis would save
time because “if you make an appointment through your alderman or the board of health, you will be
referred to your nearest Municipal Tuberculosis Dispensary for examination and the filing of your
application.” It was of paramount to apply early, because bedridden cases were sent to the tuberculosis
ward at the County Hospital. The column also provided the names, locations, open addresses, and
appointment days and times for the dispensaries. Dr. A. W. Williams, Ibid., September 2, 1916. Patients did
not have to go South or West for the cure of tuberculosis; the taxpayers of Chicago were spending “nearly
one million dollars yearly for the prevention and cure of tuberculosis.” But patients had to “go to the family
physician or to one of the city tuberculosis dispensaries and insist on an early and complete examination in
order to determine the condition” of their lungs; it was their duty. Dr. Williams provided a list of symptoms
to look out for ranging from frequent colds, prolonged cough, afternoon fevers, weight loss, shortness of
breath, side or shoulder pain, bleeding from the lungs to stopping of menstruation, nervousness, feeling
tired and worn out, disturbed sleep, night sweats, and loss of interest in one’s work. Any three symptoms
listed imbued one with the duty to take one’s self to an exam by a physician. Dr. A. W. Williams, Ibid.,

January-February 1917.

123

In January 26, 1918 it became mandatory for physicians to report “every case or
suspicious case of pulmonary tuberculosis.” Tuberculosis had been declared a reportable
disease in 1908 by city ordinance, but it was in1917 the State Department extended that
responsibility to “parents, householders, and attendants” making it punishable by a fine of
up to “$200 for each offense, or imprisonment in the county jail, or both fine and
imprisonment.” The Defender fully endorsed the law and wished that it had been passed
twenty years earlier because a lot of patients and family members of patients had evaded
reporting themselves or their loved ones, helping Spread the disease. Dr. Williams told
the story of one mother whose son was in the second stage of tuberculosis. At the end of
the examination, the mother requested that officials not tell him that he had tuberculosis.
“Just tell him it is just a little bronchial affection or a deep cold. I fear it will frighten him
to know his true condition.” The doctor scowled,

This fear is groundless, fallacious and misleading. In order that people

may make a fight against tuberculosis, they must know their true condition

by a true diagnosis after a careful examination by a competent physician,

for the good of the public. And in order that the public may be thoroughly

conversant with the rules of the Department of Health, we are going to

quote almost in total that part of rules of the reports to be made,

instructions to be given, inspection to be enforced, open cases and

precautions. We beseech our readers to carefully read and note these rules,

to preserve them, and do not blame your family physician for obeying the

regulations of the State Department of Health and that of our city.53

Dr. Williams’ campaign to educate paid increasing attention to dispelling
misconceptions, so much so that it became the sole content of some of his columns. “Mrs.

S. L. claims that she can cure and has cured the worst cases of pneumonia with an old

remedy used before the civil war by her grandmother in the treatment of pneumonia. Her

 

53 Dr. A. W. Williams, “Rules of the Illinois State Department of Health For Control of Tuberculosis,”
Ibid., January 26, 1918; and “The Fight Against Tuberculosis- Rules Formulated by the State Department
of Health,” Ibid., February 2, 1918.

124

remedy is known as Hog Hoof Tea. She advises that you go to the Stock Yards and
gather up hog hoofs; boil these hoofs for several hours, making a thick, soupy-like tea
and drink it.” What bothered the doctor the most in this case seems to have been the fact
that Mrs. S. L. also claimed that it was “not necessary to be very particular about washing
and scraping the hog hoofs,” that she advised there was “more substance in the hoofs in
their natural state.” He highlighted that he had twenty-two years of experience, and stated
that he was at a loss “to know where the Colored people find and learn of these foolish,
nonsensical remedies for various diseases named.” Examples of home remedies
abounded. One lady “insisted on going to the Union Stock Yards, into the sheep pens
there to get Sheep ninny for the purposes of sheep ninny tea to cure a child of measles.”
“Mrs. J. S. T. recently from the South claims that she can break up any fever, cure
pneumonia, la grippe, and bronchitis with plenty of boneset tea and the application of
antiphlogistine to the affected chest. These remedies may ease the mind, satisfy the
uneducated and often the nervous, sick individual but they have no curative qualities, for
the reason pneumonia is a germ disease.” Since Dr. Williams was a firm believer in
prevention he next gave a detailed account of how to prevent pneumonia. Again he
emphasized “good hygiene, sleep and rest, proper bathing and good ventilation,” and
reiterated the moral of the story in the end “The moral is: see your doctor first and do not

follow the instructions of your ignorant fiiends.”54

 

5" Dr. A. W. Williams, “Hog Hoof Tea- Boneset Tea,” Ibid., January 27, 1917. As if answering the question
he posed back in January about “where the Colored people find and learn of these foolish, nonsensical
remedies for various diseases” the doctor identified that “many of our new neighbors have come from the
rural districts where there was a scarcity of doctors and often where there was no supervision by a health
commissioner or board of health and where they have been compelled to be their own doctor or medical
adviser. In many of those Southern districts often old grannies and experienced nurses have acted as chief
medical adviser in cases of Sickness, and the calling in of the real doctor has been put off until the very last
moment after all home remedies and all foolish and ignorant advice have been exhausted, the medical man

125

Although he had alluded to it before in passing, in February 1917 Dr. Williams
placed the duty of protecting, aiding, and educating the newcomers on the shoulders of
old settlers by telling alarming stories, which signaled the need to do so. In one story Dr.
Williams reported on a conversation that he had witnessed on a streetcar between two
gentlemen. One of the gentlemen was a German, newly arrived in Chicago, the other a
white gentleman of Chicago who proclaimed that he knew a great deal “about the health
and other conditions of the Negroes.” The newly arrived gentleman reportedly remarked
on the scarcity of African Americans in the city to which the white gentleman replied
“there were from 75,000 to 100,000 Negroes in Chicago; that they were coming into this
city in great carloads everyday... but the Negroes are a weak sickly race of people and
die as fast as they come into large cities... that all Negroes die of consumption—that they
Were a tuberculous race.” The doctor commented that this was a “lie manufactured,
published and circulated by the prejudiced American white men for the purpose of
injuring the economic, insurable and social conditions of the Colored man in this
country.” To prove his point he turned to Army and Navy Reports that stated the Sick and
death rates of black regiments compared favorably with those of the best regiments. He
also drew on a Chicago Report, and firrther elaborated that “there was an alarming
increase of tuberculosis among the working classes of the white people; there were
consumptives in the advanced stage all around and above some of them cooking, some
making salads in first class hotels; others handling and dishing up food in the best hotels
and restaurants in the Loop.” Ending with the realization that very few white men

recommended “that the Negro go to the new municipal tuberculosis sanitarium,” that they

 

being called in for the purpose, often, of just writing the death certificate so as to avoid any difficulty with
the undertaker.” Dr. A. W. Williams, “The Newcomers Self Medication,” Ibid., September 22, 1917.

126

more often recommended “to the poor Colored person the advantages to be had at Oak
Forest—the poor house—“ without regard to patient’s stage of tuberculosis, Dr. Williams
pointed out the duty before the Afiican American community in Chicago to organize and
help newcomers. “There are many new people coming to Chicago from the South and the
Southwest sections of this country, and these people do not know how to live in this
climate. They Should be looked after and they should be taught how to take care of
themselves until they become thoroughly acclimated.” The “more fortunate, the better
informed” owed the “less fortunate, less informed” that much. “We should try to teach,
protect and guide the new people of the Colored Race coming to Chicago and aid and
assist them in improving their economic, educational, and health conditions.”55
In the context of such racism, Dr. Williams addressed the need to look out for the
well being of the whole community with more regularity. “Many people, especially those
who have come recently to Chicago- namely our foreigners from the old country and the
Colored people fi'om their old country (the Southland), strenuously object to having
diseases [scarlet-fever, measles, German measles, small pox and chickenpox] reported

and signs placed upon their homes, and to the quarantining of their children who are

infected” the doctor informed. This threatened the well being of whole schools full of

 

5’ Dr. A. W. Williams, “Weak, Sickly and Short Lived Race,” Ibid., February 10, 1917. With increasing
frequency Dr. Williams addressed the need of individuals to take responsibility in their ailments and seeing
the doctor early on. Many people harbored a false viewpoint of disease; they regarded sickness and disease
as “a curse of a higher power.” However, he reminded them that people were responsible for their ailments.
He advised following physicians’ advice. The doctor pointed out that sometimes when patients got better
they concluded that their doctor did not know what he was talking about. This, he argued, stemmed from
not completely understanding diagnosis. For example consumption caught at an early stage had a good
chance of recovery with rest, fresh air and good nutrition than consumption caught at a later stage. A
woman diagnosed of tuberculosis followed her doctor’s advice and got better, but claimed that the doctor’s
diagnosis was wrong because she did not die. Too, diseases differed from individual to individual. Dr.
Williams used the example of two patients diagnosed of appendicitis. The first did not take the advice of
the physician but got better after a prolonged illness. His friend shortly after diagnosed of the same took his
lead but died. Dr. A. W. Williams, “False viewpoint of disease,” Ibid., Febnrary 24, 1917.

127

children.56 Alarmed about an exanthemata epidemic (measles, scarlet fever, smallpox)
Dr. Williams urged the public to cooperate with health authorities: “It is for your benefit,
your protection to report cases not hide them.” He urged for parents to make it their duty
to acquaint themselves with the symptoms, to further make it their duty to call a
physician and quarantine children until the Department of Health said it was ok to let
them out. “If you are not able to pay a doctor, the Health Department or the County agent
will send you a doctor without any charges,” the doctor instructed, “or there is a general
free medical clinic given everyday at Provident Hospital Dispensary.”57

Continuing with his mission to prevent diseases before they became a problem,
Dr. Williams also worked to dispel medical misconceptions: “Cold weather, rainy
weather, damp weather are very negligible contributing factors to cold if the system is up
to par,” he clarified. “Colds are not contracted or carried by exposure to cold, damp
weather, the chilling of the body, wet feet, drafts, open windows or good ventilation.”58

When the Mississippi Valley Tuberculosis Conference for the Study and
Prevention of Tuberculosis was to meet in late 1917, Dr. Williams used this meeting as
another educational opportunity to stress the role of rural migration in urban health issue.

The Mississippi Valley Conference contained Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky,

Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. “This conference is of

 

56 In one example, one mother of seven children, from Alabama, four of which contracted measles and the
mother treated them “afler the fashion often followed in the South and in the rural districts.” The four
children got better, and were sent to school but a fifth child then contracted the disease. The mother then
used boneset tea, sheep ninny tea, life everlasting t'ea, hog hoof tea, goose grease; she rubbed the child’s
body with kerosene oil but when the child resisted her home remedies, she called a doctor. By then the
child’s measles had been complicated with pneumonia. Dr. A. W. Williams, “Infectious Diseases,” The
Chicago Defender, March 17, 1917. Department of Health Bulletin, October 12, 1918, Chicago Public
Library. This was punishable by a fine. And according to the Health Bulletins, “a quarantine sign on” one’s
home meant that “as a right thinking citizen you are doing your share to help prevent the spread of
disease.”

57 Dr. A. W. Williams, The Chicago Defender, March 24, 1917.

58 Dr. A. W. Williams, “The Catching of Cold Phobia” Ibid., September 29, 1917.

128

double importance to the Colored people for the reason that a large number of the
newcomers have just located in the states mentioned as composing this Conference and
that these new people will make and are making the housing conditions, the health and
sanitary conditions more complex, much more difficult to handle and any light obtainable
Should be eagerly sought on the part of our physicians, nurses and social workers.” Since
this section of the country was experiencing an influx of southern rural migrants, many of
whom were poor, unacquainted, and unaccustomed to living in the North, Williams
feared that in their pursuit of cheap rent they would overcrowd into available quarters.
Overcrowding in already bad housing conditions was sure to lead to “lung consumption
and other infectious disease.” There was a lot riding on the involvement and aid of the
more well off and the more informed. “The Race has been so long charged with being a
tuberculous race, a syphilitic race, a cancerous race...” that “the Negro doctors, nurses,
and social workers should get busy and keep busy in doing their bit to reduce to the
minimum any justification on the part of the dominant race in claiming that the Negro is a
tuberculous race.” Pointing out that these charges hurt the Afiican American community
economically and socially, he concluded with a call for readers, doctors, nurses, and
social workers to attend the Conference.59
In April 1918, the doctor’s campaign to disseminate information on preventive
medicine raged on with a renewed sense of purpose. He warned against two pieces of
advice given to patients: one, that was given to young women with tuberculosis to get
married to cure her disease, and another that was given to men with venereal disease to

marry or cohabit with a clean or virgin woman to cure venereal disease. “The public must

be taught and enlightened on these two evil practices, if we hope to accomplish much in

 

59 Dr. A. W. Williams, “The Mississippi Valley Tuberculosis Conference,” Ibid., October 6, 1917.

129

protecting and conserving the human race.” After he detailed the causes of tuberculosis
once again, Dr. Williams reminded readers “various applications made to the chest for
the purpose of drawing out the cold are worthless (antiphlogistine, poultices of flaxseed,
snuff, garlic, cow manure, onions, salt), the wearing of red flannel underwear does no
good.”60 He continued to provide facts related to tuberculosis, venereal disease, influenza
in the ensuing months.

More importantly he continued to address the issue of community rights and
responsibilities. “Prior to 1894,” he began, “the rights of the individual patient as to the
sacredness and concealment of the patient’s ailments stood far above the rights of those
of the community.” But the development of social medicine compelled the modern
doctors to take “a more comprehensive and a broader view of the matter. The modern
physician feels that the community has certain sacred rights that must be safeguarded and
not infiinged upon, the same as his individual patient.” Dr. Williams regarded having and
concealing contagious and infectious diseases as “selfishness,” “i gnOrance,” and “lack of
mental development of appreciation of one’s relation to society?“

In May of 1919 Dr. Williams began walking about town and taking stock of
sanitary measures dealing with restaurants and soda fountains. He observed and reported
waitresses’ dirty hands and nails, with which they handled knives, forks, spoons and
beverage glasses they served the customers. He cautioned also “those who serve food

Should wear tidy clothes, clean aprons, have their hands clean and be free from cough and

sneezing.”62 Soda fountains patronized by his readers did not have “running water for

 

°° Dr. A. W. Williams, Ibid., April 20, 1918.

6' Dr. A. W. Williams, “Development of Social Medicine,” Ibid., April 5, 1919.

62 Dr. A. W. Williams, “Sanitary Measures,” Ibid., May 10, 1919. (See also Department of Health Bulletin,
January 12, 1918 for Who Handles Your Food? Dirty hands and handling food: “Because this important

130

washing the glasses, dishes, Spoons, etc. after being used.”63 These places thus were
hotbeds for the spread of disease.

There is no way of knowing precisely the effectiveness of Dr. Williams’ advice.
Yet his call to community leaders to get involved in disseminating information was as
important as his health advice. Like the rest of the city officials’ and health authorities’
approach, which imbued residents with a sense of individual responsibility to prevent
diseases before they happened, Williams’ columns thus served two purposes. The totality
of the campaigns signal, for the sake of the comparison here, citizen led efforts that
highlighted the “shared” nature of city living even as they educated individuals.
Istanbul’s approach to health care was more curative, and it revolved around government
responsibility for increasing the number of existing facilities that offered curative
measures. As an extension of the government’s modernization efforts, Istanbul became a
Showcase for the technical improvements in health care. By 1950, central government
and the Istanbul municipality together were opening new hospitals and dispensaries, and
increasing patient capacityin existing centers.

It is impossible to know from existing sources the precise correlation between
rural migration and health concerns. Perhaps because of the lack of major health/ disease
concerns in the city, perhaps because they were out of the way, and perhaps because of
the more pressing daily needs of the people citywide, newcomers fi'om the rural areas did
not receive special attention in the newspapers in terms of health issues. In the few

instances when newcomers were accorded attention, there was no sense of urgency in

 

fact is becoming more generally known, there is a rapidly growing demand that those who handle and
prepare food for others to consume must be physically well and sound, that is, free fiom disease of any
kind, and that their hands must be clean. Also that they must be clean in person and attire” and laws on it.)
“3 Dr. A. W. Williams, Ibid., May 17, 1919.

I31

dealing with them. They might be living in disease, but their living conditions did not
threaten the well being of the city. It was their illegal status that bothered residents and
concerned officials alike. Istanbul’s approach to making and keeping a healthy city
consisted primarily of increasing hospital capacity. The literature on the provision of
health services takes the city as a whole, and discussions of aid available to the needy do
not separate the poor who may have been born in the city from the poor who may have
come to the city as rural migrants. However, correlating the geographical location of new
dispensaries with new migrant settlements springing up in Istanbul throughout the 19505
reveals that they were one and the same.

Istanbul

The history of government provision of health services and hospitals can be traced
to the 15‘h century in Istanbul, but when the Sagllk ve Sosyal Yardrm Bakanlrgl (Ministry
of Health and Social Services) took on the administration of medical treatment services
upon the founding of the new Turkish Republic in 1923, new laws and regulations
solidified the primary role of government in protecting urban health.“ According to the
“Umumi HrlesSlhha Kanunu” number 1593 and “Sagllk ve Sosyal Yardrm Bakanll g1
Teskilat ve Mernurin Kanunu” number 3017 among the services provided by the Ministry
and municipality were: opening hospitals, sanatoriums, centers for mental health,
maternity hospitals and child care centers, and centers for the treatment of rabies where
necessary. Not unlike today, in addition to the Ministry of Health and Social Services
other organizations such as other ministries and government offices, Sosyal Si gortalar

Kurumu, universities, municipalities and other public organizations and the private sector

 

6” See Nuran Ylldlnm, “Evvel Zaman Istanbul’unda Sagllk,” Istanbul, January 2004, 57-63 for the history
of hospitals in the Ottoman Empire.

132

participated in the founding and administration of health/ treatment services under
different laws. The Ministry also guided the efforts of the “11 Ozel Idaresi.”65 Starting in
1923, the II Ozel Idaresi in every province established what were initially generally
referred to as the “Guraba Hastahanesi” (later became Memleket Hastahanesi) and the
Ministry oversaw the treatment conditions and practices and helped iron out the
management issues. Later these Numune Hospitals were to serve as guides for other
provincial efforts. Founded in 1936 Istanbul Haydarpasa Numune Hastahanesi was one
such example. Other examples include the (Dispanser) Dispensaries that the Istanbul ll
Ozel Idaresi opened in conjunction With the municipality in Besiktas, Edimekapl, and
Uskiidar in light of section 162 of the Umumi HrfzrsSJha Kanunu.66
The first step the central government took towards the rational and planned
practice of the health services, within the First Ten Year Plan (Birinci On lellk Milli
Saglrk Planl) of 1946, aimed to spread these services and preventive medicine especially

to the less developed parts of the nation. Although an acknowledgement that as an

extension of government responsibility health services were the right of every citizen was

 

”5 Provinces in Turkey are both extensions of the central government, or “the main units of field
administration for the national government” and “elements of local government.” Locally their
responsibilities include “public works, health, welfare, and some aspects of public education.” The head of
this unit of administration is the Vali, or the governor, and he is appointed by the center. The governor
works with the Council, which “advises the governor on the provincial budget and related matters.” These
bodies have had “little independence” and have been weak fiscally and politically, and have lost “many of
their local functions to the central government.” See Danielson and Keles, The Politics of Rapid
Urbanization, 76-77. According to a 1913 Law, 11 Ozel Idareleri were responsible for overseeing
development and public works, industrial and commercial activity; opening elementary and secondary
schools and other educational facilities such as training for industries; and building health centers, among
others. Fethi Aytac, “Tiirkiye’de ll Ozel Idareleri,” 1-3. See also Isa Sagbas and Muhlis Bagdigen, Local
Government Finance in Turkey (Istanbul: Istanbul Ofset Basrm A. $., 2003), 42—45.

”6 Sagllk ve Sosyal Yardlm Bakanllgl, Sagllk PropagandaSl ve lebi Istatistik Genel Miidl'irliigii, Sagltk
Hizmetlerinde 50 Yr], (Ankara: Akylldlz Matbaasr A. 5., 1973), 256; Fahreddin and Mehtap Tatar, Yerel
Yonetimler ve Sag/1k, 109-1 10; Ylldlnm, “Evvel Zaman Istanbul’unda Sagllk,” Istanbul, 63.

133

not widespread until after the 19605, the foundations for govemment provision of health
services were laid earlier."7

Within the body of the administrative division (idari olarak) of government a
Press Bureau (Basrn Biirosu) was established for the purposes of following and collecting
news published in the media about the activities of the Ministry of Health in 1945. The
Bureau carefully studied daily newspapers and other publications. It combed the daily
news for reports concerning the Ministry and compiled, registered and sent such
compilations to units in charge of each matter. Different units then took necessary
measures as matters arose.68 Newspapers did not make any direct references to the Press
Bureau but a look at the stories published in the 1950-55 period reveal that newspapers
served as a conduit between the municipality/ ministries and other government offices
and “the people” (halk). This is evident in many stories that end with the words “we
would like to draw the authorities’ attention to the matter” and the references the
governor/ mayor reportedly made about the stories published in the newspapers. Gékay
was often quoted as having said, “complaints of the people have been heard and the
information has been passed on to the unit in charge of the matter.”

Against this backdrop, Istanbul had the highest percentage of hospitals in the

nation for at least three decades following the founding of the Turkish Republic. In 1950

when there were 201 hospitals in the whole nation, Istanbul housed 54. By 1955 the

 

67 Sag/1k Hizmetlerinde 50 Yll, pages 42-43. 1924te 150 yatakli Istanbul Cocuk Hastahanesi; Vaklflar
Idaresine bagll bulunan 20 yatakll Istanbul Guraba Hastahanesi- édenegi vaklflardan temin edilmek i‘rzere
Bakanllga baglanm1$tlr. Istanbul Ozel Idaresi Verem Savas Dispanseri aclyor; ilk ve Bakanllk istek ve
onayl ile. 1924 ylllnda 110 yatakll Haydarpasa da bulasrcr hastallklarln tecrit ve tedavisi icin Bulasrcr ve
Salgrn Hastallklar Hastahanesi acllmls. 1941 de Istanbul Gégiis Cerrahi Merkezi: kalp ve gogiis
hastallklarl. 1943 kemik hastallklarl, Istanbul Baltalimanl Kemik Hastallklarl Hastahanesi. 1924 Istanbul
ruh hastallklarr tedavisi 1927 Akliye ve Asabiye Hastahanesi ismi altlnda Baklrkoyde bulunan Resadiye
Klslasma nakledilmistir. ..

68 Sagltk Hizmetlerinde 50 Yll, 210.

134

number of total hospitals in the nation had doubled to 417 and Istanbul now housed 64 of
them. Istanbul was also the educational center for doctors, so it comes as no surprise that
in 1950 with 595 doctors, Istanbul had 20 percent of the 3,020 doctors in the country,
while five years later 2,337 out of the nation’s 7,077 doctors resided in Istanbul.69
Despite the central government’s efforts to bring health services to the rest of the
nation Istanbul health services were overloaded. Patients from across the nation came to
Istanbul, and the city’s own increasing population necessitated opening new hospitals, in
some cases, adding beds or new wings in others. New dispensaries were opened across
the city, especially around migrant settlements.70 At first, only a few newspaper stories
alerted Istanbul residents to the increase in health services. May of 1950 brought an
announcement that the lOO-year anniversary of Florence Ni ghtingale’s appearance in the
city during the Crimean War would be commemorated by opening a hospital in her name
in 1954. Ord. Prof. Srddrk Sami led the Committee in charge of the realization of the
project for the Florence Nightingale Hospital/ Nurse School (Hemsire Kolej ve
Hastanesi). This announcement came from a news conference held at the Biiyiik Kliip of
Beyoglu in which distinguished guests and philanthropists took part. AS will be seen
shortly, the presence of philanthropists (hayrrsever zevat) was not something that
generally appeared in Istanbul Ekspres stories. Rather, stories more frequently listed the

govemor/mayor, health directors, ministers of the central government, members of the

National Assembly, and some others as those present in such occasions.7|

 

69 Istanbul Killliyatt, C umhuriyet Dc'inemi Istanbul Istatistik/eri: Sag'llk I 92 7-1996.

7° Dispanser: “outpatient clinics providing free or low cost treatment.” The Municipality, Vilayet, various
Ministries and private efforts worked towards opening more centers.

7' “Florence Nightingale Kulr’ip ve Hastahanesi kurulacak,” Hit'rriyet, 11 May 1950.

135

In April 1952 Hiirriyet recognized that the “Isci Sigortalan Hastahanesi”
(Workers Insurance Hospital) no longer met the needs of the increasing numbers of
workers in the city. The Sigortalar Miidi’lrliigii (Directorate of the Insurances) publicized
their decision to build a new hospital of 200 beds in Samatya and open outpatient clinics
in various parts of the city. In this way, they believed, the organization (Si gorta Sagllk
Teskilatr) would function “more perfectly” with the additional 250-300 beds.72

More good news followed in the December of the same year. Ekrem Hayri
Ustfindag, (Sagllk ve Sosyal Yardrm Bakanr) Minister of Health and Social Services,
announced that the chkoz Kasrl would be converted into a 250 bed tuberculosis center,
that a 150 bed children’s hospital (preventorium) would be opened on Kosuyolu, and a
new 100 bed sanatorium would be opened in Erenkdy for the University age youth.73
This last effort, the Erenkt’iy sanatorium for University age youth, seems to been
undertaken with aid from Klleay. The Journal of Klzrlay framed adding 100 beds to the
Erenkéiy Sanatorium as a service that would “advance the knowledge of the nation.” By
protecting those with “natural abilities,” those with natural abilities being the intellectual
treasure, the educated youth, Krzrlay helped protect those who were destined to play
important roles in the future of the nation.74

In September of 1954, the Minister of Health and Social Services (Sagllk ve
Sosyal Yardrm Vekili) Dr. Behcet Uz announced that a municipal hospital with one
thousand-beds was in the works. This announcement followed inspections that U2

conducted of the existing Cerrahpasa and Haseki Hospitals, which he left with favorable

 

72 “Isci Sigortalarl yeni hastahane yapacak,” Ibid., 7 April 1952. Notice the brief mention of two other
hospitals in this story: “Tekel Sagllk Muessesesi” and “Denizcilik BankaSJ Hastahanesi.”

73 Istanbul Ekspres, 7 December 1952. Additionally a Cancer Institute was being built in Ankara. Cancer
was starting to receive more attention from the Ministry.

7’ Mfimtaz Faik Fenik, “Klleay’ln cok haylrll callsmalarl,” Klleay Dergisi No. 43, August 1952.

136

impressions.7S Also in September of 1954, it was announced that a 500 bed Children’s
Mental Hospital would be opened in Baklrkoy, thanks to the efforts of the Ministry of
Health (Saglrk Velraleti).76

In the period 1950-1955 beds were also added to existing hospitals or centers. In
December 1952 Ustiindag announced that 800 beds would be added to the Mental
Hospital in Bakrrkiiy, and 120 beds to the Baltalimanr Hospital.77 Records indicate that
between 1950 and 1952 number of beds in Istanbul hospitals had gone from 9,875 to
11,594 in all hospitals, public and private. Beds in public hospitals had increased about
ten times the beds in private hospitals (about 20002200).78 The annual increase in the
numbers of beds reflected the nationwide increase in health and social aid needs. In 1955
Hiirriyet reported that “1,320 new beds will be added to various hospitals.” Because
many patients did not find room in hospitals and because others waited a period of one
year to be admitted into a tuberculosis (verem) center, this was good news. (Alakalllar)
Interested/ Concerned parties “revealed that there are currently a total of 23,058 beds in
various hospitals and they would like to bring that number up to 24,378 by adding 1,320
new beds within this year.” 650 beds had been set aside as additions to the 6,557 beds in
TB centers.” It is not clear how Hiirriyet came across the number of beds but official
records reveal that number to be 34,526 nationwide in the end of 1955 and 12,731 in

Istanbul. This was an increase of 2856 beds in Istanbul between 1950 and 1955.80

 

7’ “1000 yatakll Belediye Hastahanesi kurulacak,” Istanbul Ekspres, 9 September 1954.

76 “Akrl Hastasr Cocuklar Icin Bir Hastahane Kuruluyor,” Ibid., September 1954.

77 Ibid., 7 December 1952. Additionally a Cancer Institute was being built in Ankara. Cancer was starting
to receive more attention from the Ministry.

7” “Tablo 2: Kamu ve Ozel Hastaneler ve Yatak Sayllarl,” in Istanbul Killliyatl C umhuriyet Do'nemi
Istanbul Istatistik/eri: Sagllk 1927-1996, 108.

79 “Hastahanelere yeniden 1320 yatak ilave edilecek,” Hiirriyet, 2 January 1955.

80 “Table 2: Kamu ve Ozel Hastaneler ve Yatak Sayrlarl,” in Istanbul Kiilliyatl C umhuriyet Do'nemi
Istanbul Istattlstiltleri: Sagltk 1927-1996, 108.

137

Meanwhile addition of new wings contributed to expanding health services as
well. “70 thousand lira has been set aside by the Vilayet (ll/Province) to add a surgical
wing to the Haydarpasa Numune Hastanesi for brain surgery.” The Directorate of Health
(Saglrk Mi’rdfirli'lgfi) had also decided to begin the procedure for a new blood bank (kan
verme istasyonu) within the Beyoglu Hospital. The payments allotted for this new blood
bank would be made in installments by the Ministry of Health. Additionally it was
decided to build a new urology pavilion in Sisli.8| A year later, following the
municipality’s decision to provide the necessary revenue from its budget, it was
announced that a new children’s clinic would be opened within Cerrahpasa Hospital.82 In
December 1952 Ustiindag informed the public that 1.5-2 million lira had been set aside ‘
for the additional wing to the Sisli Hospital, and a new floor to the Taksim tuberculosis
center.83

In addition many low cost/free (based on need) outpatient clinics appeared across
the city. The opening ceremonies for these new centers provided an occasion for good
deeds. Some of these good deeds consisted of distribution of free medicines. At other
times such occasions gave the govemor/mayor additional personal time with the
“villagers.” (“additiona1” because he did not wait for these occasions to communicate
directly with the people. He made many separate visits to various villages throughout his
career.) “Director of the Istanbul Health and Social Aid Directorate, (Saglrk ve Sosyal

Yardrm Ml’idfirl'i) visited various villages in the Caltalca kazasr (subdivision of a province)

and determined the steps that will be taken to eradicate the cases of scabies (uyuz) and

 

8' “Beyin cerrahisi pavyonu icin 70 bin lira veirldi,” Hiirriyet, 9 April 1950.
’2 “Cerrehpasa Hastahanesinde Cocuk Klinigi Acllacak,” Ibid., 28 March 1951.
83 Istanbul Ekspres, 7 December 1952.

138

distributed some medicine against the disease.”84 On the same day, the governor/mayor
conducted the foundation ceremony for a Dispanser in the same area. Those present at
this ceremony were: some members of the Grand National Assembly, the Vilayet
inspector of the Democratic Party (DP vilayet mi’rfettisi), the director of Health (Sagllk
miidiirii), doctors and a crowd consisting of “the people.” The kaymakam (official
charged with governing a provincial district) of Catalca gave aShort Speech followed by
the govemor’s speech in which he underlined how central government placed an
emphasis on the efforts for a healthier Istanbul, and outlined the benefits this Dispanser
would bring to the district. The governor then broke ground.85

Two years later, when the center opened its doors, the governor mayor again did
the honors in the presence of members of the City Council and journalists. “The
governor/mayor gave a speech which covered the significance of April 23 for the entire
nation, and ended with his best wishes for the work that the Dispanser would provide for
the community,” a story stated. Those present got the chance to hear a full blown
explanation of how the center was to carry out its work as they were given a tour of the

center. Following the day’s events, “the governor chatted with the villagers.”86

 

8“ “Sagllk Muduruntin Catalca k6ylerinde yaptlgt tetkikler,” Hurriyet, 28 July 1950.

85 “Dun Catalcada bir dispanserin temeli atlldl,” Hilrriyet, 28 July 1950. See also Erhan Kaplan, “Tl"rrk
Siyasal Sisteminin Temel Belgelerinde Kadln ve Kadln Sorunu,” (Unpublished MA Thesis Submitted to
Istanbul Universitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitiisii Kadln Callsmalarl Ana Bilim Dalr, Istanbul, 1998), 1-55.
This thesis looks at Political Party Programs from 19205 through 19808 to determine how each political
pany approached women’s conditions and issues. Party programs, when they mentioned women at all,
concentrated on women as child bearers and on their role in increasing the nation’s population. Through the
19305-1950 these party programs provide some insight into how political parties approached women’s
health issues: they promised to increase the number of maternity hospitals; to open child care centers for
working mothers; to increase the number of professionally trained midwives. In the 10 year Democratic
Party rule through the 19508, the DP did not mention women once, but CHP (in power 1923-1947)
continued to “promise” to provide more health education and professional health help.

86 “Catalca Dispanseri diin aclldl,” Ibid., 25 April 1952. April 23 is Cocuk Bayraml, The National
Children’s Festival.

139

Soon, other centers followed. These centers were located in various districts of the
city. Some of these districts may have been wealthier districts, which might be
interpreted as not needing such low cost services. However, since even rich districts
contained poorer areas within them a Dispanser could be opened in parts of Besiktas as

well as Karagiimriik, Bakrrktiy, Uskiidar, and Kuzguncuk as demand dictated.

Unlike the situation in Chicago, in Istanbul there was limited participation of ‘
citizen groups in promoting health care. Although established in Turkey as a war time
measure that would also meet the need in emergency situations such as floods, and
earthquakes, Krzrlay served Istanbul in various ways from administering dispensaries,
and distributing food items and cleaning products to educating and taking care of youth
whose families were to poor to properly provide for them. In October 1950 Krzrlay
claimed to have helped 20,000 poor citizens and 12,000 poor students since 1942 through
soup kitchens. Soup kitchens in 17 districts with 18 additional distribution centers
distributed a bowl of food a day to the needy, provided a bar of soap a week, and coal
when the organization’s budget allowed for it. Further, the Istiklal Branch of Krzrlay
contributed to the intra-city circumcision ceremony that year which drew boys from
Ankara, Izrnit, Ayvalrk, Bolu and Edime to the Bebek Municipal Garden.87 The next year
Krzrlay reported that in Beyoglu, Istiklal and Nisantasl districts their dispensaries had
seen more than 1,718 patients between January and April, not including figures fiom the
Nisantasr branch.88 By 1952 Krzrlay took preventive medicine outside Istanbul, to the

villages in three different provinces. The institution claimed that it served both “the

 

87 “Kathy Istanbul Asocaklan,” Ktzrlay Dergisi, October 1950.
8“ Ibid., March 1951.

140

enlightened and elite citizens of Istanbul, and the producer class on the farm” and was
now helping the people actively pursue happiness.89

Klzllay gently hinted at philanthropists’ contributions to their events and efforts.
Kadln Gazetesi recognized the need for the wealthier residents’ contributions and called
for them. Often stories on the activities of the Istanbul Branch of the “Yardlmsevenler
Demegi” (Philanthropic Association) appeared in the Kadln Gazetesi. The association
had begun its operations in Istanbul 1941 with the general monetary and moral
contributions of the governor/mayor. In its inception the association served soldiers and
aided soldiers’ families, and helped train volunteer nurses aids in Haseki, Guraba,
Cerrahpasa, Numune, Giimiissuyu, and Children’s Hospitals and Klzrlay Nursing School.
Following the end of the war, the association continued to help the people’s struggle with
the rise in cost of living in their daily lives, and distributed sugar, soap and medicines to
those who did not have the means to purchase them. Further, the association rented public
Turkish baths and ensured that the poor could bathe. Association members also kept an
eye on school age children providing them financial aid for schoolbooks, pajamas and
underwear when they went to youth camps, and medicine.90

The fact that Istanbul had 50-60 hospitals did not guarantee patients a place in
such. In 1951 a call for waiting and sheltering stations outside the hospitals sounded in
the columns of the Kadtn Gazetesi. Kadtn Gazetesi, founded in 1947 and owned and
edited by a woman, addressed the social issues of the city from the perspective of
women. With a staff comprised of famous women authors, doctors, lawyers and

educators, the newspaper campaigned to combine the efforts of all women across Istanbul

 

8" Ibid., August 1952.
90 “Yardlmseverler Demegi Istanbul Il Merkezinin Yllllk Balosu,” Kadtn Gazetesi, 23 January 1950.

141

for general reforms. As it related to hospital conditions, authors revealed what they
themselves had witnessed many times, that poor patients had to wait in the conidors, in
fiont of hospital entrances, and on the cold stone floors of the hospitals. Similar
conditions existed in all of the hospitals, which were broadly organized central hospitals
that served the patients fiom all provinces of the nation such as Gureba, Cerrahpasa and
Haseki Hospitals and Clinics of the Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine. Authors
called for the generous and well-to-do millionaires of Istanbul to act as did the wealthy in
other nations and aid their governments to provide better health services.”

Along with the numbers of people needing help, the numbers of those getting help
in the centers was increasing. In 1955 the Association for the Eradication of Tuberculosis
(Verem Savas Dernegi) planned a new center in each of the five districts just listed, and
was “in the process of purchasing the land necessary for the new center‘s.”92 A total of
20,387 patients had been seen in the various centers around the city in 1953 and soon
those who benefited from this public service would reach 100,000.93
. Occasionally newspapers reported doctors’ individual activities and
achievements. Given the scarcity of doctors at the time this should come as no surprise.
But keeping in mind that Turkey wanted to be seen as modernizing both domestically and

internationally, and that the nation depended on imported medicines and technologies,

sending professionals overseas to top off their education and technical training was a part

 

9' Hasene llgaz, Ibid., October 1951.

’2 “Verem Savas Demegi, sehrimizde yeniden 5 dispanser acacak,” Istanbul Ekspres, 23 February 1955.
Likewise three years later in 1958 a new center was opened in Zeytinbumu with the traditional ceremony in
which the Director of Health and an assistant to the governor each gave a short speech, emphasizing again
the extent of the service provided: That being involved in community health was the biggest and most
significant of public services. They also revealed that Kadlkéy would soon become the host of a new
Dispanser in the next year.

9’ “Zeytinbumu Dispanseri Merasimle Hizmete Girdi,” Ibid., February 1958. In 1957 that number had
reached 111,729.

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of the modernizing effort. Newspapers especially reported when a doctor attended an
international conference. For instance, upon his return from a Radiology Conference in
London, Prof. Muhterem G6kem reported that about 1700 attended the conference and
each attendee presented a paper on the works and progress made in his own country,
which resulted in a very significant exchange of information leading to new
developments in throat and breast cancer.94 Again, when pediatrician Doctor Naci
Somersan left for Europe he made the news.95 The governor was also a doctor himself
and made the news in his other professional persona when he traveled as a doctor.96
Newspapers also kept on top of reported diseases, changing regulations, and
miscellaneous developments. For example, in 1950, following 430 health related
complaints registered with a new Bureau of Complaints, founded by the Health
Directorate, the newspaper happily reported that 338 of such complaints, many of which
related to open sewers and public bathrooms, had been resolved.97 In 1952 the newspaper
printed a list of the reported diseases: 6 cases of typhoid fever (kara humma), 8 cases of
diphtheria, 6 cases of (klzll) scarlet fever, 31 cases of measles, 3 cases of anthrax (or
charbon- sarbon), 16 cases of whopping cough (bogmaca), 1 case of paratyphoid, 1 case
of meningitis, and the necessary precautions had been taken.98 In that same year they
reported that a new regulation (restriction of fresh fi'uits in the hospital) in the “Gureba

hastahanesi” disgruntled patients and doctors alike when the director of the hospital

 

9” “Radyoloji kongresinden gelen profesoriimiiziin anlattlklarl,” Hiirriyet, 16 August 1950.

95 “Doktor Naci Somersan Avrupaya gitti,” Hiirriyet, 30 May 1952.

9" Istanbul Ekspres, 23 September 1952. If a conference took place in Istanbul it made the news as well, as
in the case of the “Kanser hastaligi hakkinda muhim bir toplanti: turk mikrobiolji cemiyeti, yarin saat
1830da etibba odasinda ehemmiyetli bir kongre tertip etmistir. Bu toplantiya viyanali professor gerlach da
istirak edecek ve kanser mevzuunda munakasali ve projeksiyonlu muzakereler yapilacaktir.” “Kanser
hastallgl hakklnda mi'lhim bir toplantr,” Hiirriyet, 28 March 1951.

97 “Bir haftada sagllk isleriyle ilgili 43 siltayet yaplldl,” Ibid., 11 May 1950.

98 “Schirde cesitli hastallklar gorfildii,” Ibid., 30 May 1952.

143

prohibited fresh fruit from being brought into the hospital. The director argued that fresh
fruit, when left to sit out for a while, attracted too many flies. The newspaper just wanted
to bring the people’s displeasure with this decision “to the attention of the Health
Directorate.”99 But the director’s decision to disallow fresh fruits in his hospital does not
sound so unreasonable when one considers that the increase of flies warranted a war
against houseflies throughout the city in August 1952.

Concern for public cleanliness, thus, resembled earlier campaigns in Chicago, as
Istanbul residents made this into a personal, as well as a public campaign. The
motivations may well have differed,'°0 yet the influx of migrants and their poor living
conditions, moved some Istanbulites to undertake this campaign. Istanbul Ekspres called
the people of the city to unite in their battle against the common housefly. “First things
first” the campaign writer announced, “Cleanliness.” Filth attracted flies, which the
author reminded his readers, “make their headquarters at the garbage dumps.” The
newspaper encouraged the public to put their garbage away and keep their living areas
free of any kind of refuse. The public was also encouraged to keep an eye out on their
neighbors and steer them towards cleanliness when necessary.””

The next summer it was reported that the municipal health director was expecting
financial aid in the battle against the housefly.102 It was now a war against both the
housefly and the mosquito. In many districts residents, especially of Bakrrk6y, Erenkéiy
and both sides of the Bosphorus, were under an unprecedented attack by armies of

mosquitoes. Fingers pointed to the inefficiency and the indifference of the organizations

 

9" “Hergiin Bir Istanbullunun 10 Derdi. . Istanbul Ekspres, August 1952.

'00 Here I am referring to the fact that cleanliness in Turkish culture is part of the Islamic tradition, which
maintains that it is a reflection of religious faith.

'0' Istanbul Ekspres, August 1952.

'°2 “Karasinek mt‘rcadelesi,” Ibid., Summer 1953.

144

in charge of this fight. According to the organization, rain was to blame for the increase
in flies and mosquitoes. “Whatever the cause, our city is suffering from an increase in

d.'03 Three days later

these nuisances and the people are awaiting rescue” the story ende
headlines sounded more urgent: Houseflies and mosquitoes had “enveloped” the city,
especially Baklrk6y, Yesilkdy and F lorya. The cause was buried garbagelo"

The invasion of the houseflies and mosquitoes seems to have been a seasonal
problem; the garbage problem was not. The problem of garbage collection was a year
round problem which worsened in the summer time. Residents citywide suffered the
shortage of garbage collection services and garbage collectors. In August 1950, two years
prior to the invasion of the flies, Hiirriyet reported that a thorough decision had been
reached for the cleanliness of Istanbul: The city would purchase new garbage trucks and
(arazoz: street sweepers?) “As publicly announced previously,” the author added, “the
municipality encourages all residents to keep the streets, store fronts, and the areas
around their dwellings clean.” Melon slices and comcobs were summer nuisances on the
streets. They were planning to put into effect certain punitive measures against those who
littered the streets with such objects. '05

A few weeks later, the newspaper very enthusiastically announced that those who
littered would receive “major punishments.” It had also been brought to officials’

attention that many districts across the city suffered from lack of public bathrooms.

Residents were reported as using the streets for such purposes exacerbating the garbage

 

'03 “Karasinekten sonra sivrisinekte cogaldl,” Hiirriyet, 14 August 1955.
104 “Istanbul’u karasinek ve sivrisinekler kapladr,” Hilrriyet, 17 August 1955.
'05 “Istanbul’un temizligi icin esasll karar allndl,” Ibid., 21 August 1950.

145

problem. The municipality would begin efforts to clean and upkeep such areas and take
serious preventative measures, such as costly fines.I06

For many years to follow garbage collection remained one of the “unresolved
problems” of Istanbul, especially during the summer. Istanbul Ekspres published many
stories of the suffering of residents in various districts. One resident complained that
garbage men picked up their trash and then dumped it in front of their dwelling. Another
agreed that even when they did work, garbage collectors never really complied with city
regulations. '07

In the beginning of August 1953 Istanbul Ekpsres published the response they
received from the offices in charge of the garbage problem. In the response Temizlik
Isleri, the office in charge, admitted that they were not pleased with the infrequency of
the garbage pick-ups and agreed that the people had just cause for their objections. The
city owned only fifty garbage trucks for the collection of the whole city’s garbage.
Realistically, fifty trucks meant that they were so ill equipped that the city could barely
cover a quarter of Istanbul. To add insult to injury, most of these fifty trucks were in bad
condition. For these reasons and for the fact that many garbage collectors went back to
their villages in the summer time, the office had big gaping holes. At the time they
employed one garbage man per 3-4 kilometers of the city, whereas the more acceptable
number would have been six to eight garbage men per 600 meters.'08 In the end of

August 1953 the governor/mayor made a public announcement kindly requesting

residents’ cooperation with the municipality in the face of a shortage of garbage men in

 

'06 “Sokaklarl kirletenler aglr ceza g6recek,” Ibid., 9 September 1950.

'07 See Istanbul Ekspres, August 1952; and Sabiha Tuncel, “Hergiin Bir Istanbullunun 10 Derdi...” Istanbul
Ekspres, July 1952.

'08 “Temizlik Islerinden Aldlglmlz Cevap: Dért Kilometreye Bir CDpcii Dl'isiiyor,” Ibid., 3-4 August 1953.

146

the city. Many garbage collectors had returned to their villages because it was harvest
season hence disrupting city garbage pickup. Once again, he asked city residents to keep
the streets, store fronts, and areas around their dwellings clean, adding a request for
builders to dispose of their rubble properly, kindly reminding all citizens that doing
otherwise was actually punishable by law. '09

About a week later the newspaper reported that the municipality decided to
expand the team of garbage collectors and to purchase new trucks. The municipality also
publicly recognized that city cleanliness would lead to city health, a healthy city.
Highlighting the newspaper’s role in bringing about this positive change the author
stated. “As our readers will easily remember this newspaper interviewed many residents
in various parts of the city and they almost unifome registered their complaints about
the inadequacy of garbage collection and cleanliness.”' '0

Yet change on paper did not quickly translate into improvement in all areas of the
city. In the October of 1954 a cartoon displayed a neighborhood “receiving” ceremony,
one fitting for the highest government officials, for the garbage collector. While the
neighborhood was ready to receive the garbage collector, a group of residents from a
neighboring area was trying to lure him toward their own district, telling him “We

provide rice and dessert in our area.”I ”

 

‘09 “$ehrin temizligi,” Ibid., 25 August 1953.

"° “$ehrin temizligi, sehirlinin srhhati demektir,” Ibid., 3 September 1953.

111 “Hosgeldin Cdpcfibasl,” Akbaba No. 137, 28 October 1954. Within two years it was announced that the
municipality made the necessary appropriations for a new factory for “ch imhasi” (incineration). One of
the longest unresolved problems of the city would soon cease to be a problem. About a year prior to this it
had been suggested to burn the heaps of garbage. Previously, garbage had been dealt with in different ways
such as being dumped into the Bogaz, or being buried. A brief mention of how a group of professors at the
Technical University worked on garbage analysis for a year and submitted their report to the proper
authorities shows that University Professors were consulted in the search for solutions. “C6p imhasr icin
fabrika kurulacak,” Istanbul Ekspres, 31 January 1955.

147

In the beginning of 1958 Havadis announced the completion of a film in which
the new municipal bans were depicted. These three-minute documentary films depicted
which behaviors merited punishment by the municipality and they were to be
provided/distributed to various movie theaters across Istanbul. Meanwhile 48 persons had
received punishment for failure to obey decisions regarding city cleanliness, and 15
kaprcrs who worked in areas between Taksim and Harbiye received (ceza zaptr) for
dumping apartment building garbage on the street.l '2 These documentary films were the
later 20th century equivalent of the 19103 Chicago Public Health Association’s public
meetings.

In April the film was ready and one author believed it would be more effective
than official written announcements by the press. Experience showed that written
warnings and official reprimands, even under the threat of punishment, did not reach all
of the people. Even those who did read them sometimes misinterpreted them.

Let me use the example of the prohibition on beating rugs from the side of

the balconies: housewives and cleaning ladies are still unaware of the ban.

Or many of them interpret the ban in many different ways. When on the

streets you can witness such rug beatings for yourself at all hours of the

day. Furthermore, you may come across those who litter, and spit on the

streets. The hemseri of course did not hear about this ban either, or

interpreted it in his own way. Someone who saw in the propaganda film a

temizlik zabltaSl (municipal police force on cleanliness) interfere with a

passenger who threw his bus ticket on the street exclaimed, “oh this is

banned, too?” This film clearly identifies what is banned, leaving no doubt
for any misunderstanding or misinterpretation.I '3

 

”2 Havadis, 23 January, 1958.
"3 Ibid., April 1958.

148

With this film in place, the next month municipal officials began collecting fines from
offenders on the spot. 1,500 persons paid cash for the offenses of littering and Spitting
over three days before the second week of May ended.l ’4

The seasonal problems seem to have received more attention in the Istanbul
Ekspres than other, potentially more serious problems. In the few instances where the
newspaper specifically mentioned spread of disease, messages were brief but clear. For
example, in an interview with the Chief of Staff (Bastabip) of the Istanbul Cilt ve Zuhrevi
Hastalrklan Hastanesi (Hospital for Skin and Venereal Diseases), Nurettin Bey revealed
that newcomers from the rural areas made up the majority of the increasing Venereal
Disease cases. In an interview replete with the interviewer’s dramatic observations of the
nature of patients sitting around the yard, the Chief of Staff provided some information
about the werkings of the hospital. It was a hospital of 100 beds whose patients were
“licensed” women referred to them from Beyoglu and Galata, and some men who
frequented houses of prostitution referred to them by the Police Department. It was a
small establishment consisting of one of each of the following: Skin disease specialist,
bacteriologist, assistant, head nurse, pharmacist and administrative government official in
charge of the paperwork. The hospital also admitted patients from other hospitals when
other hospitals ran out of beds. In the midst of all of this information, Nurettin Bey
mentioned in passing that due to mere (here the word ignorance connotes innocence,

because ignorance was no fault of their own) ignorance those who came from Anadolu

 

"4 Ibid., 11 May, 1958.

I49

made up the majority among the patients in this hospital.I '5 There was no sense of
urgency in this story.

Likewise, the story of Tifo (typhoid) cases in the Rami immigrant neighborhood
lacked a sense of urgency. It merely stated that Rami settlement contained seventy five
cases of Tifo resulting from the use of contaminated well water, Sagllk Miidiirliigii had
already inoculated Six thousand persons in the area, shut down the use of wells and
disinfected the houses.l '6 Both stories depict incidences of containment, and provide the
sense that such diseases were the responsibility of the officials, and they were easily
contained by the Sagllk Miidiirliigii.

When it came to reporting on actual and/or potential diseases and health
problems, the newspaper seems to have been more concerned with reporting numbers
than actual cases. “1,101,500 patients have been seen and treated in the 63 hospitals in
Istanbul in 1954. 127,000 of them have been admitted (yatakta), and 973,509 have been
seen as outpatients (ayakta). 655,598 patients were seen in hospitals owned or run by the
government (devlet ve devlete baglr mi’resseseler hastahanelerinde), 294.067 were seen in
municipal hospitals, and 151,830 received care in private facilities. There are currently
12,494 beds total in the 63 hospitals in Istanbul. In the last four years since 1950, nine
new hospitals have opened, increasing the number of beds by 2,717.”1 '7

TB was taken more seriously than increasing venereal or typhoid cases.'18 “The

TB ‘disaster’ will soon be outlawed,” a headline announced. A new law was in the

making that would speed up the war against TB. The new law would make the

 

”5 “Zuhrevi Hastaliklarr Yoketmege callsan Haylrll Milessesede. ..Hasta1ar icinde Anadoludan Gelenler
Nicin Ekseriyeti Temsil Ediyor?” Istanbul Ekspres, June 1953.

”6 “Tifo vakalarl,” Ibid., June 1953.

”7 “195 senesinde,” Ibid., 31 March 1955.

”8 Ylldlnm, “Ewel Zaman Istanbul’unda Sagllk,” Istanbul, 62—63; Sagllk Hizmetlerinde 50 I’ll, 253.

150

importation of medicines and other supplies easier, lifting the various taxes and tariffs on
imported medicine. It was hoped that the new lift of taxes would help reduce the number
of TB deaths, currently at about 40,000 annually. Civil servants (Devlet bi’rtcesinden
maas alanlarla Belediye ve hususi idarelerinden maas ve l’icret alanlardan) with the
disease would be considered “on vacation” for up to two years, and will still collect their
salaries. A High Council for the Fight against TB, formed within the Ministry of Health,
would concentrate only on the war against TB. The law that would lift the taxes would
also apply to centers for TB, both public and private. According to the statistics complied
by the Association for the Fight Against TB (Veremle Miicadele Cemiyeti) out of the 1
million 100 thousand Istanbul population in 1945, 314 died of the disease. The good
news was that in 1953 the number of deaths had been reduced to 100. The story also
announced that, as it was an annual custom, January 9-15 was declared the War Against
TB week to instill in the public mind the idea of this war against TB. The minister of
health was to launch the week with a speech and conferences at schools and on the public

radio, and instructive films at the theaters.l '9

Chicago and Istanbul approached health needs brought on by increasing rural
migration differently.- In Chicago, spurred on by the combined voluntary efforts of
women and medical professionals to modernize immigrant mothers, the Department of
Health joined the public health movement, campaigned and educated Chicagoans about
preventive measures for a healthier overall Chicago. Because many facilities were
racially segregated, and also because they were familiar with the threat posed by poverty

and congested living conditions in the spread of urban diseases such as tuberculosis, old

 

”9 “Verem afeti yaklnda kanun dlsl edilecek!” Hilrriyet, 1 January 1955.

151

settlers again shouldered the extension of the citywide public health campaign to their
own group of newcomers. These included sending African American visiting nurses to
Afiican American households, explaining the city’s health services via the pages of the
Chicago Defender, and advising newcomers to adopt new habits to prevent diseases.

In Istanbul, as they had done with housing issues, local and national officials
presided over health matters as well. In this, officials took steps to increase the number of
professionally trained midwives, nurses, and doctors, some of whom were sent to Europe
and the United States to top off their training and learn the most recent technical
advances. The whole nation would benefit from such advances. More specifically local
officials increased patient capacity in existing hospitals, added new wings, and opened
new hospitals and dispensaries to meet the needs of a city whose population was rising by
hundreds of thousands of rural newcomers. Rural newcomers received little special
attention, Istanbulites’ contributions were hinted at, and the few calls for more citizen
involvement to improve the conditions in the existing facilities remained largely
unanswered.

How much potential there was for local involvement in local politics also differed
between the two cities, a factor that also characterizes the ways in which rural newcomers
became part of their new city. In Chicago newcomers would take their new political
freedoms and power to new heights by working with leaders in the African American
community and voting to elect the first few Afiican American aldennen into the City
Council. In Istanbul, because the solutions to newcomers’ local problems such as housing
and provision of services lay in the central government, and because the nature of local

government was defined differently, local politics took back stage. Istanbulites, old and

152

new, watched as their municipality took measures to improve daily life in a general way,
but felt either powerless to participate or did not see local politics as an important

element in their daily lives.

153

Chapter 4 Municipalities

“The city is the largest corporation in Chicago. Every citizen benefits by its annual expenditure of
some $70,000,000. The aldennen are its board of directors, elected by over 800,000 registered

”I
voters.

“Under the Turkish Constitution, local governments are public corporations established to meet
the common local needs of the citizens of the provinces, municipal districts, and villages, whose
decision making organs are popularly elected...”2 (emphasis mine)

Politics, as with housing and health, was an arena in which a sense of belonging,
or not, to the city was fashioned. Despite the seemingly Similar political Situation that the
above quotes describe, the precise dimensions of the corporate nature of each city
determines the relationship of each city to its municipal government. Examining
residents’ interaction with their local government provides another window through
which to observe the time- and place-specific responses to the modernizing city.
Chicago residents felt that they could change and Shape their local government and its
officials with the power of their vote; Istanbul residents and their local government
depended on decisions from the central state. Examining these different local political
cultures, and whether they facilitated interactions among city residents or not,
demonstrates how old settlers in Chicago could work to integrate newcomers into the
existing political order of the community, while the modernization project of the state
continued to shape the political culture and limit the political possibilities of Istanbul

residents.

 

' “Twenty-Second Annual Preliminary Report of the Municipal Voters League,” February 2, 1917, in
Charles E. Merriam Papers, Box 73 Folder 11, University of Chicago.

2 Michael N. Danielson and Rusen Keles, The Politics of Rapid Urbanization: Government and Growth in
Modern Turkey (New York: Holmes and Meier, 1985), 75.

154

Chicago was first chartered as a city in 1837. New charters and state incorporation
laws were implemented over time as the city grew and its government “became
correspondingly large and complex.”3 Throughout the 19th century, Chicago mayors and
City Council members had been associated with political graft and bossism such as
speeding up immigrants’ naturalization processes for voting purposes, impersonating
people or double voting, providing jobs for their constituents in exchange for their votes,
and accepting bribes from companies that competed for contracts, among others.4 By the
late 19105 the city administration had gone through different stages of corruption and
growth, culminating in massive and far reaching Progressive Era reforms such as more
efficient city government and civil service reform.S

In the United States, all cities are the legal creatures of their state governments.
State legislatures confer power upon cities either through state incorporation acts in their
constitutions or through individual municipal charters. In Illinois, despite state laws,
especially those regarding taxation and finance, that placed restrictions on Chicago’s
ability to govern itself totally free of outside interference, the City Council exercised
much autonomous power. Because Chicago aldennen were elected on a ward basis to
serve on the City Council, Chicago residents had a very direct relationship with their

local representative to the Council. These 70 aldermen, 2 fiom each of the 35 wards, held

 

3 Chicago then began operating under “the Illinois State Statutes, Chapter 24, the Illinois Municipal Code,
which was originally passed in 1872 and has been periodically revised.” Modern urban problems have
heightened this complexity.” The city was only granted home rule in 1970, a change that guaranteed “the
city’s right to exercise any power and perform any firnction pertaining to its government and affairs
including, but not limited to, the power to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals and
welfare; to license, to tax, and to incur debt.” Judith E. Purcell, The Government of the City of Chicago: A
Guide to Its Structure and Function With a Directory of Officers (Municipal Reference Library Chicago,
Illinois, Revised edition, 1978).

’ See the chapter on Progressivism and Urban Reform in Robert G. Spinney, City of Shoulders: A History
of Chicago (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2000); and William Bennett Munro, Municipal
Administration (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1935), 73.

5 Maureen Flanagan, Seeing With Their Hearts: Chicago Women And the Vision of the Good City: I 8 71 -
1933 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002), 4.

155

various lines of political power that affected residents’ daily lives directly: they enacted
and investigated the enforcement of ordinances, orders and resolutions; constructed and
maintained streets and alleys; regulated garbage collection and disposal; provided fire,
police, and health protection; and passed building and zoning codes.6 Furthermore, as
Harold Gosnell argued, “because of the powers of the city council to pass the city budget,
to create new departments, to grant franchises, to reject appointments, and to pass local
ordinances,” the aldermen were “in a position to recommend certain appointments and to
supervise the administration of city affairs within their respective wards.”7 Thus, ward-
based politics functioned as a mechanism to give a political voice to foreign migrants as
well as black migrants from the South. It also gave local politicians a potential power
base when ethnic groups were concentrated in specific wards.8

At a time when Chicago politics was notorious for the political corruption of
many of these aldennen, extra-govemmental bodies were central to the story of citizen
interaction with local government in Chicago. Voluntary citizen organizations such as the
Municipal Voters League (MVL), organized in 1896 by representatives from various
clubs and organizations “from the city at large, without regard to residence or political
affiliations,” were concerned about the future of the city. Tired of bossism and
corruption, the MVL compiled information on the aldennen, and publicized it for the
entire city. It kept detailed accounts of aldennen’s actions. In the words of the League,

the business problems aldennen dealt with alone were “gigantic” and many “unusually

 

6 Purcell, The Government of the City of Chicago: A Guide to Its Structure and Function With a Directory
of Of cers 8.

7Harold Foote Gosnell, Negro Politicians: The Rise of Negro Politics in Chicago (Chicago: The University
of Chicago Press, 1935), 73- 74.

8John Allswang, A House for All Peoples; Ethnic Politics in Chicago, [890-1936 (Lexington: University
Press of Kentucky, 1971); Joel Tarr, A Study in Boss Politics: William Lorimer of Chicago (Urbana:
University of Illinois Press, 1971); Mel Holli and Paul Green, eds. Ethnic Chicago: a Multicultural
Portrait (Grand Rapids: W. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co, 1994).

156

important questions” were brought before the council committees. Recognizing the
significant decision-making powers of the aldennen, the MVL recommended that the
voters “carefully scrutinize” the records of the aldennen in their respective wards, records
that were provided by the very League itself, and advised readers to support “aldennen
who have shown ability in committee work and on the floor of the council.”9

By 1916, the was describing itself as an independent, nonpartisan and “intensely
practical” voluntary organization, “the SOLE purpose of which” was “the election of
honest and competent aldermen in Chicago.” In its permanent headquarters the League
worked constantly, between elections as well as before them, collected, recorded, filed
and preserved information systematically that enabled it “to reach the voters promptly
and efficiently.” In its own words, the League did not aim to influence legislation but sent
“a representative present at every session of the city council and at meetings of its most
important committees” to be “fully and accurately” up to date on the “actions of the
council.” Once a candidate was named by others, the League investigated and reported on
the nominees. Only when all nominations were made did the League take “an active part
in the wards where there is danger of the election of unfit men.” Then the League took
upon itself simply to recommend “to the voters of Chicago that course which its
investigations lead it to believe will be for their best interests.” Its information collection
and preservation gave the League the facts from which to draw and justify “concisely” its
conclusions. It also prided itself over being effective in that out of the 38 elected
aldermen in 1915, the League had specifically endorsed 24, preferred 6, and condemned

only 8 of the elected aldennen. Making no pretense of infallibility, the League recognized

 

9 “Twenty-Second Annual Preliminary Report of the Municipal Voters’ League,” published February 2,
1917, in Charles E. Merriam Papers, Box 73 Folder 11, University of Chicago.

157

that the candidates they endorsed might conduct themselves differently than they
promised after being voted into office. '0 Thus in Chicago, residents were able to exercise
both formal and informal means to influence political decision-making in the city.

Enter African American newcomers...

Such was the political culture that rural migrants encountered upon their arrival in
the city. By 1919 Afiican American newcomers had been in Chicago long enough to
really matter in politics, to be regarded as a political power because of their growing
numbers, but not long enough to really be trusted to practice the vote efficiently. It is
evident in the way old settlers approached newcomers that they acknowledged
newcomers’ lack of political insight in Chicago city politics and felt the need to
intervene, instruct and direct them so that newcomers would make informed decisions
that would benefit the whole African American community. Because Afiican American
newcomers had been denied the right to vote in many areas they left behind and would
need political instruction in their new community especially so that their ever-increasing
numbers would not upset the hard-eamed peaceful place of old settlers, the longtime
resident had every reason to want to oversee and correct newcomers’ voting habits. They
were determined, therefore, to teach newcomers how to be active citizens befitting
Chicago.

The Municipal Voters League’s accounts, when used with the opinions published
in the Chicago Defender, reveal the full meaning of aldermen for the Afiican American

community in the city. The League published three regular reports each year: the

Preliminary Report, which contained a review of the records of outgoing aldennen; the

 

'0 “Twenty-First Annual Preliminary Report of the Municipal Voters’ League,” February 7, 1916, pp 29-32,
in Ibid., Box 101, Folder 14. See also Douglas Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, Chicago, and the Politics of
Image (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1998), 13-14, 18, 50 and 110.

158

Primary report; and the Final report published shortly before the alderrnanic election. The
Preliminary Reports of the MVL gave both Oscar DePriest and Louis B. Anderson, the
first black aldermen representing the largely black second ward who served in 1915-
1918, a poor report. These aldermen may not have been the honest and competent
aldennen that the League wanted, but they symbolized, for better or for worse, a way into
the power structure of the city for Afiican Americans.

In Dempsey J. Travis’ words, Oscar DePriest “stumbled into the political arena by
accident” in the Opening years of the 20th century. By making himself indispensable to
the right political people, he served two terms on the Cook County Board of
Commissioners. In 1908 he was not renominated and over the next seven years DePriest
sat on political sidelines while he operated decorating, contracting, and real estate
businesses. In 1915, he returned to politics as the first Afiican American alderman in
Chicago. Until the beginning of 1917, DePriest was a political star in Mayor William
Hale Thompson’s administration.ll

The campaign to send the first black alderman to the City Council is a good
example of political mobilization of the Afiican American community in the Second
Ward. DePriest was not the only candidate to represent the ward in 1915. He was actually
one of eight candidates, and including DePriest three of those candidates were black:
Louis B. Anderson and Charles A. Griffin, both of whom had considerable political
experience. The issue of multiplicity of black candidates was seen as a roadblock to
ensuring one candidate did make it to alderman, so community leaders argued for the

need to elect one Race leader in the primary to ensure that the black vote could carry that

 

” Dempsey J. Travis, An Autobiography of Black Politics (Chicago: Urban Research Press, Inc., 1987), 51-
60.

159

leader, the first black alderman, to the City Council. “In the interest of arousing the
colored people of the Second ward to the danger of a multiplicity of candidates for
Alderman being prejudicial to the chances of procuring the nomination for one of the
race,” a mass meeting was held. The discussions in this meeting led to the formation of a
committee which intended to invite the three candidates to a meeting in which committee
members would draw suggestions from the candidates “looking to elimination so that
colored people of the ward could go to the polls on primary day with one candidate for
Alderman and to have their solid backing.” The Committee invited all three candidates to
meet at the Douglass Center where Louis B. Anderson revealed his plan of elimination.
Anderson suggested that the community hold a pre-primary to determine which of the
three candidates to send to the regular primary. The two other candidates refirsed to get
involved in such a plan, which led to the Committee’s decision that the plan couldnot be
canied out but that Anderson’s suggestion would be publicized. Anderson “considered
the interest of the race in the matter as being of more importance than the ambitions of
any individual.” The publication of Anderson’s suggestion gained him a large following
among the second ward residents.’2

The Chicago Defender used “voices of the people” to appeal to Chicago’s second
ward residents. In a section titled “The Voice of the People Being Some Letters Received
By The Chicago Defender Relative to the Candidacy of Louis B. Anderson for Alderman
of the Second Ward,” the Defender published letters from residents who supported
Anderson. After having read about Anderson’s statement of elimination plan in the
Chicago Defender, Mrs. William H. Montgomery wrote, “As one of the newly

emancipated citizens of the second ward... I am forced to conclude that he [Anderson]

 

'2 The Chicago Defender, January 2, 1915.

160

alone has demonstrated the true race spirit.” Montgomery had many women friends who
were “as intensely interested in this fight as I am” and they agreed that “a man who is
thus willing to sacrifice his personal ambitions for the good of his race should be given
the highest opportunity to live for his race.” Montgomery had been undecided as to which
candidate She would support until she read the elimination plan.l3 She was not the only
one. Mrs. E. V. Woodlee, too, confessed that Anderson’s plan of elimination made “a
convert” of her and she wanted “to go on record as favoring his candidacy and through
the medium of your paper [Chicago Defender] to ask all the colored people who have the
right to vote in the Second Ward to do likewise?”

“You can count on my support,” William L. Anderson wrote, “and I will get all
the employees that I can, of the firm for which I work to vote for you.” He pledged the
support of his wife and children and he promised that all of his personal friends in the
ward would also support him because he would make it his “business to see them and if
they do not know you I will tell them who you are and what you stand for.”'5 “Eyes of
African Americans everywhere are upon us,” George Woodson’s letter began, .and he
suggested that their actions regarding the aldermanic situation, or whether or not Chicago
sent its first black alderman to the city council, would prove or disprove their

intelligence. Woodson, precinct committeeman from the 6th precinct, who had served the

 

'3 “Women Favor L. B. Anderson in Alderrnanic Race,” Ibid., January 16, 1915. Women received the
municipal suffrage by state law in 1913.

" “Too Many Candidates,” Ibid., February 6, 1915.

'5 “William L. Anderson letter to L. B. Anderson,” in The Voice of the People Being Some Letters
Received By The Chicago Defender Relative to the Candidacy of Louis B. Anderson for Alderman of the
Second Ward, Ibid., January 30, 1915.

161

second ward for 19 years, equated nominating Anderson with reflecting the wisdom of
the Race. '6

The examples can be multiplied because support for Anderson was great in the
Chicago Defender. Yet, for all the campaigning, Anderson lost the primary. Once
DePriest won the primary, the Chicago Defender felt the need to support him for the sake
of the Race. “Now that it is all over the one central idea dominating the Afro-Americans
throughout the ward is” ‘Let us get together’” one editorial commented, “Let the rallying

”"7 Another editorial advocated that different factions in the

cry from this on be ‘Unity.
African American community be brushed aside. Even though the Defender had originally
supported Anderson, authors believed that “as servants of the public” that chose DePriest,
they would “as vigorously and as persistently advocate the election of Mr. DePriest as we
did the nomination of Mr. Anderson.”'8 For the sake of having a race representative in
the City Council, Anderson and Griffin had “laid down their arms,” and came out in
support of DePriest and they urged their followers to do the same.'9
Oscar DePriest was the first black alderman in Chicago’s City Council, and as
such he began his term as the star of the community. Yet he failed to live up to
expectations. He was not a candidate in 1917. The information provided in the MVL

Preliminary Report that year said that DePriest was finishing his first term with a bad

record. DePriest was “indicted January 18 on charges of being implicated with a graft

 

'6 “Veteran Politician Says That Second Ward Voters are for Anderson,” in The Voice of the People Being
Some Letters Received By The Chicago Defender Relative to the Candidacy of Louis B. Anderson for
Alderman of the Second Ward, Ibid., February 6, 1915.

'7 “DePriest is Winner,” Ibid., February 27, 1915.

'8 “For Alderman, Oscar DePriest,” Ibid., February 27, 1915.

'9 “Protecting Our Interests,” Ibid., March 6, 1915.

162

”20 DePriest was indicted for “conspiracy to permit

syndicate in his neighborhood.
gambling dens and houses of joy” along with the Chief of Police, three police lieutenants,
and some underWorld figures. In the trial that followed, clear and incriminating evidence
was presented against DePriest, but in the end he was found “not guilty” on the grounds
that the money he had accepted was campaign contributions and not bribe.2| The MVL
Report provided a list of DePriest’s voting record:

He voted against giving Finance committee an expert staff, against

keeping city expenditures within income, against business methods of

hauling ashes and garbage, against publicity on “sixty day” jobholders,

against prohibiting aldermen soliciting jobs fiom public service

corporations, against compelling school board to disclose facts about its

finances and against nonpartisan organization of council; one of the

budget aviators.22
As Harold Gosnell argued, the MVL was “interested in efficiency and economy and was
not concerned with questions of racial representation. Aldermen DePriest, on the other
hand, was interested in finding jobs for Negroes.”23 DePriest may not have commended
himself to the MVL, but as the first black alderman in Chicago DePriest had introduced a

civil rights ordinance as soon as Mayor Thompson took office in 1915, and he had looked

after the interests of his constituents.24

 

2° “Twenty-Second Annual Preliminary Report of the Municipal Voters’ League,” February 2, 1917, in
Merriam Papers, Box 73 Folder 11.

2’ Travis, An Autobiography, 61.

22 “Twenty-Second Annual Preliminary Report of the Municipal Voters’ League,” February 2, 1917, in
Merriam Papers, Box 73 Folder 11. Likewise the MVL gave a poor report to Alderman Anderson in 1919.
“Second Ward, Louis B. Anderson, 1919: Finished first term with bad record. Voted three times to sustain
mayor’s veto of proposed investigation of finances by Bureau of Public Efficiency; voted for solid Six
school raiders on every roll call. In License committee insisted upon modifying ordinance prohibiting
owners and drivers of taxicabs from using them for immoral purposes; in same committee voted to strike
out from cigarette ordinance the provision forbidding the sale of cigarette within 600 feet of a school; in
council, voted against ordinance regulating dry cabarets which had been requested by the police
department; has shared with Cullerton the office of floor leader for city administration in the past year. In
his mellifluous way, quite as bad an alderman as was his predecessor, De Priest. “Twenty-Fourth Annual
Preliminary Report of the Municipal Voters’ League,” published January 30, 1919, pp. 12-13, in Ibid.

2’ Gosnell, Negro Politicians, 171-172; and Travis, An Autobiography of Black Politics.

2’ Travis, An Autobiography, 56.

163

In 1917 Louis B. Anderson again had the support of the Chicago Defender, which
reminded readers that even if many believed that Anderson was running unopposed
without the active participation of all, the community would be in danger. Danger lurked,
readers were reminded, in “overconfidence and corresponding inactivity.” Therefore
every man and woman in the Second Ward who were “registered and qualified to vote
should make it his or her duty to cast their vote.”25 Louis B. Anderson was elected the
second black alderman from the Second Ward in 1917 by an overwhelming majority and
replaced Oscar DePriest.26

In 1918 the Chicago Defender agreed with the MVL’S dissatisfaction with
DePriest. In looking back, the paper actually condemned DePriest more harshly than the
MVL. Whereas the MVL reminded its followers of DePriest’S “notorious recor ” of
indictments, the Chicago Defender judged him as a failure because he failed to live up to
his promises and provided whites with a bad example of an African American in politics.
The author of an anonymous editorial observed the importance of the impending 1918
aldermanic campaign, pointing out that it was to have far reaching consequences. So in
order to inform the general public the weekly began a series of articles, “dealing with all
the outstanding facts of the situation and the records of the two candidates for the
information of the general public?”

Contemporary community leaders recognized the power of the African American

vote in the second ward. As their numbers continued to increase and their housing

perimeters clearly locked in place, African American newcomers became a political force

 

2’ “Entire Second Ward to Support Anderson Tuesday,” The Chicago Defender, March 31, 1917.

2" “Anderson Elected,” Ibid., April 7, 1917.

27 “Observer’s Views on the political Outlook in the 2"d Ward,” Carefully Surveyed by an observer, Ibid.,
January 5, 1918.

164

in the Second Ward. It was no coincidence that the election of a black alderman
coincided with the growth of the Black Belt.28 In 1918 African American leaders
regarded the aldermanic election as a determinant of the “future status of the Race” and
again felt “the eyes of the city and country” upon the Race. They also regarded Oscar
DePriest as a danger and menace because he was associated with political bossism in the
“Ward Republican Organization and used his influence on every occasion where he was
not a candidate to retard the political progress of the Race.” Leaders pointed out that in
the eyes of foes African Americans were reputed to be “incapable of self government” so
they would have to be carefirl in the aldermanic election. The aldermanic elections gave
the community a chance to prove those foes wrong by “a wise and high grade selection.”
By practicing this wise and hi gh-grade selection African American voters in Chicago
would also “Show that the disenfranchisement and political injustice so cruelly fastened
upon the Race in the south is unjustified.” In terms of the city, they could use this
opportunity to “Show that we can and will, when in control, use our political power and
suffrage in the highest interest and welfare of our community and country.” All of this
could help “facilitate the opening of new places for our Race in the great industrial and
social changes of the times.”29
The Chicago Defender followed up with a series of observations in the next few
weeks, that specifically linked World War I, migration fi'om the South, and ward politics.

In the eyes of some political observers, ward politics combined with the rapidly changing

city population posed a threat for municipal elections.30 The Chicago Defender agreed:

 

28 Gosnell, Negro Politicians, 1-92.

29 “Observer’s Views on the political Outlook in the 2"d Ward,” Carefully Surveyed by an observer, in
Chicago Defender, January 5, 1918.

30 Munro, Municipal Administration, 73.

165

increasing numbers of voters without the necessary information to make informed
decisions was a threat to the entire African American community in Chicago. Authors
feared that being new to the city newcomers did not know the events leading up to
DePriest’s public offenses. “The dangers are alarming,” they warned, “because of the
large number of strangers who have moved into the ward from other sections of the
country.” Ignorant of DePriest’s record, newcomers might be inclined to believe when
they were “told that DePriest is persecuted because he fought the battles of the Race,
when as a matter of fact, DePriest sacrificed the interests of the Race for personal gain
and by his selfish association and relations brought disgrace upon himself and discredit to
his Race.”3 ' Even though this observer did not have exact figures, he evidently (and
rightly) believed that “the population of the Race has so increased as to be decidedly in
the majority in the Second Ward. The Race, therefore, is charged with the future political
conduct of and general social conditions in the ward.” The newspaper considered that old
settlers had a “special duty to the new citizens” of Chicago, a duty that required receiving
the newcomers as “brothers and friends and to help them establish themselves on a sound
basis in the economic, social and political worlds.” But the duty further required that
“these new citizens be protected from the selfish and ambitious political and other
schemes of self-appointed political fakers and pretended leaders.” It was also a duty to
show the rest of the United States that Afi'ican Americans could be trusted to succeed in
politics.

DePriest is seeking to injure his Race in particular by playing upon the

prejudice of our new citizens and urging them to unite with him in driving

our white fiiends from the party and from the ward... We are about one
eighth of the population of the country. In the North, aside from the

 

3 ' “Race People Are Endangered; Observer’s Observations Continued,” Chicago Defender, January 19,
1918.

166

Second Ward, we have control of no important political unit. If we are

unjust in the Second Ward to the white minority how much more will we

suffer in the countless units and states where we are in the minority, when

the whites have a concrete example of what the Race does to the whites

when it has the political power.

Political Mobilization Around Electing A Mayor

Mayoral elections also provided Chicagoans a chance to politically mobilize
locally. Much has been written about how the Afiican American vote in the 1915
mayoral race. African American voters’ efforts “gave Thompson the victory in a very
close race.”33 Sources also agree that Thompson largely kept the promises he had made
the Afiican American voters and he had “rewarded” his constituents with so many
appointive positions in the City Hall that the Hall came to be referred to as “Uncle Tom’s
Cabin” by 1919.34 Thompson may have been the type of mayor that political reformers
loved to hate, but the fact remained that he provided Afiican American constituents
unprecedented opportunity in City Hall.

The 1919 mayor campaign further illustrates popular political mobilization of
Chicagoans and the importance they placed in the position of mayor. Charles E. Merriam
challenged Thompson in 1919. Merriam was a progressive reformer, and a university
professor who left a trail of documents from that campaign. These sources are biased in

his favor, but they allow us a close look at how Chicago residents involved themselves in

their local politics. This is especially important in that it reveals a political culture far

 

’2 “Danger in New Ward Conditions: Observer’s Observations Continued” Ibid., February 2, 1918.
33 (Both in the primary and the general election) Travis, An Autobiography of Black Politics, 56. See also
384pear, Black Chicago, 187; Grossman, Land of Hope, 176.

Travis, An Autobiography of Black Politics, 55; Gosnell, Negro Politicians, 202. For those who are not
familiar with it, this was the title of a popular anti-slavery novel.

167

different from that of Istanbul residents’ whose appointed mayor was also their regional
governor in the 19503.

Reinforcing the idea of the municipality as corporation, a pamphlet for William
Hale Thompson’s campaign for mayor read, “Citizens of Chicago, You are stockholders
in the great municipal corporation known as the City of Chicago. Then you are interested
in finding out how your affairs have been conducted during the past four years.” Since
the Mayor was the head of the municipal business, the Public Ledger underlined citizens’
right to question and hold him accountable as stockholders. It was residents’
responsibility to examine the accounts of the corporation in which they were
stockholders.

The condition of any business must be revealed by an examination of its

accounts. The City of Chicago is not organized to make money but to

safeguard the lives and property of its citizens, to furnish water, light,

schools, police, fire and health protection, to maintain the liberty and

happiness of its people, and to promote the general welfare. . .35
All campaign material, including the endorsements, read like a public civic lesson,
encouraging political participation and responsibility through raising political
consciousness.

As with other groups of citizens in Chicago, African American voters rallied
around their candidates for the mayoral election in 1919. Mayor Thompson had been
highly popular with the African American residents of Chicago, so Charles E. Merriam
faced an uphill battle. While there are fewer sources available on the political response of
Chicago’s black residents as opposed to its white residents on Merriam, Merriam did

have the backing of some, such as the Young Colored Men’s Merriam For Mayor Club,

the Second Ward Merriam for Mayor Club, and the endorsement of reform activist Ida B.

 

35 “The Public Ledger,” in Merriam Papers, Box 75 Folder 3.

I68

Wells-Bamett’s, whose women's Alpha Suffrage Club had been largely responsible for
forcing the election of the second ward’s first black alderman. For example, using Wells—
Bamett’s name, the Young Colored Men’s Merriam for Mayor Club sent letters to voters
stating that they were appealing to young men as young men, “knowing that the
responsibility for the future of our race rests upon our shoulders.” Once again, as had
been in the aldermanic elections, the future of the race was central to their appeal. “We
must cleanse ourselves of the disgraceful reputation which spoils politicians have given
us,” the club continued. In the “interest of a better Chicago, and therefore better civic
conditions for the members of the race to which we belong” the Club recommended
Merriam for mayor.36

Rumors of his membership in a “segregationist neighborhood association” had
cost Merriam African American votes in his previous campaign for mayor in 191]. With
the help of the Club, Merriam hoped to erase that memory.37 The Club publicly
announced Merriam’s denial of membership in the Hyde Park organization in the same
letter,.and highlighted Merriam’s practice of clean politics, and good government,
framing all of it in his principle that he would represent all citizens “without regard to
race or creed.” The Club believed that “the interest of our race will be best served by a
just and honest administration of public affairs” and asked young men to help in Capt.
Merriam’s campaign.38

The Second Ward Merriam for Mayor Club presented reasons not to re-elect

Thompson as a way to promote Merriam’s candidacy. A typed script read:

 

3” “Young Colored Men’s Merriam For Mayor Club” in Merriam Papers, Box 75 Folder 3. Club officers
were: Herman K. Barnett, President. Richard T. Hill, Vice President. Phillip T. Jones, Secretary.

37 Bukowski, Big Bill Thompson, 76-77.

38“Young Colored Men’s Merriam For Mayor Club” in Meniam Papers, Box 75 Folder 3.

I69

To the Colored Voter of Chicago: Mayor Thompson claims he owns the

Colored vote. Have we gone back to the days that were before the Civil

War? No! Do you want the world to know the Colored people of Chicago

endorse this man who has disgraced our city all over the world? It is up to

us to show that we deserve the respect of all fair-minded people by voting

for Captain Charles E. Merriam.39
As a republican candidate, Thompson had been likened to Lincoln in 1915.40

Wells-Bamett, for her part, emphasized Merriam’s expertise in civic affairs. “Our
streets and alleys are filthy, our city blackened with smoke, our streetcar system the worst
in history, our moral conditions and ideals at the lowest ebb,” she pointed out. “We
support him because we see that we need a business and civic rebirth and the change can
only come by placing a man at the head of affairs who is an expert on the job.” As an
alderman of multiple terms Merriam knew “men and measures and can deal with every
phase of our city’s complex life at once without waste of time and money in
experimenting.” “When a business is failing to pay dividends,” she argued, “the
stockholders don’t put a lawyer, judge or sportsman (however good he is in his line) but
utterly ignorant of business or trade conditions on the job. They hire the best business
expert they can get to cure business troubles.” In matters of race, Ida B. Well’s
endorsement did not all together separate the needs of the African American voters of
Chicago from those of other Chicagoans. She called “the best element of our citizens

black and white in the second War ” to “arise in their might and put an end” to the bad

conditions “by going out to work for him and for civic consciousness.” Only after she had

 

39 In handwriting, it was added, “He will make you proud of Chicago. Second Ward Merriam for Mayor
Club, in Ibid. A. L. Williams, Chairman. William Lloyd Jenkins, Secretary.
’0 Gosnell, Negro Politicians, 5 I; Travis, An Autobiography, 58.

I70

made the appeal to all residents of the Second Ward did she appeal to her “race
throughout the city to work and vote for Chicago’s best interests.”"'

Wells-Bamett’s focus on a broader civic consciousness—one that extended
beyond the African American community itself to a sense of the city as a larger shared
community—reflected another dimension to the political culture of Chicago, as well as
cities across the country at the time. Her vision was shared broadly by many female
reformers and activists in the city. While women’s urban political activism has recently
started to receive the attention that it deserves,42 it is worthwhile here to explain briefly
their role in the 1919 campaign as a way to further understand the comparison with the
relationship of Istanbul residents to their city’s political system. Even before Chicago
women could vote in their municipal elections they had taken an active role in attempting
to influence political decisions.

Meniam represented some of the political aims women espoused that they
believed Merriam could best fulfill. The specific political concerns of women varied, but
their general, common concern was to make a better Chicago, one that was “just to all its

people,” one that cared for the needs of all Chicago residents. From expecting him to

represent and provide for the poorer districts of the city"3 to believing that he would

 

” Ida B. Wells Barnett’s endorsement of Merriam for Mayor, in Merriam Papers, Box 75 Folder 5.

’2 Flanagan, Seeing With Their Hearts; Daphne Spain, How Women Saved the City (Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 2001); Sarah Deutsch, Women and the City: Gender, Space, and Power in
Boston, [870-1940 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).

’3 Merriam’s Republican Party candidacy for mayor made Mrs. Raymond (Margaret Dreier) Robins, a
member of both the National Woman’s Republican Committee and Merriam for Mayor Campaign
Committee, a likely supporter. Her reasons for supporting Merriam included living in the “poorer sections.”
As someone who did, she could testify to “how intimately politics enters our homes and how it helps or
hinders the health and welfare and happiness of the people.” She listed water, milk, education, schools and
parks and playgrounds for children, clean streets and alleys, lighted streets, electricity and gas, hot air in the
homes, police protection and transportation service “with seats,” hospitals as “simple human needs” that
depended “upon the city administration.” Because the residents of the poorer sections of Chicago lacked
the private means to secure for themselves and children “decent social conditions of life,” it was more
pertinent to them who became mayor and that the city administration did not fail. They trusted Merriam.”

I7l

finally solve Chicago’s garbage and sanitation problems,44 from voting for Merriam
because of their disillusionment with Mayor Thompson to seeing him as civically
superior in questions of public policy, women organized to campaign for Merriam.
Subsequently, it is no surprise that Jane Addams, the founder of Hull House
Settlement House and social and political activist, and her colleague Mary McDowell
endorsed Merriam. His actual practical experience in city administration after eight years
as alderman, having served “continuously on important committees of the common
council” coupled with his degree in “Municipal Science” gave Meniam the mastery of
the working conditions of the municipal administration that political reformers regarded
so highly. Addams believed that the election of Merriam as mayor would carry Chicago
as a “pioneer in the scientific administration of American cities.” Addams regarded
Chicago’s “public-spirited citizenship, her boundless resources, her many reform and
civic organizations” highly and believed as mayor Meniam would enhance all of
Chicago’s good qualities."5 Drawing on London’s opposing political groups that united to

have a “cleaner, sweeter, and more human London” as an example, Mary McDowell,

 

Mrs. Raymond Robins’ endorsement of Merriam for Mayor, February 18, I919, in Merriam Papers, Box 75
Folder 5.

4’ See also the endorsement from Mrs. Ella S. Stewart, of the 6‘” ward, who for many years served as the
president of the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association. “Garbage has been more mixed up in politics than
almost anything else,” she pointed out, “and when one mentions the dirty pool of politics I always think of
the garbage situation, and realize that is one place where we women do have to mix in if we are ever going
to get sanitary conditions...” Mrs. Ella S. Stewart’s endorsement of Merriam for Mayor, February 18,
1919, in Merriam Papers, Box 75 Folder 5. See also Flanagan, Seeing With their Hearts, 216. On the
garbage issue see Miss Amelia Sears’s endorsement of Merriam for Mayor, in Meniam Papers, Box 75
Folder 5. “Chicago women are not interested in who gets the city jobs, but in the kind of public service the
next mayor can render to the city of Chicago. They want schools redeemed from the blight of political
spoilsmen, they want streets safe from crooks and holdups and cleaned of the accumulations of dirt and
rubbish left by a political street department. The old time bosses who sit in back rooms and trade jobs for
the benefit of their respective machines will be surprised when the votes are counted on February 25‘”
Sears was a member of the Women’s Campaign Committee for Charles Merriam for mayor in 1919. See
Flanagan, Seeing With their Hearts, 208.

’5 Jane Addams’ endorsement of Merriam for Mayor, in Meniam Papers, Box 75 Folder 5.

I72

rallied for Chicago to do the same. This meant Chicago women would have to unite and
vote for Merriam, the “loyal leader of the great democratic movement.”46

Harriet E. Vittum’s disappointment with Thompson drove her to rally for
Merriam. Women, who wanted to “reclaim Chicago” and bring a “better day” for the
city, she claimed, considered Merriam as the “best fit to translate the [Women’s
Municipal] Platform into a better Chicago, and the only man whose record measure plank
by plank with the Platform is a guarantee that he will so translate it,” as Merriam’s MVL
record testified. Merriam “led the fight and always voted for all public measures
including garbage collection and disposal,” and he also always voted to enforce the
housing code without discrimination, which were the precise public policy questions that
women wished to see addressed.47

Stressing that they would be empowered to make a positive change by organizing,
a Committee of 100 women from opposing party affiliations, well known in civic work,
in business, in the professions, in education, in social service, and in philanthropy,

appealed to the women of Chicago to vote for Merriam.48 They underlined that women

voters constituted “the great reserve army of good government in Chicago,” and that they

 

’6 Miss Mary McDowell’s endorsement of Merriam for Mayor, February 17, I919, in Merriam Papers, Box
75 Folder 5. See also Flanagan, Seeing With their Hearts, 207

‘7 Harriet E. Vittum’s endorsement of Merriam for Mayor, in Merriam Papers, Box 75 Folder 5. In
explaining her stance against Thompson, she told the story of the Women’s Municipal Platform for
Chicago. Three years previously, thousands of women had met to protest “against certain abuse in the City
Government for which they believed the city administration (Thompson Administration) responsible. They
were women who had for years studied the civic life of Chicago and had high ideals of public service.” The
Women’s Municipal Platform for Chicago resulted from this protest meeting as women wanted more than
just protesting: they wanted to suggest remedies. If the administration undertook their suggestions, these
women “offered to cooperate in any way with the administrator.” These women then felt slighted when
“Mayor Thompson’s answer to this offer of platform and of service was to the effect of that if the women
of Chicago wanted something to do they might reclaim the wasteland along the drainage canal.”
Furthermore, the mayor had broken pre-election promises. “The women have not forgotten this nor have
they forgotten the Mayor’s many pre-election promises very promptly broken after he became Mayor,”
Vittum concluded. Vittum was one of the women in the Women’s Campaign Committee for Charles
Merriam for mayor in 1919. See Flanagan, Seeing With their Hearts, 209.

’8 Flanagan, Seeing. With their Hearts, 150.

I73

wanted to make a better Chicago, one that was “just to all its people, a city which
concerns itself with endless problems of right municipal housekeeping, a city which cares
for the needs of the average man and woman and for the child of every family.”
Furthermore the women were yearning to “use the new power which suffrage has brought
to them in the building of a fair Chicago.”49 This group of women was joined by The
Think For Yourself Club, a third ward women’s organization active in municipal affairs,
who realized that women’s strength in unity of numbers would “secure relief from the
deplorable conditions of the last four years” if women made a “concerted effort in favor
of one candidate.” They rallied around Merriam’s candidacy because embodied the spirit
of their club motto: “non partisan, independent, but not neutral.”SO

Merriam lost the election, but the campaign epitomizes the nature of local politics.
There were those Chicagoans whose interest in local politics was restricted to the narrow
desire to advance their own gain; there were other groups whose local political activism
centered around better government, and a more efficient city which addressed the city as
a whole and had the well being of all citizens in mind. But in both cases, Chicago .
residents believed that their political activity entitled them to expect certain services from
their elected officials. These Chicagoans’ political participation stemmed from and raised
further consciousness of the city as a community. The contents of the Merriam

endorsements also highlight important differences between Chicagoans’ and Istanbulites’

approach to their municipality. Chicago voters were politically involved. They studied

 

’9 A Committee of 100 women’s endorsement of Meniam for Mayor, in Merriam Papers, Box 75 Folder 7.
These women were “anti-Thompson women... Progressive Republicans including Addams, Vittum,
McDowell, Breckinridge... also Amelia Sears...” See Flanagan, Seeing With Their Hearts, 150.

5° The Think For Yourself Club’s endorsement of Merriam for Mayor, in Merriam Papers, Box 75 Folder 7.
Signed by: Executive Committee: Mrs. Laura Lee Randall, Mrs. E. L. Murfey, Mrs. Frances C. Temple,
Miss Ada L. Fletcher, Mrs. John R. Bensley, Miss Gertrude Nichols. See Flanagan, Seeing With Their
Hearts, 158.

I74

their candidates, and guided other voters to sway their votes towards the candidates they
favored. Istanbul residents were given the right to vote but were not expected to be
politically involved. Chicagoans united to direct their city government to do “for” them;
Istanbulites did not have much pull to change political practices. They were, however,
able to make demands on their local government regarding their daily lives and living
conditions.

Istanbul

The roots of this local political ambiguity in Istanbul can be traced to the
changing national political climate in Turkey. In the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul residents
were subjects of the Empire.5 ' The imperial Istanbul did not have a separate municipal
body, but municipal functions, along with judicial, civil and religious matters were
combined in the body of the kadr (qadi or kadhi). The kadr had various assistants who
aided in the carrying out of different functions. Regulating basic consumer goods prices
was one of the central concerns of the Ottoman administration. Officials directed the
bazaars, regulated weights and measures, inspected production sites and stores.
Following structural and functional reforms, these functions were passed on to different
local administrative bodies throughout the first half of the 19th century, but they remained
central to each. The various functions of local administration were not combined under

one central body until the middle of the 19‘'1 century.52

 

5' See Rustow

52 Many of the local functions were carried out by the Kadtllk, Ihtisab, Vakrf, Lonca (Artisans and
Merchants Guilds), and Community Chests. See Bilal Erytlmaz, “Osmanlt Yerel Yonetiminde Istanbul
Sehremaneti,” 331-333; Ilber Ortayll, “Osmanlt Belediyeleri ve Kent Hizmetleri,” 396; and Davut Dursun,
“Cumhuriyet Doneminde Yerel Yonetim Anlaylsl,” 15, in Islam Geleneg'inden Giim'imiize Sehremaneti ve
Yerel Yo'netimler (Istanbul: Ilke Yayrnlan, I996).

175

As a result of increasing Ottoman social and economic intercourse with Europe,
and the presence of Westerners in certain parts of Istanbul, demands for Western styles of
municipal organization and services grew. Consequently, as part of the larger institutional
changes brought on by Tanzimat reforms and by the turn to “modernize” and
“Westemize,” the Sehremaneti (municipality) was established to undertake the provision
of necessary goods, price regulation and inspections, city cleaning, and collection of
taxes. This “local government” organization had a mayor, whom the Sublime Porte
appointed, and a Council, the members of which were appointed from among the
notables and prominent esnaf (small retailers). Including the Sehremini (Mayor) and his
two assistants, the Council consisted of fifteen people.53

These initial (1854-1855) efforts failed to live up to expectations, but the
administration was determined to establish a Westemized institution in Istanbul.
Subsequently they experimented on a smaller scale. Taking the “Sixieme Arrondissment”
of Paris as an example, officials named one of the first districts “Altrncr Belediye
Dairesi” in the Beyoqu-Galata district. This district was chosen because, as home to non-
Muslims, it was already a window into the West socially and culturally. Altrncr Belediye
Dairesi had a Council made up of 12 members, which included 4 foreigners and the
doctor, engineer, and architect of the Altrncr Belediye Dairesi. Members were all
property holders in the district and had lived in the vicinity for over a decade. They were
elected by the Porte and appointed by the Sultan. Altrncr Belediye Dairesi, like the Kadr

and his assistants and the Sehremaneti before it, regulated prices, weights and measures.

 

5’ Tanzimat period corresponds to the administrative reforms of the years 1839-1876. This period was
followed by the First and Second Constitutional Monarchy periods 1876-1908, and 1908. See Erytlmaz,
334; Dursun, 15. Dursun argued that this local government bore no resemblance to any form of real local
government since none of the officials were elected—denial of “the people’s” participation in the
government of their city continued.

176

In 1868 the Sehremaneti was reorganized and its Council became an official decision
making and consultative organ composed of six members appointed by the central
government. Throughout the 19‘’1 century price regulation and inspections remained
central, and local government positions remained appointed.S4

Through the succeeding political changes of the early 20"1 century the
municipality became increasingly centralist, etatist, and authoritative even if elected
Councils were instituted in the place of appointed ones. Further, starting with the
Tanzimat period, the centralist turn removed all of the individual initiative from the
people."5 The modernization process that had been initiated during the Ottoman Empire’s
last century did not end when the Empire fell. Ataturk and his government took over and
reinstituted modernization goals that stood for “westernization of institutions and of
social features of the Republic.” As Ulas Bayraktar argued, Atafirk’s government had
initially planned to provide every opportunity for local governments to become
democratic institutions. But when in the first few years of the new government it became
clear that the, “society did not seem to be quite encouraging these reform projects,” the
ruling elite then changed their populist ideals to long-term goals and for the time being
concentrated on educating and modernizing the people. The people were “not able to
distinguish its real interests and needs, due to the fact of being subjected for centuries to

the absolute authority of Sultans.” These concerns were poured into the universal law for

 

5’ Eryrlmaz, “Osmanlr Yerel Yonetiminde Istanbul Schremaneti,” 335-336, 344.

5’ Eryrlmaz, “Osmanlr Yerel Yonetiminde Istanbul Sehremaneti,” 348-350; Dursun, “Cumhuriyet
Doneminde Yerel Ybnetim Anlayrsr,” 15; and Recep Yazrcroglu, “Demokratik Katrlrm ve Yeniden
Yaprlanma,” in Islam Geleneg'inden Giiniimiize, 231-244.

I77

municipalities in 1930, which, Bayraktar showed, made the municipality “an extension
of the central government’s responsibility for caan out local public services.”56

Even if the 1930 Municipal Law came soon after the establishment of “new”
republican government, Hamza Al reminds us, the republic inherited a somewhat
organized and institutionalized municipal government with basic legal arrangements.57
Throughout the first two decades of the new republic, both national and local
governments were imbued with the mission to reconstruct the populace. In this light, the
officials of the new republic approached the local government and urban problems with
an eye to the assimilation of republican ideals and spreading and protecting those ideals.58
“The municipal framework was designed as an instrument of the national modernization
process,” Bayraktar agrees. This was established by placing local affairs under the direct
supervision of the center, and by obliging the use of local resources in large scale public
investments such as industrial development, or for building and improving transportation
and communication infrastructure.59

The 1930 law, commonly referred to as Law Number 1580, itemized the duties of
the municipal government. These were meeting basic communal needs such as provision
and upkeep of urban infrastructure and basic urban services, etc. Most of these were
duties of all municipalities across the nation, but the law also allowed for some additional

powers that were not required but were left up to individual municipality’s decision such

as housing. Further, there were some exceptions to the universality of the law: Istanbul

 

5° Bayraktar, “Turkish Municipalities,” paragraphs 7-17.

’7 Hamza AI, “Cumhuriyet Donemi Belediyeciliginin Tarihsel Gelisimi,” in Islam Geleneg'inden
Giiniimiize, 21-22.

58 Dursun, “Cumhuriyet Doneminde Yerel Yonetim Anlayrsr,” I9-20

59 Bayraktar, “Turkish Municipalities,” paragraph 17.

I78

and Ankara were treated a little differently in certain matters. Istanbul’s governor was to
also be Istanbul’s mayor—hence appointed by the center.60

In the period under study here, the 19503, Turkey had switched from a single
party political system to a multiparty political system. AI argued that on the municipal
level, changes in the national political system did not bring any changes to the regulations
on municipalities, but that competition between political parties made them more
sensitive to local needs. In this way, municipal problems began to receive increasing
attention in the programs of the political parties. As many municipalities were transferred
from the Republican Party to Democratic Party the main change revolved around no
longer seeking to transform the populace but rather to have the municipality act in the
direction of popular demand. Yet increased attention to local matters failed to bring about
local democracy since many mayors were still appointed."

Popular demand in 19503 Istanbul seems to have had a lot to do with regulating,
standardizing and inspecting prices of foodstuffs. If Istanbul residents were unable to or
did not actively participate in the political process of their local government, they were
able to follow their municipality’s actions in price controls over fruits and vegetables,
bread, and meat. F. K. Gokay, the mayor/ governor of Istanbul 1949-1957, ensured that
Istanbul residents could follow every step of his administration and execution by using
local newspapers as the public announcement mechanism of his station. Gokay
personally worked with the newspapers and set up departments/sections within the
municipality to work specifically with the media. He not only provided information on

the undertakings of the municipality for the newspapers but he also followed the needs

 

:Al, “Cumhuriyet Donemi Belediyeciliginin Tarihsel Gelisimi,” in Islam Geleneg'inden Giim‘imiize, 24-25.
Ibid., 33-36.

179

and wishes of the residents through what the newspapers published (such as interviews
with residents, columns, editorials, etc.).62 The Press thus became the conduit between
the people and their government, publishing government reports on the one hand and on
the other hand conducting and publishing interviews with residents of different sections
of the city, which revealed that residents across the city suffered the lack of essential
services communally. In different series the Istanbul Ekspres informed its readers about
the activities of the city council and the municipality, discussed city-wide problems
throughout 1952, interviewed and introduced Istanbul residents in different parts, noted
their contributions to the city, and registered their expectations from the officials as well
as their hopes for a more efficiently working city.

The news involving municipal decisions sometimes made front page news, but
columns under “Sehir—Radyo-Telefon-Telgraf’ (“City-Radio-Telephone— Wire”), and
“Sehir Meclisi Istanbul’un Hizmetinde” (“The City Council at Istanbul’s Service, 1952-
1953) sections contained daily snippets. For example the columns under the “Sehir-
Radyo-Telefon-Telgraf” section covered the miscellaneous activities of the municipality,
with a special emphasis on the inspections. The prices of foodstuffs varied greatly across
the city daily and, as an extension of the centuries long practice of regulating prices and
performing inspections, the governor/mayor worked to standardize and regulate prices
through these inspections. In the early 19503 Gokay made price checks inspections 3
priority.

The municipality daily sent out unannounced inspection teams all over the city.

To assure that the inspections actually worked and that fruit and vegetable sellers were

 

62 Raktm Ziyaoglu, Istanbul Kadtlart-Sehreminleri-Belediye Reisleri re Partiler Tarihi, 1453-1971
(Istanbul: Ismail Akgiin Matbaasr, I971), 400.

180

not forewarned, the municipality even gave the inspection teams their assignment in
officially sealed envelopes right before setting out to make inspections, any time of the
day or night."3 A newspaper reporter attested to the secrecy of inspections campaign. “To
make the campaign more effective,” he pointed out, “the govemor/ mayor delivered the
assignments to the team leader in sealed envelopes and the inspectors opened their
envelopes at the same time,” to be executed immediately.“ Teams of inspectors would
storm into a district and check prices and dole out tickets and fines. In the 1952-1953
year there were almost daily accounts of inspections that took place in various districts of
the city. Hence the reference to them as “yrldrrrm ekipler” or “thunderbolt (lightning)
troops,” a tribute to the suddenness of the inspections and the swiftness of execution.”5
The Turkish Republic recognized that proper nutrition was the best defense
against disease, and that the people were the most important asset of the republic.
Healthier people meant a wealthier nation.66 The actions they took were quite different
than those taken in Chicago: Chicago citizens wanted a healthy city and worked from the
bottom up; Turkish government wanted healthy people and worked top down. In this,
municipal officials gave much attention to regulating markets: they responded to the daily
needs of residents across Istanbul who joined in the universal cry for price and quality
checks of basic foodstuffs. Municipal inspectors worked to even out the differences
between the wholesale (toptan) and retail (perakende) prices. A Bureau within the body

of the municipality began work on the matter under the leadership of the govemor/

mayor. The inspectors, removed from the service of the offices of the Kaymakam, would

 

(’3 “Vali Gokay Istanbul sehrinin iktisadi durumunu Istanbul Ekspres’e acrkladr” Istanbul Ekspres, 24 Mayrs
I953.

6’ “Yildirim ekip—belediye ve kontroller...Dikkat Yildirim Ekip Geliyor!” Istanbul Ekspres, I952- I953.
“’5 “Yildirim ekipleri bfitr'in sehri bastan basa taradr” Istanbul Ekspres, 10 July 1955.

6" Yildirim, “Eski Istanbul’da Grda Uretimi ve Satrsr,” Istanbul, 65.

181

be at the municipality’s service from then on and they would be supplemented with
motorcycle teams for speedier, more efficient, inspections.”7 The issue of foodstuffs
affected the people’s daily existence. Prices of all kinds of foodstuffs often fluctuated.
There were many artificial, false (suni) shortages of goods. The quality of these goods
was often suspect. As the municipality tried to regulate/standardize prices in the next few
years a struggle ensued between the kabzrmal (middle man), the esnaf (small scale
retailers), the bakkal (small grocer) and the peddlers.

Small scale retailers blamed the middle men for the rising prices because the
retailers could not but pass on some of their expense to consumers when the middle men
charged high for the produce. Retailers requested that the municipality help them deal
with the wholesalers more effectively rather than breathing down the retailers’ back all
the time.68 Retailers argued that they were being unfairly singled out since the
municipality’s audits continually put them under the microscope but overlooked others
like the bakkal (small grocery store owner), who were charging arbitrary prices for many-
different. goods. An esnaf named Kemal argued that the lack of fixed prices for essential
foodstuffs made some people “millionaires selling cotton, rice, paper, etc.” Kemal
continued, “if inspections are necessary in this county, then let inspections begin on these
more essential goods.” Others agreed that fixed prices and inspections should apply

evenly across the spectrum of goods or be removed altogether.‘59

 

”7 “Belediye, fiat murakebe islerine hrz veriyor,” Hiirriyet, 6 June 1950.

”8 “Sebze ve Meyveci esnaf Belediyeden sikayet ediyor,” Ibid., 7 August 1950.

”9 “If cotton prices go all the way up to seven, eight liras the government does not seem to care. If a kilo of
onion goes from 5 kurus to 50, the government does not seem to care. But if we dare charge 6 kurus for
parsley then we are required to provide receipts. Meanwhile the bakkal sells rice, oils, beans, etc. at
arbitrary prices.” “Meyva ve sebzeciler di'rn heyecanlr kongre yaptrlar,” Ibid., 19 February 1951.

182

The truth was kabzrmal did deserve a lot of the blame: both for the fluctuation in
prices and “shortages” of produce. The kabzrmal argued that they raised prices for the
producers’ sake and that it was their duty to help economic development of the nation by
increasing the value of the producers’ goods. 70 They said that their prices were
determined by the supply and demand mechanism, which somehow always worked to the
benefit of the kabzrmal, keeping the prices high. Wholesalers often did this by failing to
provide fresh produce unless all the produce from the day before had been sold. In the
absence of an efficient overseeing mechanism, the kabzrmal had a lot of power over the
Hal (covered wholesale food market): they determined the freshness of the produce, its
price and they could cause a produce shortage at will.7|

In the face of increasing protests from the people the municipality sped up and
increased the number of inspections, and announced that it would reopen ten open
bazaars across Istanbul to ensure that the people could easily and inexpensively buy fresh
fruits and vegetables. Additionally, the municipality encouraged all sellers to sell their
produce at these and other bazaars.72 To eliminate any fraudulence at the market place,
the municipality even placed a scale (set by the municipality itself) and a controller at
bazaars, enabling the people to self-inspect weights and measures, and deal with
questionable cases on the spot.73

Summer of 1952 brought more inspection teams to appease the almost unanimous

wave of complaints against the fi'uits and vegetables’ prices across the city. Prices had

skyrocketed once again, and the offices of the govemor/ mayor dispatched inspection

 

7° “Sebze fiatr neden pahalr?” Istanbul Ekspres, 30 July 1952.

7’ Ahmet Kami Suveren, “Hal’in halini dfin sabah seyrettik,” Ibid., 10 January 1953.
7’ “Yeniden 10 Pazar yeti kurulacak,” Hiirriyet, 11 January 1951.

7’ “Pazar yerlerinde Belediye terazisi,” Ibid., 13 January 1951.

I83

teams all over the city, beginning with F atih, Beyoglu, Besiktas, and Eminonii districts.
Inspectors identified the sellers whose goods were overpriced and wrote police reports on
the spot. Additionally, the municipality decided to open some smaller local wholesale
markets to ensure that prices would be more affordable for the people. The prices at these
local wholesale markets would be slightly less than the actual Hal.“

Even as the municipality took the aforementioned measures, residents
complained. A resident of Uskiidar pointed out that the prices of goods were very
arbitrary in the bazaar and requested some form of control.” Another resident from
Kadrkoy complained about the peddlers’ prices. Because this resident’s street was
relatively distant from bakkal and the bazaar, and because there was no control peddlers
charged whatever they thought fit for the goods. Kadrkoy prices were always higher than
the rest of Istanbul anyway, so residents requested better price controls fiom the
municipality.76 An Aksaray resident pointed'out that prices varied greatly in the
marketplace (Pazar yeri) so much so that things were priced differently within 15 meters
of each other.77 Another resident of Kadrkby argued that the bakkal charged arbitrary
prices.78 A gardner in Besiktas pointed out that Dere sokagr was mainly a working class
street and consisted of poor wage earners like himself who had difficulty affording the
prices set by the neighborhood bakkal. He requested the newspaper’s help in drawing the

government’s attention to the prices on his street.79

 

7’ “Sebze ve meyvalar ates pahasrna,” Hfirriyet, 22 June 1952.

75 Gani Dogan Goksel, “Hergiin bir Istanbullunun on derdi,” Istanbul Ekspres, 15 July I952.

7” “Yaverbey Sokagr Sakinleri, Kadlkoy. Hergfin Bir Istanbullunun 10 Derdi...” Ibid., 28 July 1952.
77 “Bit Memur, Hergfin Bir Istanbulllunun 10 Derdi...” Ibid., 31 July 1952.

7” Fulya Merey, Kadlkoy “Hergiin Bir Istanbullunun lO Derdi.. .” Ibid., 4 August 1952.

79 Ibrahim Kolgur, Balmumcu Dere Sokak Besiktas “Hergiin Bir Istanbullunun 10 Derdi. . Istanbul
Ekspres, August 1952. See also Ibid., 12 August 1952.

184

The HAL on one side of the Halic (The Golden Horn) was a huge organization
made up of directors, sanitary workers, guards, and porters. It worked non-stop from 4 in
the morning until late at night. And wholesalers had many tricks. The men who
transferred the produce from containers to boxes, for example, placed the worst of the
produce at the bottom, and the best on top. In his haste the buyer, usually a manav (local
green-grocer), would break top comer of the container to inspect the produce and would
proceed with the purchase unawares.80 But municipal authorities knew all the tricks
played by the wholesalers and took measures that protect buyers. An article in the Hal
regulations stated that “For all goods in containers it is essential that the top and bottom
are of the same quality. It is compulsory for the wholesaler and commissioner alike to
show the bottom of the container to the buyer except for goods that might spoil as a result
of contact such as cherries, strawberries, grapes, peaches and pears.” Buyers had the right
to petition and demand their money back within 24 hours if and when the goods on the
bottom turned out to be of lesser quality than the goods on top.8|

When it became increasingly evident that the Hal was not functioning to the
satisfaction of the people, unable to control the market, the municipality Opened tanzim
satrs magazalarr (sale of foodstuffs directly by the municipality or indirectly through a
firm awarded a contract by a municipality). Recognizing the need for providing a means
for the producer to sell his own goods directly, without the meddling of the middlemen,

the municipality opened large public stores throughout the city for the sale of fi'uits

 

8° Ahmet Kami Suveren, “Halin halini diin sabah seyrettik,” Ibid., 10 January 1953. A reader from the Hal
area pointed out that the Hal lacked a public restroom. Burada kalabalrk bir isci kt'itlesi calrsmaktadrr. Hale
bir doktor da temini lazrmdtr. Belediyenin bu arzumuzu bilhassa dikkate almasrnl rica ederiz. Bir doktor
hale iki bakrmdan faydalr olacaktrr. Bunlardan biri sattlan mallann sihhi muayenesi digeri de burada calrsan
bircok amele arkadasln srhhat meselesidir. . . Gfivercinlerin halk ve mallann fizerlerine pislemelerinin
6nliyecek tedbirler alrnamaz mi?” See “Haldeki bir okuyucumuz konusuyor. Hergiin Bir Istanbullunun 10
Derdi. . .” Ibid., August 1952.

8' “954/257 Umumi Meclis Kararr,” Meclis Karar Defteri 1954.

185

purchased directly from the producer by the municipality, reducing the exchange of good
from four times to one.82 Within one month, one reporter confirmed that the direct sale of
goods reduced prices immediately, and rejoiced in the happiness of the people.83 A
columnist attested to what he called the 90 percent success rate of the tanzim satrs
practice.“ Perhaps because even the tanzim satrs practice did not take root in all parts of
the city at once, perhaps because the fear of prices lingered in people’s memory, a
cartoon published in July is interesting. In the cartoon 3 man is viewing an art exhibition.
Next to the paintings there is a sign that reads “Do not touch!” The three paintings consist
of hits and vegetables, meat and bread.85 This cartoon aside, for the rest of June and
July municipal inspections, and penalties dominated city news.

Towards the end of summer 1953 the Migro Company of Switzerland expressed
interest in operating the tanzim satrs facilities by submitting a proposal package made up
of brochures and photos. They proposed both stationary and mobile distribution ideas.
Mobile distribution would be accomplished via vehicles that would drive to districts in
urgent situations and serve as alternative lower cost sale centers in districts with higher
prices. It was hoped that mobile distribution alone would regulate and help stabilize
prices citywide. In Switzerland Mi gro established a formula in which the company could
reduce prices by buying the goods directly from the producers, eliminating the

middleman.86 The proposal appears to have completed the municipality’s plans, the first

 

”2 “Vali Sehrin iktisadi durumunu Istanbul Ekspres’e aclkladr,” Istanbul Ekspres, 24 May 1953.
8’ Cihat Dilerge, “Muhtekir Esnaf Hezimete Ugradt,” Ibid., 25 June 1953.
8’ Selahattin Karayavuz, “Yine Tanzim Satrslart,” Ibid., 25 June 1953. The columnist deducted the 10
ercent because the goods did not arrive until after 9:00 am.
5 “Yazrsrz,” Akbaba No. 69, 9 July 1953.
”6 “Isvicre’nin Migro F irmasr sehrimizde tanzim satls magazalarl kunnak istiyor,” Istanbul Ekspres, 29
September 1953.

I86

steps for the future operation taken. After a winter marked by fluctuating prices,87 Mi gro
was ready to carry out the operations.88

Istanbul Ekspres joins inspections

Municipality could boast over a thousand inspections in a week, these “busts” and
“raids” were soon referred to as a “war,” the scale and scope of inspections grew, and
efforts yielded some positive results.89 In the closing days of 1952 Istanbul Ekspres
joined the inspection of foodstuffs.90 The first headline drew readers’ attention to the
contents of various goods. “What does the Istanbulite eat? What does the Istanbulite
drink?” the newspaper asked, “only Allah and the salespersons know” came the answer.
The newspaper purchased a bottle of water and sent it to the lab. The lab report that was

also submitted to the municipality revealed it all! The Istanbulite was in a tragic state.

“Residents know not what’s in their drinks or foodstuffs, oil, bread, meat, water, milk! It

 

”7 In February 1954 prices were on the rise again, due partly at least to weather conditions (cold and snow).
The tone of protest was changing: Prices were becoming “unacceptable.” Prices also varied greatly from
district to district. A comparison between Aksaray, considered the least expensive of districts, and Macka
revealed that prices in Aksaray were about 20 percent less than in Macka: meat in Aksaray sold for 390 .
kurus, whereas the same meat sold for 450 kurus in Macka. Leak cost 40-50 kurus in Aksaray and 60-65
kurus in Macka. Cabbage sold for 40-50 kurus in Aksaray and 65-70 in Macka. Spinach cost 70-80 kurus in
Aksaray and 100-1 10 in Macka. “Grda maddelerinin fiatlart durmadan yfikseliyor,” Hiirriyet, 7 February
1954.

88A flurry of activity followed. A major question involved how the company would operate in Istanbul.
According to the initial reports to the press twenty two Turkish businessmen participated in the Tfirk Migro
Anonim Sirketi (Joint Stock Company) and pooled one million lira capital for the operation. The Turkish
government set aside a five-ten million lira credit line in the Ziraat Bankasr (Government Bank) for the
company’s start-up expenses. The twenty two business men involved in the founding of the Company
resolved to keep the development and progress of the Company above everything else, restricting their
profit at no more than 10 percent. “Teskilat nasrl calrsacak?” Istanbul Ekspres, July 1954. The president of
the company, Duttweiler, was scheduled to arrive following the arrival of the vice president Hohstrasser.

”9 The municipality boasted inspections over 1,810 places in a week. Istanbul Ekspres, 1952. “Kadrnlar
Pazarrna Diin Basktn Yaprldr,” and “Kacak et! Iki kasap basrldr” Istanbul Ekspres, Aralrk 1952; and
“Eminonfi mrntrkasrnda diinkii ani kontiiroller. Muhtekir esnafa karsr actlan savas devam ediyor.” Istanbul
Ekspres, I952. The inspections undertaken after the “gIda maddeleri nizamnamesi” (regulation of the
foodstuffs) went into effect yielded positive results: the inspections had cut fraudulence (“hi1e” tricks?) by
half in one year, and sanitized foodstuffs “the people” consumed. Istanbul Ekspres, Summer I952.

90 See Nuran Yildirim, “Eski Istanbul’da Grda Uretimi ve Satrsr,” Istanbul, 64-65, for more detailed
information on the precautions dating back to the 19'h century.

I87

is all impurel’”)I Following the revelation about the contents of the water, a Councilman
told the newspaper that, “yes, a new law has passed regarding the foodstuffs...” but what
good was it? He continued, “if the lab work takes six months, then the seller will continue
selling the offensive goods... and then... and then if the issue is taken to court after the
report... then it takes another two years...” What needed to be done to ensure the quality
and sanitation of the foodstuffs sold in the city was to come up with a law that did not
take a long time to execute.92 Try as they did to regulate certain things neither the
newspaper nor the municipality completely eradicated the shame of the bottled water.
Two and a half years later, the bottled water issue made another disgraceful appearance
in headlines. “The loathsome state of the bottled water” the headline screamed. “Our

'9’

stomachs are not garbage cans the story resounded the reaction of the reader that
provided the bottle of water this time. The bottle contained sand, stones and some other
unidentified particles.93

While the authorities busily reported their plans to improve conditions regarding
water, water shortage continued in various districts of the city. In the summer of 1953,
the newspaper continued its reports on water shortage. For example, the Solaksinan

neighborhood went without water for two whole months in Uskiidar. Especially

Giimfisarayrcr street suffered greatly. The story began with this particular area but

 

9' “Kapalr Sisede Terkos Suyu,” Istanbul Ekspres, 10 December 1952.

92 “Grda maddelerini Istanbul Ekspreste Kontrol ediyor,” Ibid., December 1952.

93 Ibid., July 1955. The problem of the “Bottled water” was far from being the only issue related to water.
After the initial report on the bottled water in December 1952, the newspaper asked “What will the Water
Management (Sular idaresi) do in the next four years?” A government report identified certain areas that
needed attention: the need to improve the water pipes that brought water from Terkos pools (37 milyon
sarft ile terkos havuzlanndan su getiren borulartn islahr), the need to build storage facilities, to make
additions to the facilities in the Anatolian side, and to supply areas without water. 37 million lira was
already put aside for these activities. Additionally, water would be provided in areas where there are no
water lines; areas such as Rami, Edimekapt and Topkapr and a new water tower (reserve) would be built in
Biiyiikada. “Sular Idaresi,” Ibid., 25 December 1952.

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pointed out that water shortage was a real cause of suffering in various districts of the
city, especially in the summer. Unfortunately readers felt like all complaints went
unheard and all petitions unresolved. The story meant to draw the attention of the
Management of Water Works (Sular Idaresi) which kept announcing through the daily
newspapers that Uskiidar would have running water. Uskiidar residents continued to
wonder when they would finally have water.” In the summer of 1954 many districts were
still without water. One cartoon displayed two men viewing a piece of art, discussing its
high price. “Why is it so expensive?” one of the man asked. The other answered,
“because it is in water color. That’s why!”95 Another cartoon depicted the Sular Idaresi at
work. All the employees sat around at their desks with their palms pointed upwards
suggesting they were communally praying. The caption read: “Dear God, Let us hope
that you bestow rain upon us!’”"5

Meanwhile reports of price fluctuations and arbitrary pricing remained in the
headlines. Gokay was determined to punish profiteers severely. He asked for the people’s
cooperation in notifying the governor of such profiteering persons in their vicinity.97
Soon the summer would come to an end amidst expectations that the Mi gro activities
would create competition, which it was hoped would lead to a price drop by about 20-30
percent.98

The fruit and vegetable story ended somewhat happily for the people. But fruits

and vegetables were far from being the only story that made headlines regarding

 

9’ “Bir Mahalle Halkr 2 aydrr susuz kaldr,” Istanbul Ekspres, August 1953.

9‘ “$qu Boya Tablo: 750 TL” Akbaba No 125, 5 August 1954.

9”“Sular1daresi Calrslyor,” Ibid., No 129, 2 September 1954.

97 Tomatoes could be 150 kurus one day and 50 kurus in “tanzim satrs yerleri” the next day. Likewise
lemons that cost 40 kurus one day would be reduced to 15, and eggplants that brought in 75 kurus one day
would cost 30 the next day. “Yiiksek sebze fiyatlan diin diisiiriildii,” Istanbul Ekspres, 7 July 1954.

9” “Migro calrsmalan rekabet yaratacak,” Ibid., August 1954.

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foodstuffs in the early 19503. The price of bread had also been very much on the minds of
residents in early April 1950. Hiirriyet followed it closely every step of the way. The
deliberations of the Standing Committee (Daimi Enciimen) regarding the price of the new
bread created a shortage, causing citizens to wait in line in vain.99 While deliberations
continued on the weight, quality and price of bread Hiirriyet was hopefirl that bread .
would taste better and cost lesswo After the Municipal Directorate of Economy set new

101

standards for bread loaves, the “francala” loaf came into being: heavier, tastier, and

pricier. '02
For years, complaints poured in from many different parts of the city and from

various different groups of people. For example a group of patients at the “Heybeliada

Sanatoryum” went to the offices of Hiirriyet and registered a complaint about the quality

of the bread served at the Sanatorium.'°3

As residents continued to register complaints
about bread, the municipality began inspections. A team of inspectors (put together by

the Kayrnakam of Beyoglu, Hayrettin Nakiboglu) raided Beyoglu bakeries in the middle

 

99 In order to meet the bread shortage, the municipality met with the bakers. Bakers requested permission to
make bigger loaves and adjust the prices accordingly, a request with which the municipality disagreed.
“Yeni ekmek bugfin crkryor,” Hiirriyet, 5 April 1950; “Ekmek darltgr devam ediyor,” Hiirriyet, 8 April.
1950; and “Ekmek darltgml onlemek icin esaslt tedbirler lazrm,” Hiirriyet, 9 April 1950.

'00 Bakers would now bake 900 gram bread loaves made of better quality flour and sell the loaves for 30
kurus instead of the 22 kurus charged for the 570 gram loaves. “Ekmek hem ucuzluyor, hem de
beyazlastyor,” Hfirriyet, 8 July 1950.

'0' They established that the new bread could weigh 600 grams and sell at 20 kurus a loaf. “Yeni tip
ekmegin crkarrlmasr gecikiyor,” Hiirriyet, 10 July 1950. Four days later new loaves weighed 900 grams
and sold for 30 kurus. “Yeni tip ekmek crktr,” Ibid., 14 July 1950.

'02 When it first came out “Francala” was a kind of status symbol. Not everyone could afford it. “Ekmek ve
francala,” Ibid., 21 July 1950. Price and weights regulations led to new concerns on the part of bakers. For
example, bakers registered a complaint about the flour sacks used in the transfer of flour. According to city
regulations a sack was to be used at most ten times, yet the mills used each sack about 60-70 times.
Apparently sacks used in the transfer of flour from the mills to the bakeries were patched one too many
times, which resulted in a loss of 600-1000 grams a 72 kilo sack. Bakers requested from the Municipality
that it ensure the use of new sacks (or patch free sacks) by the mills. If the mill owners did not comply then
bakers requested the payment of their losses. Losses were estimated at 15-20 kurus a sack. Bakers
requested this amount to be deducted from the price of flour. “Un cuvallarr hakkinda frrrncrlann mfiracatr,”
Ibid., 13 May 1952.

"’3 “Ekmeklerden bir sikayet,” Ibid., 9 September, 1950.

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of the night until the early hours of the morning and found that eight bakeries failed to
follow regulations and 110 loaves of bread were confiscated.’04 Inspections brought about
more complaints. As readers saw reports of such inspections they began to request some
in their own districts when bread did not meet their satisfaction. One Istanbul Ekspres
reader from the Fatih district said “the inspections we read about in the papers every day
should come this way” as some bakkal owners charged exorbitant prices.'05 A reader
fi'om Samatya voiced the suffering of all the residents in the district: “We are the
residents of Samatya. All of us would like to register a complaint about the bakeries. The
quality of breads is one thing. But around 7- 7:30 pm, right at dinner time, we never find
any.”'°”

Another major issue involving bread was the contents of it. “Are we to eat bread
with mucus now?” one story asked. Nails, thread, needle, fleas, nails, unidentified bug
skeletons and coal pieces were only some of the objects which had already been
associated with bakeries. One cartoon illustrated a hardware store where two men
conversed. The buyer said to the storeowner, “You have rope, nails, sand... Why don’t
you open a bakery and make bread?”'07 A sample left with Istanbul Ekspres proved that

some bakeries insisted in producing less than: sanitary bread loaves. “The contents of this

particular loaf of bread actually made us long for the bread made of spoiled flour” the

 

'°‘ “Beyoglunda frnnlann kontrolii,” Ht'irriyet, 22 June 1952.

'05 Sabiha Tuncel, “Hergiin Bir Istanbullunun 10 Derdi...” Istanbul Ekspres, July 1952.

'06 Yasar Kumcu, Kunduracr, (Samatya) “Hergiin Bir Istanbullunun 10 Derdi...” Ibid., 12 August 1952. It
should not go without saying that bakers also complained about other bakers. “Ekmek mevzuunda halk
sikayetinde haklrdrr,” Ibid., 29 September 1953. And of course, bakery employees complained about
owners. In a telegram to (Devlet Bakanr, Devlet Vekili) Minister Dr. Mukerrem Sarol (the Frrm Iscileri
Demegi) employees complained about the brutality of working conditions and the low wages they received.
The telegram requested that the government refrain from letting the owners raise the price of bread if
owners did not agree to raise the wages of the workers. The telegram ended on a threatening tone, “bakery
owners are not justified in their request to raise prices. We are ready to testify and prove that owners never
fail to profit from sales. We are ready to reveal all of their most delicate secrets.” “Frrrncrlar asla zarar
etmiyor,” Ibid., 6 July 1954.

'07 Orhan Enez, “Nalbur,” Akbaba No. 139, I I November 1954.

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reporter stated. The municipal police force regulations specifically addressed the hygiene
of the bakery workers. However, these regulations remained on paper only and instead of
improving, the bakeries got worse. “It is a tragic truth that 80 percent of bakery workers
are sick and some actually have tuberculosis. The dough for the bread is produced in
unhygienic conditions, and yes sometimes the dough is kneaded by dirty feet.”'08 The
334 bakeries employed about seven thousand workers across Istanbul. Not only did they
produce substandard bread but working conditions hurt the health of the employees.
Employers did not follow the work regulations. They denied their employees a day off,
and did not pay them for working overtime. '09
Like the fruits and vegetables situation, complaints about the bread quality and
prices led to the municipal production and sale of bread. The governor/mayor announced
that the bread shortage in the city was coming to an end and measures were being taken
even as he made this announcement. Gbkay also pointed out that he was always in
cooperation with the newspapers and that he had asked the newspapers to publish only
the truth.l '0 Within two years of this announcement the municipality had 60 thousand
loaves produced in a Sisli factory and sold them via Migros trucks across the city.| ”
Perhaps not as desperately chronic as hits and vegetables and bread, but

potentially more harmful to public health, the meat issue kept resident's wondering as

well. As part of the Marshall Plan, et kombinalarr were being built in large cities such as

 

'08 “Simdi de siimr'iklfi ekmek mi yiyecegiz?” Istanbul Ekspres, 25 December 1952.

'09 “7 bin firm iscisi halinden sikayetci” Ibid., 12 February 1953. Bakers created an ‘trnjustified/false”
bread shortage because they asked to be able to raise the prices many times and had yet to be allowed to do
that. So if they could not sell bread for more then they would make less bread. Reportedly, one baker even
buried his bread under ground. “Yeraltr F mm meydana crktr,” Ibid., July 1954.

no “Istanbul’da Ekmek Srkrntrsr olmryacak,” Ibid., 25 July 1954. “Ekmek srkrntrsr alrnan tedbirle
hafifledi,” Ibid., July 1954.

”' Istanbul residents had suffered enough in the cold, waiting in lines that never ended only to go home
empty handed. “Schrin ekmek meselesi kati suretle halloluyor,” Ibid., February 1956.

I92

Istanbul, Ankara, Konya and Erzurum.I '2 The price of meat was a source of disagreement
between the wholesale butchers and the municipality,I '3 but the quality of meat was more
pressing. Istanbul butchers claimed that some of the unlicensed butchering involved
butchering horses, and that the slaughterhouse provided spoiled meats. At the annual
congress of the “Association for Retail butchers (perakendeci kasaplar ve mustahdemin
dernegi)” Ihsan Keskiner, a member from Cengelkoyfi, expressed his fi'ustration with the
indifference regarding the slaughterhouse, that the meat provided to the retailers did not
come from cold storage units, that these meats were spoiled on many occasions, that they
were often covered in filth and weighed less than claimed. He went on to say that he had
proof that the meat he obtained fiom the slaughterhouse was spoiled and filthy. He also
said that they had registered a formal complaint with the municipality but that they met
with the reply “take us to court then.” Through Hiirriyet, he requested officials’ help.
Wholesale butcher Hayri Yakar pointed out that unlicensed butchering had become
commonplace, that areas like Ki’rcfikpazar, Kiiciikcekmece, Hadrmkoyii, Alibeykoyii had
each become slaughterhouses. Right outside Edimekapr serious numbers of horses were
butchered everyday and distributed to makers of Sausages and hot dogs. He even
suggested that because of the unlicensed nature of such acts of butchering the treasury
lost millions, but that Istanbul residents lost much more than millions in health since

many of the unlicensed butchers actually cut up sick animals.l '4

 

”2 “Memleketirnizde kurulacak et kombinalarr,” Hiirriyet, 2 May 1950.

"3 The disagreement between the wholesale (toptancr) butchers and the municipality consisted of the issue
of prices charged in the slaughterhouse. The wholesale butchers considered slaughterhouse prices set by the
municipality based on the kilo of the live animals not only unjust but also unlawful. Butchers argued that
the municipality’s practice raised meat prices by 20-30 kurus based on (“fire”) weight diminution.
“Toptancr kasaplarla belediye arasrnda anlasmazlrk,” Ibid., 1 February 1951.

"’ “Istanbul kasaplan Belediyeyi itham ediyor,” Ibid., 12 February 1951. “Bu sene kasaplik hayvan telefati
olmadi: Kisin hafif gecmesi dolayisiyle bu sene kasaplik hayvan telefati olrnamistir. Bu suretle her sene
vasati olarak soguktan veya yemsizlikten olen yarim milyon kucuk bas kasaplik hayvan kazanilmistir. Bu

I93

The next year, shortly after the governor announced that he was aware of the
increase in meat prices and that as soon as they had investigated the matter and identified
what had caused the prices to rise they would take the necessary measures.I '5 Shortly
after this report, it was announced that the government was taking over the meat and fish
issue, making it affordable for the people by establishing first a General Directorate of
Meat and Fish. (Balrk ve Et Sanayii Genel Mfidiirlfigfi) This Directorate would work
independently and oversee the existing facilities that process meat and fish products in
various parts of the country. Once the Erzururn facilities were completed the Genel
Miidiirliik (General Directorate) would easily ship meats to large production centers via
refrigerator cars. Seventy such refrigerator cars had already arrived for this purpose. The
Et ve Balrk Sanayii Genel Miidiirlfigfi promised to ease relations and transactions
between production and consumer centers.l '6

At the close of 1952, meats butchered by unlicensed persons were still being
smuggled into the city. The most alarming point in all of this was that some diseased
sheep were butchered and sold without the municipal stamp and made its way into
restaurant pots. Others made their way into student housing.’ '7 Istanbul Ekspres next took
credit for the destruction of many kilos of spoiled meat. The newspaper claimed that their
publication of the state of the meat coupled with a visit by the news editor to the

management of the slaughterhouse stirred the officials and the people so much so that the

meat sellers at the Kficfikpazar Kadrnlar Pazarr were busted and many kilos of meat were

 

vaziyet karsisinda sut istihsali (production) de gecen yillardan cok iyi oldugu grbi kasaplik hayvanlar da
adetce artrnis ve erken buyumus ve daha besili olmustur. Buna gore, bu sene gerek yag gerekse et
fiyatlarinin gecen senelerden daha ucuz olacagi alakalilarca beyan edilmektedir.” See “Bu sene kasaplik
hayvan telefati olmadr,” Hiirriyet, 28 March 1951.

“5 “Vali sehir isleri hakkinda dun gazetecilerle konustu,” Ibid., 8 April 1952.

“° Istanbul Ekspres, 19 August 1952.

”7 “Kacak etler ogrenci yurtlarrna da sokuluyor,” Ibid., December 1952.

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destroyed. Those “who threatened the health of the people will be taken to court”
Istanbul Ekspres satisfactorily reported.l '8 Like Department of Health bulletins did in
Chicago, Istanbul Ekspres even published the names and addresses of the next few
offenders. The Ankara Pazan Butcher on Beyoglu street, and Sabri Kilrc’s butcher (#63
on Gfimr’issuyu street) were busted, inspected and found guilty for carrying below
standard meat. The Ankara Pazan Butcher on Beyoglu street was found guilty of selling
beef that was butchered without a license. The one on the Giimiissuyu street was found
guilty of selling spoiled water buffalo meat. Their meats were confiscated.’ ’9 By the end
of summer in 1953, the municipality began selling meat in (Et tanzim satrslarr) various
locations, which they hoped would stabilize prices citywide and would ensure that the
people of Istanbul afford and eat better quality meats.’20
Yet for all the precautions the inspectors took, Akbaba relentlessly made fun of
how the inspections failed. In a series of three cartoons an inspection scene is portrayed.
Scene one: the prices are high, the stores look idle (with cobwebs on the doors, probably
due to the steepness of the prices on the windows). Someone on the street corner screams:
the governor is coming!!! Scene two: frantic activity, as store owners erase the prices on
the windows. Scene three: The governor/mayor walks by the stores that have a whole

121

new set of (lower) prices printed on the windows. Akbaba was right. It was only a

matter of time until meat prices escalated again and further unlicensed butchering came

 

”8 “Nesriyatrmrzrn meyveleri toplanryor. Kadrnlar Pazanna Diin Baskrn Yaprldr. Kilolarca kokmus ve
kacak ct imha olundu,” Istanbul Ekspres, 27 December 1952. Especially in Eminom'i area.

”9 “Kacak et: iki kasap basrldr,” Istanbul Ekspres, I952.

’20 To reduce meat prices, the governor/mayor communicated with the central government and the
municipality obtained permission to use the refrigerator cars purchased by the National Railways (Devlet
Demir Yollan) during World War 11 years. With the help of these refrigerator cars animals slaughtered by
the producers would be railed into Istanbul and distributed among the butchers who were involved in
tanzim saris. “Belediye Ikinci Darbeyi Indiriyor: Et Meselesi de Hal Yoluna Girmek Uzere,” Istanbul
Ekspres, June 1953; and “Et tanzim satrslarma iki hafta sonra baslanryor,” Ibid., September 1953.

'2' “Teftis,” Akbaba 47, 5 February 1953.

I95

back. By 1955, unlicensed butchering had come back and meats butchered without a
license made their way into restaurants. Unlicensed butchers sold their products at lower
prices, especially in less well-to-do areas of the city and especially favored by “kebapcr”
and “ahcr” stores. (kebap restaurants)I22

The City Council

As mentioned above, Istanbul Ekspres generally worked two ways. For one, it
reported on the municipal activities so that residents were up to date about price and
quality inspections, and two the governor/mayor was kept up to date about lstanbulites’
concerns and needs. Further, the daily newspaper reported on City Council members’
district visits throughout 1952. In the columns under Sehir Meclisi Istanbul’un
Hizmetinde (City Council at Istanbul’s Service), City Council members were
photographed while walking around in their districts, observing the recent improvements.
These improvements mainly consisted of street widening activities.’23 An editorial on the

'2’ Another one

Fatih district revealed a beehive of road building activity in the area.
happily reported the end of “district privilege,” according to which the municipality was
ending the practice of improving privileged districts at the expense of “less privileged”
ones.’25 Yet another editorial column reported the developments in the Eminbni‘r district:
new roads, better street lighting, improved parks and playgrounds.’26

As always, Akbaba had a different view of the developments. In a cartoon

captioned “Some examples of the new varieties of roads” the “asphalt yol” is depicted as

 

'22 “Kacak et kesimi basladr,” Hilrriyet, 17 January 1955.

'23 “Sehir Meclisi Istanbul Hizmetinde: Istanbul’un en bfiyiik cocuk bahcesi Kadtkoyde kuruluyor” Istanbul
Ekspres, 1952-1953.

'24 “Sehir Meclisi Istanbul Hizmetinde: Fatih Biiyiik Sahibine Layrk Olmaya Caltsryor” Ibid.

”-5 “Sehir Meclisi Istanbul Hizmetinde: Istanbul’da artrk sernt imtiyazr diye birsey mevzubahis degildir,”
Ibid., 10 June 1953.

'26 “Sehir Meclisi Istanbul Hizmetinde: Eminonii ilcesi gfm gectikce imar géiriiyor” Ibid., 1 1 June 1953.

I96

sticking to the shoes of the pedestrian; the car riding on the “parke yol” is depicted as
splashing a lot of water; the “sose yol” is very bumpy; and then there is the (kestirme
means Shortcut—this is a play on words) “kestirrne yol” on which a car falls off a cliff.'27
In another, road constructions were shown to be a nuisance for the pedestrians, who could
not walk on the streets because wherever one turned there was a sign marked “closed due
to construction” or “no crossing?”28
Roads were a part of the universal cry for better services. In the columns titled
“Adrm Adrm Istanbul” (Step by Step Istanbul, 1956) Istanbul Ekspres reported residents’
needs and expectations from the city council along with residents’ photos. From
Kasrmpasa to Fener, Balat, Eminonfi, and F atih districts almost every resident
interviewed first complained about the rising prices, followed by product shortages
related to their livelihood, be their livelihood owning a coffee shop, a (photograph)
studio, or a repair shop. A universal cry for “yol, su, kanalizasyon, copcii” (roads, water,
sewer, garbage collector) usually followed. Residents across the city desired more
schools and playgrounds, and better transportation services as well as roads: they wanted
more buses, extension of the existing routes, addition of new routes, and more frequent

129

bus services. The desire for improved transportation services had been around for a

decade, and rising city population turned that desire into a desperate need.'30 The

 

'37 “Yol cesitlerimizden baZIlarI! . Akbaba 48, 12 February 1953.

'28 “Istanbul ve Istanbullu,” Ibid., 130,9 September 1954.

'29 “Ekspres Rbportajlarla Adlm Adrm Istanbul,” Istanbul Ekspres, January 1956. In the series called
“Istanbul’un halledilemeyen dertleri” (The headaches of Istanbul or Istanbul’s Unsolved/Unsolvable
Problems) the newspaper interviewed residents across the city and registered their complaints and wishes.
“Istanbul’un halledilemeyen dertleri: Coplerimiz var amma, evimizden aIIp kaplmrzrn onune dokiiyorlar,”
Istanbul Ekspres, 1952; “Belediye, cop imhasr” Istanbul Ekspres, 14 August 1952.

'30 There were many different means of public transportation in Istanbul in the 19503. One could ride on the
tramway, on a bus, or a “dolmus”; cross the Bogaz on a legitimate ferry or a not so legitimate “dolmus”
ferry. But no one could guarantee that these means of transportation worked efficiently, arrived on time, or
arrived at all. (The public much desired the takeover the tramway companies by the central government and

197

municipality put in an order for the importation of new buses, repaired old ones in the

'3’ But as is

meantime, and scheduled the “repaired” buses more runs on different routes.
evidenced from the complaints of the people interviewed, buses broke down often,
regularly showed up late and were uncomfortably crowded. When one missed the ferry,
or during work rush hours, travelers could cross the Bogaz on the “dolmus” ferries.
Dolmus the word translates as “that which is full.” As is suggested in the meaning of the
word, the dolmus ferries were small motor boats that usually waited and did not leave
until they were full. This fullness of the boats was often open to interpretation, and
usually meant that they were overcrowded (just like the regular dolmus cars), to the
danger of tipping over.

In Chicago newcomers were viewed as an ignorant but powerful political force in
ward politics and old settlers used the Chicago Defender to draw the migrants into the
political process, and to help them make more informed decisions to benefit the whole
Afiican American community. Even though DePriest had not been the Defender ’s choice,
when he won the primary election in the ward, the Defender emphasized the need for
everyone in the community to endorse him so that he would be the first black alderman in
the City Council. Through the political mobilization in various campaigns and by seeing
instant results, newcomers to Chicago learned that they could affect their local

government. In Istanbul newcomers were simply left on their own while attention was

always drawn to general complaints that the government provide some services. As Ulas

 

a transference over the municipality.) Residents also called for fixing public transportation stops. A
humorous anecdote went: Question: “everyday we hear about the need to have covered tramway stops, why
hasn’t the municipality done anything about it?” Answer: “Well, because the tramway lines pass in front of
the Haydarpasa Numune Hospital. That’s why!” Akbaba 109. Since the Haydarpasa Numune Hospital was
municipally owned and managed, the municipality would benefit from not covering the stops, causing
those who waited at these stops to suffer the weather conditions and becoming ill. Even though this
anecdote is from 1946, complaints about bus stops persisted into and throughout the 19503.

'3' Istanbul Ekspres, July 1955.

I98

Bayraktar has recently argued, “although the 13th article of the 1930 Municipal Law
provided the residents the rights to participate in local governments, this right remained
on paper, without leading to any opportunities or instruments of citizens’ participation in
local politics.”I32 Their voices mingled with the voices of other Istanbulites and could be
heard through the Istanbul Ekspres interviews and reports, and some of their needs were
met regardless, but lack of active local political participation was again a missed
opportunity for newcomers to Istanbul to feel like they belonged in the Istanbul

community. Local organization patterns would be hardly different.

 

'32 Bayraktar, “Turkish Municipalities,” paragraph 50. “In the absence of adequate public policies to meet
their urgent needs, the new residents of (big cities) built up their own informal solidarity networks and
patronage channels that further strengthened... local political elite...” See footnote 4. “Citizens
participation remained restricted to personal endeavors in order to solve their specific and personal
problems through the hierarchical patronage networks.” See paragraph 62.

I99

Chapter 5

Organization

Afiican American migrants coming to Chicago in the middle of the 19103,
entered a city whose residents were already thinking of themselves as members of a
larger community. They had begun to develop their sense of the city as a community
while responding to problems brought on by the modernization process. For several
decades, as earlier chapters have detailed, various reform-minded groups had been
confronting a wide range of urban problems in order to make their city a better and
healthier place to live. Voluntary associations that helped immigrant workers’ through the
urbanization process while they addressed the foreigners’ Americanization needs, were
readily visible before the end of the nineteenth century. By the 18803, a cadre of educated
middle class women involved themselves in the problems of immigrants from abroad.l
AS the nineteenth century came to a close this group was joined by other professional
women, professors and students in the University of Chicago School of Civics and
Philanthropy. From social settlements to housing surveys, from health reforms to local
political campaigns, Chicago’s middle and upper class women played central roles in the
creation of a sense of community and belonging that was to encompass newcomers.2 The

existence of the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy in Chicago meant that many

 

I On social settlements see, Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull House with Autobiographical Notes
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990); Allen F. Davis, Spearheads for Reform: The Social Settlements
and the Progressive Movement, [890-1914 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967); Robyn Muncy,
Creating a Female Dominion in American Reform [890-1935 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991);
Domenica M. Barbuto, American Settlement Houses and Progressive Social Reform: An Encyclopedia of
the American Settlement Movement (Phoenix: Orxy Press, 1999); Daphne Spain, How Women Saved the
City (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001).

2 For housing surveys see Chapter Two. For health activities see Chapter Three. For political campaigns see
Chapter Four.

200

professionally educated women and men entered the scene at around the time urban
problems such as housing and health became a great concern for the city’s residents.
Through canvasses, surveys, investigation, and conferences, these groups collected data
on existing problems and studied them, proposed solutions, shared information and
networked. Some of their efforts were directed specifically towards aiding newcomers
both at their initial arrival into the city and then to help them survive in a new and often
bewildering environment. Members of organizations such as the Travelers Aid met
newcomers at railroad stations—the usual port of entry.3 The purpose of these
organizations was to ease the initial transition into the city by providing advice on
agencies that could help them find shelter or employment. Afiican American newcomers,
however, were rarely the beneficiaries of such general efforts. To make up for that lapse,
groups of Afiican American Chicagoans worked assiduously to help newcomers adjust to
the city.

Istanbul’s vision of itself as a centuries-old place of high culture, a center of
civilization and education, determined that its reception of newcomers would take an
entirely different path. Rural migrants were distinctly out of place in this vision where
they were an intrusion on the city’s social order. Moreover, since modernization was a
state-imported project, the older residents of Istanbul were far less interested in being part
of that process than were the older residents of Chicago. As one participant in the recent
campaign put it, there were two Istanbuls. One was the Istanbul of those from within, and

the other was the Istanbul of those from without.

 

3 Robert L. Buroker, “From Voluntary Association to Welfare State: The Illinois Immigrants’ Protective
League, 1908-1926” The Journal of American History, 58:3 (December 1971); James R. Grossman, Land
of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,
1989), 116 and 332; Arvarh E. Strickland, History of the Chicago Urban League (Urbana: University of
Illinois Press, 1966), 44.

201

By examining how residents received rural newcomers in each city, it is possible
to assess to what extent voluntary organization directed at urbanizing newcomers played
a role in shaping the city as a whole, as well as in generating among newcomers the
consciousness of living in a city as a form of community. Developing such a
consciousness, or not, helps us understand whether, or to what extent, rural to urban
migrants feel a sense of belonging in the city.

Chicago

Activities of many voluntary efforts that aimed to help foreign newcomers did not
extend to African Americans as the Great Migration of rural Afiican Americans from the
south began during World War I. Chicago’s existing African American community,
which was already organized in clubs and societies for purposes of economic, social,
religious, and civic progress, quickly reorganized to extend similar services to Afiican
American newcomers.4 African American Women’s Clubs were already numerous, and,
as Anne Meis Knupfer had detailed, over one hundred and fifty such organizations were

listed in the city’s two Chicago Afiican American newspapers. These clubs were

 

’ Anne Meis Knupfer, Toward A T enderer Humanity And A Nobler Womanhood: African American

Women ’5 Clubs in Turn-of-the-Century Chicago (New York: New York University Press, 1996); Chicago
Commission on Race Relations (CCRR), The Negro in Chicago: A Study of Race Relations and A Race
Riot (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1922), 94. According to the CCRR Afiican Americans
established “their own churches, business enterprises, amusement places, and newspapers.” ( 140) Four
types of institutions within the African American community “developed to aid it in maintaining itself and
promoting its own welfare: 1. Commercial and industrial enterprises; 2. Organizations for social
intercourse; 3. Religious organizations; and 4. Agencies for civic and social betterment.” (I40) Examples of
the Social and Civic Agencies are divided into two: agencies especially for the Afiican Americans, and
agencies convenient for Afiican Americans. Agencies especially for African Americans included: The
Chicago Urban League (CUL), Wabash YMCA (Promoted community work, 47-148), Chicago Branch of
the NAACP, The South Side Community Service, Wendell Phillips Settlement (under the supervision of
the CUL), Butler Community Center (offered classes in “citizenship, hygiene, African American history,
sewing, china painting” I49), Phyllis Wheatley Home (provided wholesome surroundings for girls and
women strangers in the city” 149), Home for the Aged and the Infirm, Indiana Avenue YWCA (Secured
jobs and safe homes for girls, 149), Woodlawn Community Association (worked to make the neighborhood
more desirable, “extended functions to include community activities and civic welfare programs,” 150).
Agencies convenient for the African Americans were: American Red Cross, United Charities, The Illinois
Children’s Home And Aid Society (helped find homes for dependent African American children and
supervised their placing).

202

involved in a wide range of political, social, and cultural activities, some which included
“suffrage, literary contests, municipal reform, philosophy, youth activities, child welfare,
care for the elderly, safe lodging for working women, health care, orphanages, home life,

”5 These clubs also contributed to different community

and rotating economic credit.
institutions such as the Provident Hospital, YWCA, and Urban League among others.6
Although historians have disagreed over the reasons that drove Afiican American
elites’ actions,7 the fact remains that “the old settlers” of elite men and women organized
themselves and coordinated with prominent white residents to aid newcomers’
adjustment into the urban setting. Historian Blaine Brownell has argued that in US. cities
of this time period, middle and upper middle classes “thought of the city as a larger
entity,” that they shared an “urban consciousness, an awareness of the complex,
interdependent world that is the city, the cognizance of the city as identifiable by qualities
that were distinctly urban.”8 Afiican American residents of Chicago had incorporated this
sense of the city into their everyday lives. Along with issues of respectability and “racial
destiny” this understanding pushed Chicago’s Afiican American elites to undertake
actions and found organizations such as African American settlements, Colored Branches

of the YMCA and the YWCA, and the Chicago Urban League, that advanced the process

of “becoming urban” and belonging to the city for African American newcomers.

 

5 Knupfer, Toward A T enderer Humanity, I.

6 Ethel Chase, “The Negro In Illinois: The Story of the Illinois Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs
I900-l922 by Elizabeth Lindsey Davis” Illinois Writers Project Box 38 Folder 10 Vivian G. Harsh
Research Collection Of Afro-American History and Literature, Chicago Public Library.

7 Some historians, recognizing that it was the elite Afiican Americans who filled this gap, criticized the
elite Afiican American group as being driven by concern with their own place in society. Others have seen
an extension and application of Booker T. Washington’s self-help ideology in such efforts. Allan H. Spear,
Black Chicago: The Making Of A Negro Ghetto [890-1920 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press);
Grossman, Land of Hope; Anne Meis Knupfer, Toward A T enderer Humanity.

8 Blaine A. Brownell, The Urban Ethos in the South 1920-1930 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University,
1975), 46, and 63.

203

The availability of assistance for the newcomers helped them assimilate into
urban life, easing their urbanization process if not the racial component of it. This was a
complex relationship “between ‘old settlers’ and newcomers.” Old settlers understood
that the reputation of their community depended on assisting the newcomers so that they
would not fall into degeneracy, that they would understand the implications of industrial
labor, urban life, manners and mores, and northern racial patterns. Assuming that “the
migrants had to be guided and controlled fiom the moment they stepped from the train”
old settlers helped fashion “a variety of initiatives designed to help—and pressure
newcomers to adjust.” Institutions such as “the YMCA, the larger churches, and a corps
of volunteers” assisted the Urban League and the Defender in such endeavors as “training
peasant folk in the city ways and of trying to interpret them to the old settlers and to those
sections of the white community which resented their presence.”9

There is no denying the racism of a section of the white community, which
resented the presence of the newcomers, but there was also a group of prominent white
men and women who worked with African American leaders. Julius Rosenwald’s role in
the creation of the Chicago “Colored YMCA” also referred to as “the Wabash Avenue
YMCA” has been covered in detail elsewhere, but as an interracial venture that
specifically aimed to aid urban adjustment, it merits a short summary here. In 1910 Julius

Rosenwald, president of Sears Roebuck & Co., and Jewish philanthropist, promised to

donate $25,000 to any community that raised $75,000 towards an African American

 

9 Grossman, Land of Hope, 7, I45, and Drake, Black Metropolis, 64. The examples drawn from the
Chicago Defender for the purposes of this project deal mainly with the adjustment to “industrial work and
urban life” and “behavior that would enhance the reputation of blacks in the larger (white) community.”
Adjustment to “the northern racial patterns” included issues such as dress, and public behavior which also
fall under the issue of adjustment to “urban life.” For further information on the functions of such
organized institutions in helping rural African American migrants adjust to urban living see Grossman,
Land of Hope, 116-160 and Spear, Black Chicago, 167-174.

204

YMCA, a promise that won him national prominence. While Rosenwald received
criticism from opponents of segregation, Chicago residents mostly congratulated
Rosenwald. Grover B. Simpson, a member of the board of managers of the Chicago
YMCA, recognized that Rosenwald’s donation would “unquestionably lead to” the uplift
of Afiican Americans, would “inspire them with new hope, and on the same principle of”
the YMCA spirit, “mean the helping of those who help themselves,” as it gave the
Afiican American community a task to do before they received Rosenwald’s generosity.
N. W. Harris, a prominent contributor to both YMCA and NAACP work, observed that
Rosenwald’s proposal “was only second in importance to the emancipation
proclamation.” Dr. Graham Taylor of Chicago Commons and professor at the University
of Chicago saw this as a gift to the whole city community.'0

As evidenced by the responses to Rosenwald’s announcement, Afiican American
progress was being watched closely. Soon after this announcement, Booker T.
Washington commented on the success of the fund raising campaign by which Chicago’s
African American residents “set an example to the entire race in showing how they could
raise $67,000 within a few days toward the erection of a YMCA building.” Further,
Washington commended men such as Rosenwald, Harris, and C. H. McCormick for
setting an example in “showing other white people ought to assist the colored race.”
Washington concluded that Rosenwald’s offer gave “impetus here to the YMCA
movement among colored people that nothing heretofore has done.” Rosenwald himself
stated that the race question was the greatest problem of the day and that it was the duty

of this class of white Chicagoans to aid the Afiican American community in its “struggle

 

'0 Prrtl Atabay, “Philanthropy and Race Relations in 19203 Chicago,” (Unpublished MA Thesis, Bilkent
University, 1999.)

205

for better things” because Afiican Americans were part of the “commercial, national, and
social institutions.”'l

Setting aside the negative racial implications of opening a separate African
American Branch, the funding campaigns and the terms upon which the concept was
framed, reflected the consciousness that more privileged groups ought to provide
financial support and institutional direction to those who needed both. The need for the
Afiican American YMCA Branch was placed in terms of the increasing Afiican
American population “coming largely from the South which is unused for the most part
to life in a large city.” When a young man came to Chicago he faced “new conditions, as
to climate and as to methods of labor” among other things and the YMCA building would
“help the black race adjust to the new life.” But most of all “this movement in Chicago
has emphasized the fact that the Negro has a consciousness, that he has civic pride and
that he will work as enthusiastically as the white man at tasks that assume his citizenship
and manhood.”l2

It was the philosophy that participation of all citizens, and acceptance of
responsibility by those who were better situated in society to integrate newcomers into
the urban community that had led to the creation of the Chicago Urban League. '3 The
Chicago Defender kept up with all the steps that led to the formation of the Chicago

Urban League. From the initial visits of Mr. E. K. Jones, the head of the National Welfare

League, to his meetings with various prominent leaders and prominent clubs and societies

 

" “Offers $50,000 As Start for YMCA Hotel,” Inter Ocean, May 19, 1911 in 0. Spencer, Illinois Writers
Project: Julius Rosenwald Fund, IWP Box 38 Folder 8, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection Of Afi'o-
American History and Literature, Chicago Public Library.

Ibid.
'3 See Nancy J. Weiss, The National Urban League: [910-] 940 (New York: Oxford University Press,
1974), 9-33. The Committee on Urban Conditions joined with the National League for the Protection of
Colored Women and the Committee for Improving the Industrial Conditions in New York in 1911 to form
the Urban League. Strickland, History of the Chicago Urban League, 29-30.

206

in Chicago, from the opening, settling and the growth of the League to all of its activities
in the city, the Chicago Defender did not miss a single beat. In October 1915 the weekly
introduced the Chicago Urban League as an interracial effort that was interested in
“securing co-operation among active organizations, securing and training social workers,
making studies of conditions among Negroes in cities, and promoting agencies for social
uplift in lines in which there is need for larger social service. . 3’” Shortly after, Mr. Jones
was in the city initiating these aims as the guest of the Chicago Federation of Colored
Women’s Clubs and the Chicago Branch of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People “at a luncheon held at the (white) City Club.”15

By January 1916 the Defender summarized the League’s policy as “to show better
relationship between the two races, secure better playgrounds and cleaner places for
amusement for the children, besides forming girls’ and boys’ c1ubs.”'6 Following the
National Urban League (UL) conference, the League’s migration resolutions were given
wide coverage by the newspaper. The resolutions urged urban residents in northern cities
to form organizations “to foster good feeling between the races, to instruct erni grants as
to dress, habits, and methods of living necessary to withstand the rigors of Northern
climate, as to efficiency, regularity and application demanded of workers in the North.”
Migrants would also benefit from organizations that acquainted them with “opportunities
offered by towns and cities of the North in schools, hospitals, police protection,
employment, as to facilities offered by the Church, YMCA, YWCA, and other

”17

organizations. Shortly after the National UL Conference, the Defender reminded its

 

" “Mr. E. K. Jones Will Visit Chicago,” The Chicago Defender, October 30, 1915.
'5 Ibid., November 13, 1915.

'6 “Hon. E. K. Jones in City,” Ibid., January 15, I916.

'7 “Urban League Adopts Migration Resolutions,” Ibid., February 3, 1917.

207

readers that it supported the Chicago branch, and further listed the names of white
supporters. '8
The Chicago branch held its first official meeting in January 1917.l9 Once
established, the Chicago Urban League (CUL) reached many people and raised interest in
itself by holding meetings in various settings throughout Chicago, including the Grace
Presbyterian church, the loop district, Phyllis Wheatley Home, the Young People’s
Lyceum, Hull House, the Chicago City Club, Bethel A. M. E. church, and Douglass
Center. In such meetings T. Arnold Hill, executive secretary, Dr. Robert E. Park,
president of the Board of Directors and instructor at the University of Chicago, and/or Dr.
George C. Hall welcomed “all persons who have recently come to Chicago and all
persons interested in them and in their welfare,” made reports, outlined and explained in
detail the work of the League, appealed to Chicago citizens to help with the work and
campaigned for funds. For example, Hon. Edward H. Wright encouraged the community
to “help the newcomers to become used to the actions and ways of the people of the
north; such as good deportment in public places, on the street cars, etc.” Horace J.
Bridges, an active member, pointed out that African Americans were coming to Chicago
because Chicago needed them. Therefore, it was “the duty of all people of Chicago” to

see that they were justly treated. Those in the audience often varied as much as the

different meeting places.20 “The Race” was urged to cling together, to work together

 

'8 “Getting Together,” Ibid., February 10, I917.

’9 Strickland, History of the Chicago Urban League, 29-30.

20 “Wright Addresses Lyceum,” The Chicago Defender, January 27, 1917; “Urban League Holds Meeting,”
Ibid., April 21, 1917; “Club Women Meet,” Ibid., April 28, 1917; “Urban League Work Explained,” Ibid.,
May 19, 1917; “Editor Johnson Speaks At Hull House,” Ibid., June 2, 1917. For other names that appeared
in association with the League, such as Sophonisba Breckinridge, Dr. Arthur J. Francis, secretary of the
Chicago Community Trust, Dr. W. D. Cook, pastor, William C. Graves, secretary to Julius Rosenwald and
Miss Amelia Sears, Judge Sadler, Mrs. Joanna Snowden-Porter and Miss Moseley, “all members of the

208

“looking for the betterment of the newcomer.” To this end, the League would establish a
block system to instruct clubs in civic duty so the members could “teach newcomers
deportment in cars and public places, economy housekeeping and efficiency methods...”
Men who worked at the Stock Yards were urged “to go to and from their work clean; not
only there but everywhere they work, cleanliness should be their motto.”2|
The Defender emphasized the importance of community help by underlining that
it was no longer sufficient to expect matters to eventually adjust themselves. One
editorial signaled that things were getting to a point where matters would no longer be
safely ignored. “The rural south is moving into the urban north. The problem of the city is
accentuated. This situation cannot be adequately met by palliatives,” warned the
Defender. As scientific methods were important to treat disorders, the Urban League
believed it was important to treat newcomers’ maladjustments. The National League on
Urban Conditions Among Negroes was “in the field with this new ideal,” one that would
increase the number of specifically trained workers. “Its aim is comprehensive. It seeks to
alter the environment which impresses maladjustments; to remove obstacles to social
uplift.” As such the League emphasized cooperation “with agencies devoted to welfare
work among our people” and carried out many investigations. The author encouraged the
community to heartily support the new emphasis “on constructive social wor .”
Furthermore the League’s “investigations and records” were open to public, and it was

ready to meet “the long, necessary demand for a bureau of information and a

clearinghouse through which the earnest but narrow efforts at social improvement may be

 

board.” See “Urban League Secretary Makes Splendid Report,” Ibid., June 2, 1917. “A Royal Welcome,”
Ibid., March 17, 1917.
2' No Title, Ibid., March 31, 1917.

209

brought into harmony.” But the League could not accomplish all of that without an
extensive membership.22

In November 1917 the Chicago League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes
held its first annual meeting. The Defender announced the meeting a week before it took
place and covered it in detail after it ended. Following the meeting it was reported that “a
large and enthusiastic audience of both races” attended the meeting and that Mr. Forrester
B. Washington’s address had drawn particular interest. F. B. Washington was the
executive secretary of the Detroit Urban League, who was otherwise famous for the
account he provided after “the East St. Louis disturbance” that demonstrated “how proper
attitude and preventive measures toward the newcomers would make of them dependable
and industrious citizens.” He was recognized as “distinctly successful in corralling the
potential strength of the newcomers and in turning to good account, by supervision and
direction, energies and tendencies which otherwise might have created a menace in the
community.” The executive secretary, T. Arnold Hill, reported that the League had
assisted about 7,000 persons and that “the work of the league has been presented before
sixty-two public audiences and it has been called upon by all public and private
institutions and social service groups to assist in matters touching the Race.” It was
happily reported that seven new members were added to the board: “Miss Jane Addams,
Arthur T. Aldis, Miss Edith Reider, Judge Frank P. Sadler, Mrs. Theresa Macon, William

C. Graves and H. D. Openheimer.”23 Within a year of its opening, the Urban League

 

22 “Constructive Work,” Ibid., September 22, 1917.

23 “Urban League in First Annual Meeting,” Ibid., November 17, 1917; “First Annual Meeting Chicago
Urban League,” Ibid., November 24, 1917. Authors took pride in the fact that the white press took notice of
the League. “The Guide Post is the head under which William L. Chenery writes daily for the Chicago
Herald (white) and on Saturday Jan 19 he gave three quarters of a column to a discussion on Southern
Migration, Communal Neglect, and the work of the Urban League. Speaking of the league he said, it
attempts to put at the disposal of the recent arrivals all of the private and public organizations which will

210

outgrew its initial headquarters and moved to “a new cleaner building at 3032 South
Wabash Avenue,” inside the Frederick Douglass Center, which gave it “office Space also
for meetings.” The new space in the center was provided rent-free and was a further step
in interracial cooperation as Mrs. Celia Parker Woolley, the founder of the Douglass
Center, had been one of the first white women to take up residence among the Afiican
American community.24

From T. Arnold Hill’s early operation out of the Wabash Avenue YMCA until the
move into the Douglass Center, the League continued to grow in staff, budget, offices
and members. A membership campaign would begin in March, proudly recognizing that
in the previous year “Race memberships and contributions constituted 75 per cent of the
league’s donors.”25 Within a month the desire to increase membership was set at 500:
“To extend the sphere of influence of its work, and make the organization more definitely
an agency of the Race people of Chicago as well as for them, the Chicago Urban League
has launched an organized membership campaign.”26 According to Strickland, the CUL
historian, 75 percent “Race membership and contributions” had only contributed about 10
percent of the total donations to the CUL, so the membership campaign focused on
increasing the responsibility of the community.27 “Good will and kind wishes are
excellent aids to the prosecution of the work, but the price of a membership not only

expresses both of these, but actually helps to get things accomplished.”28

 

assist them becoming acclimated to urban conditions. Obviously, Chicago failed to do this work, a well
administered private agency such as the Urban League is needed.” “Herald Comments on Urban League,”
Ibid., January 26, 1918.

2’ “Chapter V: Inter-Racial Co-Operation,” in Elizabeth Lindsey Davis, The Negro in Illinois: the Story of
the Illinois Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs 1 900-1922, Illinois Writers Project Box 38 Folder 10.
25 “Urban League Moves,” The Chicago Defender, March 2, I918.

2° “Chicago Urban League in Membership Campaign,” Ibid., April o, 1913.

27 Strickland, History of the C UL, 34.

2’ “Chicago Urban League in Membership Campaign,” The Chicago Defender, April 6, I918.

211

The Defender operated on the understanding that what affected one affected all
and addressed the old settlers to take responsibility. “Whether the colored man’s
conditions will be improved or not depends in a great measure upon our own actions,”
one editorial warned. Newcomers looked to the North as “an oasis in a desert of
prejudice,” but the editorial reminded that prejudice lurked everywhere in different
degrees. Newcomers faced the danger of mistaking “privilege for right,” and this might
cause problems for the old settlers. “It is the duty, therefore, of every Northern
organization, every pastor and every good citizen to guide and direct these newcomers so
that their coming will prove an asset rather than a liability to the community they select
for their future home.” In this the author extended the recent resolutions of an uplift
society urging that:

...In the North that similar organizations be formed, or existing

organizations urged to take action, which in addition to the purposes

already mentioned, shall seek to instruct the migrants. As to the dress,

habits and methods of living necessary to withstand the rigors of the

northern climate. As to the efficiency, regularity and application

demanded of workers in the North. As to the dangers of dealing or going

with unscrupulous or vicious persons and of frequenting questionable

resorts. As to the opportunities offered by the towns and cities of the North

in schools, hospitals, police protection and employment. As to the

facilities offered by the church, Y.M.C.A and other organizations, Every

Race man owes this to himself as well as to the newcomers, for what

affects one affects all. A perfect understanding comes with contact. We

were all put into this world for a purpose. Do unto others as you would

have them do unto you is the keynote of the whole situation. It is your

burden. Will you take it up?29
Ideas such as these, that “what one affected one affected all,” and that community leaders

had an obligation to guide and direct newcomers were core ideals of Jane Addams, Hull

House, her colleagues, and other settlements in the city. Driven by her commitment to

 

2" “Still They Come,” Ibid., February 10, 1917.

212

democracy and her belief that active participation of all citizens could improve and save
democracy fi'om the over capitalistic turn it had taken, Addams became a prominent
community leader and a bridge between the two economic classes of society. She defined
the settlement as “an experimental effort to aid in the solution of the social and industrial
problems which are engendered by the modern conditions of life in a great city.” The
settlement reflected the idea that “these problems are not confined to any one portion of a
city,” residents pledged “to devote themselves to the duties of good citizenship” and they
were “bound to regard the entire life of their city as organic, to make an effort to unify it,
and to protest against overdifferentiation.”30 The Chicago Defender extended similar
efforts and understandings to the African American community.

In stories specifically aimed at teaching newcomers the ways of the city the
Defender imparted wisdom that underscored the vulnerability, but also the new freedoms,
that they would encounter. For example, one story let them know that there was recourse
to insult and injury inflicted on them. The story of the “Insulting White Conductor” told
readers that the white conductor had carried passengers “past their place and then told
them he would throw them off the car.” The author explained that the Chicago City
Railways did not tolerate insulting and bullying conductors, and if proper complaints
were made to that office things would be remedied.

Wednesday morning on a southbound State street car No. 6043, conductor

7703 got pretty abusive to cover up his mistake. Two newcomers boarded

the car and asked to be put off at South Water Street. He evidently forgot

or paid no attention to them. When they got to Ninth Street he told them

they would have to get off. They explained that they wanted to get off at

South Water Street and had paid their last 10 cents to go there. He became

abusive and told them he would throw them off and call a policeman
besides. At that moment A. E. Ballinger, 3432 Forest Avenue, stepped up

 

’0 See Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull House with Autobiographical Notes (Boston: Bedford/ St.
Martin’s, 1999), 95.

213

and said ‘We’ll get off here. These men do not know this town and I’ll pay

their way back.’ The conductor murmured something beneath his breath

and slammed the door. The men told Mr. Ballinger they lived at 3313

Forest Avenue. Any member of the Race being denied courteous treatment

on these cars should seek the companies office and make a written

complaint.’ ’

As the story of the “Insulting White Conductor” revealed, newcomers were
susceptible to be taken advantage of. A similar story titled “Grocers Bunko Housewives:
Latter Careless in Watching the Scales and Are Given Short Weight” advised
householders to pay more attention to the storekeepers along the street that are near their
homes and save their money. She had visited several stores in the previous week “all run
by white men, in the Second Ward,” and then went south and on the west side, where she
was amazed to find conditions as they were. Customers were cheated many times over by
dishonest grocers. They were treated with disrespect on top of it.

Newcomers must learn when they leave articles like shoes and clothes to

get something to show for it. Several cases have come to our attention

where the storekeepers have claimed they didn’t remember receiving such

articles. One fellow, a newcomer, on last Saturday night went into a

grocery store at Twenty-ninth and state Street and gave the owner a $20

dollar bill to keep for him until he returned an hour or two later. When he

returned he couldn’t get his money and had to go to the police in order to

get it. Our advice is, to keep your money in your pocket or put it in a

bank 32

In such stories newcomers were instructed that they had the right to expect, even
demand, courteous and honest treatment and that they should be watchful. Newcomers
also had the obligation to give courteous treatment. Authors for the Defender were very

clear about this obligation. A story titled “Keep Your Mouth Shut Please” declared that

there was entirely “too much loud talking on the street cars among our new comers.

 

 

:' “Insulting White Conductor,” Ibid., March 17, 1917.
2 The Girl Reporter, “Grocers Bunko Housewives,” Ibid., May 19, 1917.

214

Going to and from work the new comers are heard to tell where they were the night
before and the kind of good times they had and talking about their business in public.”
This had to be stopped as such actions Showed “low breeding.” According to this city
resident, people of Chicago did not engage in such loud talking. The author advised
Chicago preachers to “take up a few minutes of Sundays and instruct these new comers
on how to act in public places.” Further, churches were encouraged to take a day off
“and visit the plants, yards, and mills and tell them how to act.” Newcomers were wanted
in Chicago, but it was up to Defender readers to stop “their bad deportment on streetcars
and L roads” because such behavior disgraced themselves and the good city. “Cut this
out, dear reader,” the author ordered, “and whenever you see one talking loudly hand it to
him.”33
The Defender tirelessly came back to the point of cleanliness and its power of
image making. “The pulpit, press and various organizations” were doing their part in
trying to teach the newcomers from the South the things that would “make for their best
interest. One thing they sure must learn, and that is they must go clean. In the south they
were taught that the dirtier they looked the better. In the south a premium was put on filth
and unclearrliness.” However, this was not the South, and in Chicago “a badge of honor”
was put on the clean man or woman. The Defender urged “that all give attention to their
clothes and body,” and this advice was framed in logic that newcomers would benefit
from doing so: “they can get a place to work quicker by looking clean and tidy than by
looking dirty and disgraceful.”34 Authors’ insistence on cleanliness, clothes, and body,

and public deportment reflected the African American community’s decades long interest

 

’3 “Keep Your Mouth Shut Please,” Ibid., March 24, I917.
3‘ “Go Clean Up North,” Ibid., August 4, 1917.

215

in respectability. Since Reconstruction, this was part of a larger project, in short, to look
and act respectable to earn respect. Families were known to rear their children in this
fashion, especially daughters, because “race” women were more susceptible to being
made into sexual objects.”5 Increasingly more meaning was assigned to different forms of
dress.

Throughout the summer and fall of 1917 migration was the topic in various
meetings. At a Greater Hampton day in May, Mr. Joseph N. Fouchard, the speaker,
“pointed out with emphasis that the newcomer must be treated as a brother and
everything done to help make him a desirable citizen.”36 At another meeting in June,
attendees discussed the influx as a “great help to the Race,” and urged citizens “to aid the
newcomers in every way possible.”37 In an October meeting old settlers were depicted as
“thrifty, self-respecting, law-abiding citizens” whose behavior was to be emulated by
newcomers.

As far as we are concerned, conditions in every northern city are what we

make them. It is expected that prejudice, to a greater or less degree, will be

met with, and our advancement hinges on the methods employed to

overcome it. Chicago is known as the most liberal city, and a Mecca for

“brunette” people. This state of affairs didn’t just happen—it is the result

of years of careful nursing. The men and women who came in the early

days and have grown up with the city, fortunately, are thrifty, self—

respecting, law-abiding citizens. To such there could be no bar. Gradually
they worked their way into the body politic, made good whenever and

 

’5 Stephanie J. Shaw, What a Woman Ought to Be and to Do: Black Professional Women Workers During
the Jim Crow Era (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1996). On Washington DC domestic
workers’ work clothes and how they carried them in their freedom bags once they switched fi'om “living
in” to day labor, see Elizabeth C lark-Lewis, Living In, Living Out: Afiican American Domestics and the
Great Migration (New York: Kodansha International, 1994). On the rising African American
consciousness and its ties to racial destiny see Michele Mitchell, Righteous Propagation: African
Americans and the Politics of Racial Destiny after Reconstruction (Chapel Hill: The University of North
Carolina Press, 2004).

’6 “Hampton wins many friends at Grace Lyceum,” The Chicago Defender, May 5, I917.

3" “Speaks at Bethel Literary,” Ibid., Jun 9, 1917.

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wherever placed, received the confidence and respect of their fellowmen

and acted as a balance wheel for the actions of all newcomers...38

By the end of October 1917, the Defender reported that reactions to the African
American migration were souring. However, the situation could be faced head on and
overcome with the help of the African American old settlers. “It is evident that some of
the people coming to this city have seriously erred in their conduct in public places, much
to the humiliation of all respectable classes of Colored citizens,” one editorial expressed
disappointment. In so doing, in their “ignorance of laws and customs necessary for the
maintenance of health, sobriety and morality among the people in general have given our
enemies ground for complaint.” It was considered absolutely necessary

That a united effort should be made on the part of all law abiding citizens

to endeavor to warn and teach those, who by their acts bring reproach

upon the Colored people of this city, to strictly observe the laws, city

ordinances and customs and so conduct themselves by so doing it will

disarm those who are endeavoring to discredit our Race. We Call
Attention to Some Things Which Should Be Observed By Our

People. . .(List of do’s and don’t’s)39
Even while the Chicago Defender called for a united front in dealing with the instruction
of the newcomers, authors took it upon themselves to remind newcomers in no uncertain
terms that they were to live a certain way, leaving another behind; “With the arrival of
the newcomers on 41‘” street, near Grand Boulevard, certain indiscriminate practices have
begun to play prominent figures. The old can-beer degenerates are spoiling the decent

appearance of the street by rushing the can whenever the spirit takes them. A certain

 

3“ “Camping Out,” Ibid., October 6, 1917.
39 “Things That Should Be Considered,” Ibid., October 20, 19 l 7.

217

house has been reported to the Committee of F ifleen and is to be watched carefully. No
levee district out this side, Mesdames.”40
The Chicago Defender continued to publish encouraging accounts of life in the
North, assuring southern migrants that they would be welcome:
When the sun begins to shine on both sides of the street up here where the
snow flies the folks from down yonder will start up this way in droves, the
same as they have been doing for the past few years and they will find just
as warm a welcome awaiting them as did their predecessors. There is

always room for honest working people in any section of the country. And
Chicago will do her part in seeing that the newcomers are properly cared

for.4|
But there were conditions to this welcome. Newcomers would have to be honest and hard
working and willing to leave their southern habits behind. “When the sun was out a few
days ago some of the newcomers and old timers as well were seen with their heads out of
the window. Stop this practice. Such customs belong down south in the backwoods
towns. Help dignify your neighborhood by keeping the front and back yards clean and
cease rushing the can. While this custom exists among a certain class, it should be
abolished.”42

As newcomers adapted to urban mores, the community grew stronger. One of the
best examples of this was the support the community gave to R. W. Hunter & Co.,
bankers, whose new bank opened at 4747 South State Street, by helping the bank grow
from a “small institution” to “two large banking houses, doing business among a

multitude of people.” While the community supported the bank, the bank aimed to serve

 

‘0 “Heed This Warning or Suffer,” Ibid., December 8, I917.
" No Title, Ibid., March 23, 1918.
‘2 “Keep Heads in Window,” Ibid., APril 6, 1918-

218

the Afiican American community, “to encourage them to save, to enter business and be
supported.” Many attended the opening ceremony

The exercises were conducted by President Hunter... Editor Owens of
New York City brought the message of hope, seeing in the near future a
greater solidification of our people, especially in business. President
Hunter said the bank was under state supervision and urged that there be
more faith and loyalty shown those true and tried in the business field. ..
The bank is ready to do business. Its success is assured... The employees
are highly educated and know the banking business... Newcomers can find
this institution able to give them information about the proper investment
of their money. This bank is another stroke for unity, rogress and

business thrift among the citizens on the South Side.4 (emphasis mine)

As old settlers helped newcomers, it. became a source of pride that other
Chicagoans recognized African Americans as able to take care of their own. The
Defender reported on a series of recent articles in the Chicago News in which a white
reporter, I. K. Friedman, dealt with the “adjustment of Negro migrants.” Mr. Friedman
was “so correct in his statements,” that Defender authors believed he must have gotten
his data from the CUL, which had “the most complete collection of facts on the Negro
migration that can be found anywhere.”

Mr. Friedman would have his readers know that the churches and
associations have thrown out a helping hand to the new citizens. Though
they have come to a strange land they have not come to strangers. This
information should be told to members of the other race, as an instance of
self-help, which the Race is sharing in its own problems. It is also worthy
of note that the writer takes the perfectly rational view and proclaims the
Negro and his strivings as a national problem, and as such it becomes the
duty of white and black alike to see to it that his rise is as sure as
democratic and permanent as our boasted American ideals will permit. . .44
(emphasis mine)

 

43 “R. W. Hunter Banking Co., Opens New Quarters,” Ibid., August 31, 1918.
44 “Friedman Concludes Articles on Race,” Ibid., September 7, 1918.

219

Public Manners and Dress

The transformation into urban life was a gradual process. While the community
was being drawn together, and learning to support one another, individuals could work to
improve their public manners. Being loud and boisterous in any public setting was highly
criticized in the Defender and seen as a sign of ruffranism as opposed to gentlemanly
manners. Like “comer loafmg,” being “loud and boisterous” was equated with being a
public nuisance. “Don’t use vile language in public places” the paper further instructed,
“Don’t act discourteously to other people in public places. Don’t use liberty as a license
to do as you please. Don’t make yourself a public nuisance. . 3’45 Refraining from loud
and vile language in public places was also extended to behavior in and around one’s
house. A woman with “one spark of womanhood in her” would not “disgrace the
neighborhood by hanging three-fourths of the way out of the window, shouting at fi'iends
or acquaintances passing by.”46 The Defender constantly reminded readers that “a little
common politeness, a little of the old-time courtesy” went a long way. Saying “‘excuse
me: or ‘I beg your pardon’” gave one “the stamp of good breeding” and attracted
“favorable notice of the person using such civility,” the underlying implication being that
such gentlemanly and unobtrusive conduct made a favorable impression.47

Newcomers were given strict instructions not to be loud and to observe etiquette

on buses. Loud talking on buses was a sign of “low breeding” and readers were instructed

to “Cut this [column] out” and hand it to anyone talking loudly.48 Being loud and

 

‘5 “Some Don’ts” Ibid., October 20, 1717. (See also the same list on May 17, 1919)

‘6 “War Declared on Aprons and Caps in Street Cars” by Betsey Lane, Ibid., May 25, 1918.

47 “Where We are Lacking,” Ibid., May 17, 1919.

‘8 “Keep Your Mouth Shut, Please!” Ibid., March 24, 1917. “A great many people with unbalanced minds”
were riding on the streetcars, one columnist argued. These riders acted as if they held “a controlling interest
in the stock,” as if one nickel entitled them “to sprawl out over two seats, to leave their luggage or perhaps
their feet in the aisle for other passengers to stumble over, to abuse the conductor.” Reminding readers that

220

boisterous, and insulting others on the slightest provocation while traveling were signs of
ruffianism, and the Chicago Defender women added that the way streetcar employees
were addressed was an evil. Instead of saying “give me a transfer,” or as the writer often
heard, “come on man, give me a transfer,” or “Man give us a transfer; you’se spose to
give every one one” the Defender women instructed riders to say “transfer please.”49
Further, practicing courtesy in getting on and off the streetcars reflected one’s proper
home training and Defender women advised giving preference to “women with babies in
their arms and those carrying with them the weight of age” both on the cars and off cars,
at intersecting street comers. And it appeared that “a well reared man would not jump on
and off cars pushing others aside without giving them the proper consideration.”50 Taking
up every chance to emphasize good manners authors further reminded readers to
apologize if they steeped on someone’s foot5| to refrain from reviewing their private
affairs in public.52

As unemployment rose in Chicago after the war, Defender editorials railed against
“comer loafing” in .which “a crowd of two or three hundred young and old” idly gaped
about on the comers. These loafers, according to the paper, had become such a great
“nuisance” that “respectable women and young girls” shrank from “running the gantlet of
foul-spoken, leering loafers.” Not only did comer loafing offend these ladies, but these

“insects” also blocked the entrances to the offices and stores of professional and

businessmen, “preventing ingress and egress.” The Defender even called on the aldermen

 

“street cars are public carriers and every man is entitled to equal privileges,” he asked riders not to do
anything that would interfere with another man’s privilege. “Street car Etiquette,” Ibid., March 23, 1918.
‘9 Ibid., March 23, 1918 and May 25, 1913.

5° “Public Deportment Qualifies Your Training,” Ibid., July 6, 1918.

5' “Conduct on street Cars,” Ibid., September 14, 1918.

52 “Conduct on Streetcars,” Ibid., September 14, 1918. Once inside the car, passengers were advised to “sit
quietly and avoid loud talk” with their neighbor. “The other passengers are not interested in what you have
to say, and the way you say it may give offense.” “Where We are Lacking,” Ibid., May 17, 1919.

221

to help them deal with this “intolerable nuisance.”53 Offenders were given a list of Do’s
and Don’ts: “Don’t congregate in crowds on the streets to the disadvantage of others
passing along. Don’t spend your time hanging around saloon doors or poolrooms,”
especially if it meant that one had been drinking. “Don’t get intoxicated and go out on the
street insulting women and children and make a beast of yourself—someone may act
likewise with your wife and children.”54
Wherever newcomers were visible in Chicago, their behavior became subjects of
concern for old settlers. Dancing pavilions, a new and increasingly popular site of urban
leisure, were a source of dissatisfaction. One elite Chicago woman criticized the
“disgusting standard of looseness in public dancing” witnessed in a recreation dancing
pavilion on the Fourth of July. The object of disgust was dancing “entirely too close to
her partner to be anything than vulgar” and she was further chastised for wearing “a very
loose untidy middy blouse, head uncombed.” The commentator went on to explain that
this couple established nothing short of “resentment in the minds of the white people and
disgust in the Race person’s presence.” Another offender at the dance, “danced with his
hat on and had to be prompted to remove it by a hint from one of the musicians who
happened to be a member of our Race.” She was worried that if this kind of behavior was
not corrected immediately, it would “bring great humiliation to the Race as a whole.” The

real issue seems to have been that this commentator knew the Afi'ican American

community was on trial. “We all know our faults weigh much more than our virtues, in

 

53 “Where We are Lacking,” Ibid. May 17, 1919-
54 “Some Don’tS,” ibid., May 17, 1919-

222

these times of battle. For recognition 1 appeal to the mothers, the girls, the men and boys,
not to fall in that most important necessary success in Race uplift.”S5

Concern about public presence extended also to addressing migrants that they
should dress appropriately. Migrants were warned “Don’t appear on the street with old
dust caps, dirty aprons and ragged clothes.”56 Women addressed the issue of dress more
aggressively on the Women’s page in 1918 when they announced that they declared war
in bold capital letters: “WAR DECLARED ON APRONS AND CAPS IN STREET
CARS.” According to this column, the situation had become very alarming and began to
hurt the “Race” so “the Chicago Defender declared war on boudoir caps, aprons and
overalls in the street.” Calling on the pastors, women stressed that Afiican Americans in
Chicago were no longer “in the Southland” and that there was “no mark of servitude that
must be placed on a man or woman of color in these climes.” These women told their
newly arrived sisters that they must refrain from wearing a white or gingham apron and
caps on street cars, or when shopping. It was “disgusting,” “very vulgar,” and “showed
lack of breeding.” Migrant women were also chided for wearing thin calico dresses and
advised to wearunderskirts. Being properly clad would be less inviting to grocery and
store clerks who made advances. Any woman who had “one spark of womanhood in her”
would never be seen on the street in such dress, nor sit on the porch in their stocking feet.

The Defender women further chided Second Ward men for sitting on porches in their

undershirts and reminded Stock Yard workers that they should change their overalls

 

55 Mrs. B. S. Gaten, Member of the YWCA, “Standards of Looseness in Public Places” Ibid., July 13, 1918.
For African American Clubwomen’s “Race Uplift” efforts in Chicago see Knupfer, Toward a T enderer
Humanity.

5° “Some Don’ts” in The Chicago Defender, October 20, 1717.

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before leaving work and carry them “wrapped up in a neat little bundle,” so not to offend
anyone}7

Fear of racial backlash was at work here, of course, but instructions on public
dress and behavior were also cast in terms of developing a sense of belonging to the city.
Inappropriate behavior included sitting “beside a well dressed man or woman” when
garbed in their dirty clothes, in which they had been “plastering, whitewashing or perhaps
digging sewers.”58 “You must appreciate the fact that leaving your employment without
removing the odor incidental to your line of occupation is an imposition on the people
with whom you ride.” Writers instructed that “no man should get on the car with his
clothes filled with the Stock Yards aroma, or just from some white washing job and sit
down beside a lady with her best clothes on.”59 There was neither excuse nor defense for
this kind of untidiness, especially for those who worked for large corporations, because
large corporations had “every facility for bathing, as well as protection for the change of .
clothes one may carry to make himself decent in appearance. Hence, there is no necessity
for the offensive body odor so often discovered?”0 .

Fear of being judged in the public eye by the poor deportment of rural Afiican
Americans and anxious to bring all African Americans into the urban community, stirred
old Chicago settlers into action. “Original” Istanbulites had no such fears. They feared
the damage that rural migrants would inflict on the “civilized,” “cultured” status of their

city. Imperial capital of the Ottoman Empire for many centuries, Istanbul was the center

of power, authority, culture, and civilization. “Original” Istanbulites and those who

 

‘7 Betsey Lane, “War Declared on Aprons and Caps in Street Cars” The Chicago Defender, May 25, 1918.
’8 “Streetcar etiquette,” Ibid., March 23, 1918.

5" “Public Deportment Qualifies Your Training,” Ibid., July 6, 1918.

60 “Conduct on street Cars,” Ibid., September 14, 1918.

224

resided in Istanbul for official duty, education or training perceived and experienced their
city as such. Even after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the founding of the republic,
Istanbulites saw themselves in the light of this inherited cultural heritage. In the minds
and memories of those who were there prior to the rural influx, Istanbul was an exclusive
community. People knew those with whom they came into contact and respected one
another; people owned the houses in which they lived. Above all, Istanbulites were
“cultured.” Men could not be spotted on the street without ties. Women did not feel
threatened when they walked on the street. They practiced “the art” of shared living.6| As
a cultural and educational center, Istanbul was “the preferred residence of Turkey’s
elite.”62 So it is no surprise that the “original” Istanbulites’ reactions to rural newcomers
centered on the implication that their nrral characteristics hurt Istanbul’s civilized status.
Looking back on it, they called the migration “an invasion,” and a “Plunder!”63 Tanju
Akerman, an “original” Istanbul resident, exemplifies the way Istanbulites conceptualized
their past: “Istanbul herself was once an institution of higher education. One advanced
himself by merely taking a walk on her streets?”4 This view of Istanbul was being .
undermined by the persistence of newcomers in the city and the rural habits they brought
with them.

Istanbul

Tensions between those who considered themselves “original” residents and

newcomers have existed almost from the beginning of the rural “onslaught.” My City

Istanbul Campaign has more recently exposed these deep-rooted tensions. Dogan Kuban,

 

6' Eksen, Drinku' Istanbul, 85-97.

62 Danielson and Keles, The Politics of Rapid Urbanization, 56.

”3 Dogan Hasol, Yagma Var! (Istanbul: YEM Yayrn, 1997).

6" Mehmet Tanju Akerrnan, Istanbullu (Istanbul: Elci Yayrnerllk, 2005), 43.

225_

an active participant in this campaign and many other Istanbul projects as well as an
author of many books on Istanbul, spoke of two Istanbuls. One was the Istanbul of those
fi'om within, and the other was the Istanbul of those from without. Those from without
failed to see, treat and experience Istanbul within its historical significance. The problem
with this group, be they gecekondu dwellers or company executives, was that they treated
Istanbul as a market, as a tool for personal profit."5 Writing almost concurrently with
Kuban, Ilhan Eksen began his book by asking “how many Istanbul residents do you think
are ‘real’ Istanbulities?” He distinguished those who qualified as an Istanbulite by having
been born and raised in the city from those who defined themselves as Istanbulites. Those
who defined themselves as being Istanbulities, he argued, were “conscious of living in
such a city,” and they understood and met the requirements of living in a “city,” by
striving “to live in harmony with the air, water, green, streets and residents.”66 Eksen
argued that having been born in Istanbul did not make one an Istanbulite. It has become
very fashionable in the last decade or so to write memoirs of growing up or living in

Istanbul in the 19505, a process that the campaign has sped up.’57

 

65 Even though the author recognized that cities could be perceived and experienced on many different
levels and in many different ways, he eventually used these two broad categories. Dogan Kuban, “Istanbul
Var Istanbul’dan Iceri Istanbul Var Istanbul’dan Disarr” in Istanbul, Tiirkiye Ekonomik ve Toplumsal
Tarih Vakfl, Quarterly, April 2001 , No 37, 84-87.

66 Ilhan Eksen, Ditnkii Istanbul: Cok Dinli, C ok Dilli Mozaigin Dagtltst, (Istanbul: Sel YaylnClllk, 2002),
ll.

6’ Burhan Arpad, Bir Istanbul Var Idi (Istanbul: Dogan Kitapclllk A. s, 2003); Miimtaz Cankurtaran, Bir
Zamanlar Istanbul (Istanbul: Erciyas Yayrnlan, 2006); Mehmet Tanju Akerman, Iki Avuc Istanbul
(Istanbul: Elci Yaymcrllk, 2004); Akerman, Istanbul ve Degisim (Istanbul: Elci Yayrnlan, 2006); Cem
Atabeyoglu, Bir Istanbul Vardt (Istanbul: Kelebek, 2002); Ilhan Eksen, Diinkii Istanbul: Colt Dinli, cok
dilli mozaigin dagtltst (Istanbul: Sel YayInCIllk, 2002); and Orhan Pamuk, Istanbul: Hatlralar ve Sehir
(Istanbul: Yapl Kredi Yayrnlan, 2003). See also interviews conducted with the “original” or “old”
Istanbulites within the Kentim Istanbul Campaign. In June 2003 campaign organizers held a dinner that
brought together “Eski Istanbullular” or “old Istanbulites” whom organizers considered to be living
testimonies of the traditional urban social life befitting Istanbul.
http://www.kentimistanbul.com/haber.asp?regno=148&p=l3 (last accessed 11/29/2007). In December
2003 they brought together a famous actress fairly new Istanbulite, who had lived in the city for about five
years, and a rather established Istanbulite, whose family lived in Istanbul for five centuries, to share their

226

These recent questions are echoes of earlier objections. The divisions between old
or “real/original” and new and “pseudo” lstanbulities were being drawn as early as the
19508. Kemal Karpat, one of the first historians of the gecekondu, defined the old city
inhabitants as members of “established families with old middle-class value” who
“regarded the migration as a peasant invasion.” He pointed out that the established
families complained about the “disappearance of city manners and of privacy.” Feeling
overwhelmed by the “rising tide from the countryside,” they hoped to prevent it by every
possible means. As a “venerable female descendant of one of the Ottoman aristocratic
families” told the author, the regression of Turkey that began in 1909 “with the downfall
of Abdulhamid II” accelerated with Atatl'irk. “The end came in 1950, with the
introduction of ‘democracy,’ which spoiled the scum of the towns and the ignorant and
hungry peasants.” This venerable female believed that learned men should not “devote
their time to studying these wretches,” that they should rather expand their energies in a
fight to preserve what she identified as having been “left of the civilization of our great
peers.”68

Initially, “original” Istanbulites only grumbled about the migrants. They imagined
sending them back voluntarily and forcing them to go back in the event that they refused

to volunteer to leave. Over time these “civilized” Istanbulites would begin to feel

outnumbered; they became apprehensive and began to publicly protest migrants’

 

memories of Istanbul. See htggzl/wwwkentimistanbul.com/haber.a§p?regno=233&p=6 (last accessed

1 1/29/2007).

68 Karpat, The Gecekondu, 62-64. Karpat also pointed out that the intellectuals and journalists identified the
class to which this venerable lady belonged as “conservative bourgeois or decadent Osmanll (Ottoman)
aristocracy.” Her response is typical of 18908 Ottoman elite, who among other reasons, were concerned
about the tourists taking photographs of the paupers because they believed the paupers made Istanbul look
bad and wanted paupers to be sent back to wherever they came from. For a detailed discussion of the
Ottoman elite’s desire to send paupers back to their towns see Nadir Ozbek, Osmanlt Imparatorlugu ’nda
Sosyal Devlet: Siyaset, Iktidar ve Mesrutiyet 1876-1914 (Istanbul: Iletisim Yaymcrllk A. 8., 2002), 79-81.

227

presence. Looking back, Turkish columnist Oktay Akbal exclaimed, “. . .all of a sudden,
as a native of Istanbul, born and raised in this city, in this city I love so much, I felt a
stranger. I was provincial, accidentally arrived in an unknown big city, left in the streets.”
Akbal was writing three decades after the first gecekondu had made its mark on the city,
and the damage was already done. He asserted that old Istanbulites had become
“ruralized” provincial residents. Whereas “a handful of” original Istanbulites lived in the
“Istanbul of tramways with only a few taxicabs,” and in which “people did not feel like
strangers to one another,” Anatolia soon “conquered Istanbul... Authors who wanted to
write about Anatolia and Anatolians no longer had to travel there to write about its people
for Anatolia had arrived in Istanbul?”9
Because the initial wave of rural migration to Istanbul preceded large-scale
industrialization, the newcomers initially arrived without much notice. Formal
organization to receive the rural-urban newcomers and to help them urbanize, “civilize,”
or “modernize” was limited to a few voluntary associations that were both small in scope
and short—lived. Some newspaper columns addressed the issue and some state action on
the part of the municipality was taken largely in response to concerns raised by the
newspapers. Migrants met their immediate needs by settling into a gecekondu settlement
on the city’s outskirts in areas that were considered villages or rural districts at the time.

Many relied on kinship and communal networks (akraballk and hemsehrilik respectively)

to get settled.70 Through the “kahvehane” (the coffee shop) association building followed:

 

69 Oktay Akbal in Onder Senyaplll, Kentlilesen Ko'ylu'ler (Istanbul: Milliyet Yayrnlan, 1978), 73. Akbal
wrote for another Turkish daily, C umhuriyet. Here Anatolia by implication means “rural.”

70 For a detailed discussion of rural—urban migration to Istanbul preceding large-scale industry see Caglar
Keyder, T’iirkiye ’de Devlet ve Stmflar (Istanbul: lletisim Yaylncmk A. 5., 1989), 188-190. On kinship ties
and employment see Alan Dubetsky, “Kinship, Primordial Ties, and Factory Organization in Turkey: An
Anthropological View,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, 7:3 (July 1976).

228

a leadership pattern emerged by which settlers organized from within their settlements.
The significance of these primary organizations must not be overlooked. But in terms of
helping migrants’ integration into the city, where adopting proper deportment was
concerned, these organizations did not open communication between the “original”
Istanbulites and the newcomers.

The kinship and communal ties networks that brought rural people to Istanbul and
provided them with some direction on shelter and also with the physical help necessary to
build their individual units also provided mutual help and assistance in the traditional
sense. The kahve, which at times served as an employment bureau, was also an important
communication center where problems were discussed and informal decisions were
made. Every hemsehri group had their own major coffee house.7| Later these networks
were formalized in the form of Hemsehri Demekleri (Associations Based on Common

Origins).72 The gecekondu settlements in Istanbul with their coffee houses and common

 

7' Akerman, Istanbullu, 46. The kahvehane served as “the center of employment,” according to Akerman;
or as a “communication center,” according to Karpat, The Gecekondu, 133.

72 Ayca Kurtoglu, “Mekansal Bir Olgu Olarak Hemsehrilik ve Bir Hemsehrilik Mekanl Olarak Demekler,”
firm/www.cjtsorg/document375m (last accessed 12/5/2005) The author (Bilkent University, Political
science department) discusses “hemsehrilik as a social phenomenon and organized forms of hemsehrilik in
particular.” She suggests that “hemsehrilik should be analyzed by both paying special attention to its
relation to physical space, and considering contributions of macro-political order and micro-sociological
instances to the content and formation of hemsehrilik.” Page I of 36. She conceptualizes hemsehrilik as l.
Hemsehri demekleri are not homogenous and vary according to group; 2. Sometimes they compete for
status; 3. That it is an understudied phenomenon; 4. That social organizations such as these are centered
around physical space; 5. That hemsehri organizations are formed in the city because of the state of being
in the city; 6. Beyond the process of migration and settlement in a new city, hemsehri demekleri serve
functions such as finding a doctor in the city, getting desired employment transfers, finding tenants,
building careers. 7. Hemsehrilik networks are formed based on mutual trust mechanisms. 8. Outside of the
kahvehane such networks enable those in them to exchange information informally at a hemsehri’s market
(bakkal), etc. 9. Sometimes hemsehri groups monopolize certain jobs—this shows that hemsehri
organizations are not just adjusted to buffer the initial shock of coming to the city, but proves that they are
of the lasting kind. 10. Hemsehri organizations are numerous—but this should not be interpreted as that
they are all functioning—sometimes the mere title of hemsehri demek is a status symbol.

Jeanne Hersant and Alexandre Toumarkine agree that hemsehn' organizations should not be written off as
transitional organizations by showing that these organizations appeared in the 19408 and grew “incessantly
since then, even more so since the 19905.” Jeanne Hersant and Alexandre Toumarkine, “Hometown
organizations in Turkey: an overview” http://www.eits.org/fdocument397.html

229

origin associations thus provided functions similar to the more formal, voluntary
associations in Chicago. Yet the leadership of the hemseri associations themselves had
little understanding of the city as a community and their place in it. As Dogan Kuban
would argue, they were Istanbulites from without.

Karpat’s findings led him to conclude that the communal organization in the
settlement was a “mediating, practical organization” that maintained “solidarity among
migrants” and it “facilitated their integration into the city.”73 Other scholars agreed that
informal, primary networks did play a significant role in migrants’ initial survival in the
city.74 Kinship and communal ties did provide newcomers help and familiarity in a new
setting.75 What they didn’t do, though, was that they did not help migrants’ overall
process of communicating with “original Istanbulites.” Moreover, their “integration into
the city” needs firrther elaboration. Karpat’s view of integration was very specific and as
such was very different from the kind of integration that the “original” Istanbulites

expected of the migrants. By integration Karpat meant that the rural newcomers’ would

 

7’ Karpat, The Gecekondu, 137.

7’ In his study of the Korean city of Pusan, Dong Shik Hong argues that primary (kinship and
neighborhood) relations not only survived but positively effected participation in “expressive” voluntary
associations. (Expressive here is used to include social service associations such as the Red Cross and
YMCA; art and leisure associations; fraternal associations such as the Rotary and PTA; and church
organizations.) He further asserts that in developing societies “social participation is presumed as a
supplement rather than a substitute for primary relations.” See Dong Shik Hong, “Primary Relationships
and Social Participation in a Korean Metropolitan City,” Sociological Perspectives 30:3 (July 1987), 290,
306, and 293-294. These primary networks may have led to migrants’ participation in other types of
voluntary associations emphasizing cultural and sports activities. The following is a list of Formal
Associations/ Organizations in Istanbul as identified by Yiicekbk: In 1946: Beautification; Social Aid,
Sports, and Cultural for the year 1946; Religious (mosque building) category was added the following year;
Vaklf was added as a category beginning in 1955; Religious groups were divided into two subcategories
beginning in 1965 as those which built mosques, and those which spread religious ideology. See Ahmet N.
Yficekok, “1946-1971 Ylllarl arasmda Istanbul’da Sivil Toplum Orgfitleri,” in T anzimattan Giiniimit'ze
Istanbul ’da Sivil T opium Kuruluslart, 181-186. For the American case, this often meant through voluntary
associations. Jacqueline Boles, “The Administration of Voluntary Associations: A Course for the 803,”
Teaching Sociology 12:2 (January 1985), 193. In an African case study assuming urban norms, or adapting,
was seen as “transition from status (kinship) to contractual relationships in associations.” D. J. Parkin,
“Urban Voluntary Associations As Institutions of Adaptation,” Man 1:1 (March 1966), 93.

7’ Sema Erder, “Where Do You Hail From? Localism and Networks in Istanbul,” in Caglar Keyder, Ed.,
Istanbul: Between the Global and the Local (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc., 1999), 166.

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become politicized. In the process of settlement, migrants organized into more formal
organizations called Gecekonduyu Gfizellestirme Demekleri (Beautification
Organizations). According to Karpat, as leaders in Beautification Organizations made
demands on city and national politicians for the provision of basic city services, migrants
became politicized.

The case of the Sisli Gecekondularrnl Ihya ve Giizellestirme Demegi provides a
good example. Founded 12 December 1951, the Association worked to ensure that the
gecekondu settlers in and around Sisli “got their water, roads, sewage, electricity,
mosque, and cesme (water fountain); that their gecekondus were not demolished and that
they received their deeds,” in other words that “citizens could live in their homes in a
civilized manner.” According to Naim Tanyeri, the director of the association, they
intended to cooperate with the municipality and other officials in remaking the
gecekondus by following the proper methods. This intention included rebuilding the
illegal buildings legally by following sanitary and other regulations. Members penned
countless letters to the Grand National Assembly, representatives and the press and held
press conferences. During one of the press conferences they warned that gecekondu
owners and actually all of Istanbul was under the threat of infectious diseases. “It is not
an exaggeration,” a member revealed, “that when a settlement of one hundred thousand
people goes without sewage, or when sewage water runs freely in the streets where little
kids play; when seventy five thousand persons get their water fiom a water seller and are
forced to use the same water for washing dishes morning, noon, and night--the threat is
very real.” Shortly after this press conference, a source revealed, the governor/mayor

arrived at the settlement to “listen to the people and inspect the conditions personally.” At

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the end of his visit Gokay signed the association guest book acknowledging that “the
voice of suffering was the voice of the people” and that it was his office’s duty to solve
such problems by using the proper channels. One month after Gbkay’s visit the
association decided to take action against the slowness of the provisions by holding a
demonstration in the Taksim Square. The preparations for the demonstration included
making and distributing a proclamation and leaders took pains to ensure that the
demonstrators “shaved, cut their nails, and dressed properly for the occasion so that no
one could call them plunderers.” When they were denied government permission to hold
the demonstration, the association went ahead with it anyway which resulted in members
being taken in by the police. The association was closed down more than a few times but
each time it came back albeit under a different name.76
Beautification Organizations opened a political communication channel directly
between the migrants and politicians through their leaders.77 Under such leadership
though, “urbanization” in the community did not necessarily include a “culture
change.”78 Istanbul Ekspres ’s efforts to publicize conditions in the Zeytinbumu and
Kazllcesme settlements presents another opportunity for observing how political ties

were established directly between government officials and newcomers. Istanbul Ekspres

established a very close and personal relationship with the gecekondu dwellers. In the

 

7" Arus Yumul, “Kustepe’nin Kurulusu ve Kimligi,” in Gt’ilten Kazgan, Ed., Kustepe Arasttrmast I 999
(Istanbul: Istanbul Bilgi Universitesi Yayrnlan, 1999), 33-46.

77 More recently, in their overview of hometown organizations in Turkey, scholars have reached the same
conclusion about the hometown (hemsehri) organizations. Since 1983, they argue, hometown organizations
have multiplied in number. According to authors the fact that such organizations have lasted into the 19905
and increased in numbers in the decade following 1990 shows that they were more than just a means of
integration into the urban environment. They also acknowledge that hometown associations are “the point
at which political and social networks fuse giving rise to a means of communication with the political-
institutional system.” The main offices located in or near administrative and economic centers, they argue,
imply being in contact with political and economic authorities. Jeanne Hersant and Alexandre Toumarkine,
“Hometown Organizations in Turkey: an overview,” mg//www.ejts.org/document397.hfll (last visited
12/5/2005)

78 Karpat, The Gecekondu, 42-43.

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summer of 1952 when the newspaper was celebrating its first year, reporters looked back
on the previous year and recounted their successes. The first of these was the attention
they drew to the conditions in the settlements: populations in Zeytinbumu and
Kazllcesme had reached tens of thousands and the people were suffering from lack of
water, electricity, and road services. Residents of these settlements registered many
grievances with the Istanbul Ekspres, which finally sent a photographer to the settlements
in the middle of winter. The photographer, in knee-high boots, slogged through the mud
and photographed the existing conditions. Istanbul Ekspres continued publishing similar
stories and photographs throughout the year, and even sent the mayor/ governor “boots”
as a symbolic invitation to the settlements. The governor inspected the settlements and a
delegation of gecekondu settlers was granted counsel with the Prime Minister during one
of his visits to the city. The Prime Minister commanded the governor to take necessary
action.79 So the newspaper’s efforts resulted in bringing much needed services to these
areas. This type of political activity bypassed the “original” Istanbulites, and while
migrants generally succeeded in gaining the city services they asked for, they also gained
“original” Istanbulites’ hostility. Although newcomers, or gecekondu dwellers as they
were generically referred to at the time, may not have gone through a culture change in
terms of learning the urban manners that original Istanbulites expected of “cultured,”
“civilized” urbanites, the sort of association building in the settlements and the types of
demands made reveal a desire to live as “civilized people” in the city.

This desire to live as civilized people parallels Karpat’s findings. Based on
gecekondu settlers’ answers, and in line with what he termed the third phase of migrants’

urbanization, Karpat concluded that gecekondu settlers wanted to meet city people and

 

79 “lste bilanco,” Istanbul Ekspres, August 1952-

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desired contact with them “to acquire knowledge, manners, and ideas of the urbanites; to
satisfy the yearning to become civilized,” and “to become fully assimilated into the city.”
City residents, on the other hand, “blamed the squatters for undermining the established
urban ways of life and manners and for spoiling the physical appearance of the city.”80
City residents’ reactions that Karpat identified only worsened in the last four decades.
Volumes have been published in the pages of newspapers and other publications, with
increasingly insulting depictions of the migrants. The general inclination to view
newcomers as naive, poor, ignorant but well meaning rural citizens gave way to seeing
them as leeches. Public criticism extended to the municipality and the central government
simultaneously. Interestingly, for all their insults and their discomfort, it hardly occurred
to “original” Istanbulites that they might have a hand in bettering conditions through
taking some responsibility in aiding the migrants’ adjustment to their city.“

What were middle class Istanbul residents doing at the time of the initial

mi gration?82 As Sema Erder pointed out, middle class help and leadership was closed as

 

8° Karpat, The Gecekondu, 139-140; 155. Phases of urbanization as identified by Karpat: 1. “Villager’s
decision to leave his community.” In the city he establishes himself in the gecekondu. Adopts urban dress
and some ur‘ban habits as preparatory steps toward assuming city views and attitudes. (city dress is a little
superficial but symbolizes for the squatter his transition to a higher form of societal existence.) 2.
“Migrants adopting and sharing of such city facilities as water, electricity, and transportation, and also
regularly buying his food and clothing in shops.” 3. Squatter’s willingness “to establish relations with other
city people.” 4. “Squatter’s full identification with the city—his personal conviction that he does not belong
to the village but to the city.”

8' Hasol, Yagma Varl, 26. “Didn’t the urbanites have any fault?” the author asked. He answered his own
question by pointing out that the urbanites were somewhat responsible because “they put profit first.”

8 It has been recognized that “following World War II everyone was poor: the people, the government,
everyone” so that much of what was “new for the villager in the city” was “also new for the urban dweller.’
According to Michael Danielson and Rusen Keles, this did not stop them from trying to preserve their
dominance in the city. Highlighting the state’s close identification with middle class values and needs,
authors pointed out “most urban public resources were devoted to providing services to middle class
neighborhoods.” See Hasol, Yagma Varl, 45; and Karpat, The Gecekondu, 137. Michael N. Danielson and
Rusen Keles, The Politics of Rapid Urbanization: Government and Growth in Modern Turkey (New York:
Holmes and Meier, 1985), 123. To be fair to the middle class though, the lack of voluntary leadership
among this class of Istanbul residents cannot be blamed solely on their preoccupation with their own place
in society. The level of centralized government power and control has been identified as one of the factors
inhibiting the development of local organizations. See James E. Curtis, Edward G. Grabb, Douglas E. Baer,

9

234

1.83 Other scholars have shown that

an avenue to migrants’ cultural adjustment in Istanbu
middle class Istanbulites were too busy looking after their own interests- trying to keep
abreast of the economic changes and the political chaos the 19505 presented.84

Also between 1932-1946, the state took in its own hands the efforts to educate,
revitalize, modernize, and assist ‘the masses’ through halk evleri (people’s houses).85
They wanted to instill in the people new values such as the ability to think and speak for
themselves and to shed the Ottoman custom and expectation of being silent.86 Halk Evleri
existed in every major city. They functioned mostly as centers for civic inculcation and
did not address the social issues relevant to migration or urbanization. Defined as “local
clubs where literature, political ideas, manufacturing development, agricultural
87

improvement could be discussed” Halk Evleri served as local community centers.

Chiefly the organs of the Turkish Republican People’s Party, they created networks _

 

“Voluntary Association Membership in Fifteen Countries: A Comparative Analysis,” American
Sociological Review 57:2 (April 1992), 150.

8’ Sema Erder, “From Where Do You Hail?” in Keyder, ed., Istanbul: Between the Global and the Local.
8’ Oguz Isrk and M. Melih Pmarcroglu explain the middle classes’ way of dealing with the pains of urban
growth by employing the term “apartmanlasma” or “apartmentization.” According to these authors middle
classes networked with a new class of builders wherein they traded their houses and the land on which

- houses stood in exchange for a share of the apartments in the new apartment buildings. Oguz 151k and M.
Melih Pmarcroglu, No'betlese Yoksulluk: Sultanbeyli Omegi (Istanbul: Iletisim Yayrnlan, 2001), 104. In
this they were following the stat’e’s vision of modernization. See Kadroglu for modernization as state
project. From the end of World War I until the 19305, Atatiirk’s reforms insisted on seeing the Turkish
nation as a classless society. With the population exchanges following World War I, Istanbul lost a big
percentage of foreign (non-Muslim) elements who had constituted the merchant middle classes. Then again
during World War II many non-Muslim Istanbul residents were financially forced to leave due to unjust
taxes. Starting with the etatist period (19305), perhaps even dating back to the founding of the Republic,
government encouragement of private establishments and credits had privileged some citizens over others.
So some people were getting rich but they did not yet define themselves as a class. They were still defining
themselves by their relationship to capital accumulation. L. For more details on the lack of middle class
leadership, see Caglar Keyder, T iirkiye ’de Devlet ve Stmflar, (Istanbul: Iletisim Yayrnlan, 1989), 101-195.
85 One in Eminfint'i, see Istanbul Ekspres, 27 July, I952.

86 Although there were many associations at this time period, Yesilkaya and Keyder’s arguments strengthen
my argument that the state’s taking matters of modernization into its own hands slowed down the process
of responsibility taking for the newcomers. Nese Gurallar Yesilkaya, Halkevleri: Ideoloji ve Mimarltk
(Istanbul: Iletisim Yayrnlan, 1999). Yesilkaya also adds that people’s houses were specifically
conceptualized as part of the modernization project to bring the people an alternative to meeting as
‘Muslim people/Muslim congregation’ in the mosques.

87 Douglas A. Howard, The History of Turkey, (Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2001), 106-107; and
Bernard Lewis, The Emergence of Modern Turkey, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 382-3 83.

235

aimed to “make the [Atatiirk/ Kemalist] Revolution reach the people, to inculcate

”88 If they had worked as intended they would have

patriotism and eradicate ignorance.
modernized the rural citizens. Since original Istanbulites regarded “being modern”
highly, since they equated it with their city, this process would have helped bridge some
of the cultural gap.

In Turkey, beginning with the Constitution of 1924, laws regarding associations
have undergone a series of changes. The central state has wavered between seeing the
right to form associations as a natural right and freedom, to placing that right under strict
administrative regulation, and/or supervision; from requiring associations to obtain

permission (regulating them and their functions) to giving the administration power to

close them down.89 This was another fact that impeded organization to “urbanize”

 

88 Geoffrey Lewis, Modern Turkey, (New York: PRAEGER Publishers, 1974), 121-122. Lewis argued that
the activities of the People’s Houses were to be organized in nine different sections: Language, literature
and history; Fine arts; Dramatics; Sports; Social assistance; People’s classrooms and foreign language
courses; Library services and publications; Rural activities and museum and exhibitions. From their
inception in 1931 until 1949 when they were closed down there were 478 People’s Houses, later
supplemented by the People’s Rooms in villages, which reached an estimated 4,000 by 1950. Further
research has revealed that People’s Houses resumed their activities between 1961-1980, when they were
closed once again by the Military intervention; and reopened in 1987-present. For further information see:
mtg/lwwwhalkevleri.org.tr/eng$h/history.html

89 See Keyder, 137-139 on the state’s “on-again-off-again” attitude of allowing voluntary association to
exist. See Ozbek, 293 on the Late Ottoman roots of this mistrust. The 1924 Constitution recognized the
right to association as a natural right and freedom, reversing the strict administrative regulation and
supervision placed on association building in 1923. A 1938 law required that associations obtain
permission, that their activities be open to administrative controls, and gave the central administration the
power to close them down at any time. A 1946 law altered this attitude and restored the freedom of
association, only to restrict it again in 1956. The requirement that associations obtain permission was
removed in the 1961 Constitution only to be reinstituted in ensuing Constitutions and laws. Ahmet N.
Yficekt'ik, “Tt'ir'k Hukukunda Tfizel Kisilik,” in T anzimattan Giiniimiize Istanbul ’da Sivil T oplum
Kuruluslart (Istanbul: T't'irkiye Ekonomik ve Toplumsal Tarih Vakft, 1998), 149- 152. See also Jeanne
Hersant and Alexandre Toumarkine, “Hometown Organizations in Turkey: an overview,”
http://wwweitsorg/documengw.m (last visited 12/5/2005) Authors argue “the authoritarian and
nationalistic character of the Turkish state can be emphasized for a better understanding of the hemsehri
associative phenomenon.” Cemiyetler Kanunu, first law under the Republic regulating associations, was
“adopted under the provisions of the 1924 Constitution.” In the 19505, “the introduction of the multiparty
system was accompanied by a significant grth in the number of associations in Turkey.” But in the post
1980 coup Turkey, hemsehri associations “like many others, had to cease their activities, with the exception
of those linked with the national cause (milli dava). From then on, under the emergency state, the creation
of associations was subjugated to approval by military authorities.” In the second half of the 19805

236

newcomers, as it created fear and a certain level of apathy in the citizenry who came to
depend on the state for the solution of all of their problems.

In July 1954 Turkish women who belonged to the Kadrnlar Birligi (Women’s
Association) announced that the new administrative committee had met and discussed
what direction their activities were to take. Before they made their final decision they
asked the newspaper and the people for their input. They asked the people to take part in
their ongoing survey (12 July-15 August): What should the Women’s Association do to
better benefit the nation? They even offered a gold watch to the male or female
participant who gave the best answer. The administrative committee asked the editors to
dedicate a leading article on the matter. The women asked the editors: “do you find the
existence of this association necessary? Why? Or Why not?”90

Mithat Perin, a male editor, answered with a public call for the women to begin
work in the daily matters. He began by pointing out that Turkish women were far from
being organized successfully. This was a gap hanging over the Turkish society, one that
he hoped a future or forward looking Women’s Association would fill..He used the
example of centers in EurOpe where women played leading roles in urging the people to
struggle against rising prices and against those who were in charge of raising such.
Women in various European centers, he argued, personally fought with the profiteers. “A

woman,” he wrote, “is a major constructive element in society who protects herself, her

children and her husband from the parasites to the end.” The author was witness to a

 

associations increased, as political parties and trade unions folded into hometown associations and then
towards associations for mosque building. Vaktf, or foundations, were subjected to a different set of laws.
“Articles 73 to 81 of the Turkish Civil Code, ‘medeni kanun’ of October 4, 1926... became a legal means
of bypassing the restrictions on the freedom of association.” In 1995, “by law number 4121” and by
modifying “article 33 of the 1982 Constitution,” prohibitions were extended to foundations (Vaktfs).

9° Nazlt Tiabar,“Kadln1ar Birligi Genel Baskanllglndan,” Istanbul Ekspres, 12 July 1954.

237

stirring among the Turkish women, who had gained their political rights and freedoms a
long time before women of the world’s most civilized nations. He hoped that the women
would fight the deceitful (celep: drover, dealer in sheep and cattle), the profiteering
vegetable provider/seller, and the opportunist seller of fabrics (kumasgn).9| In August
1954 when Tiirk Kadrnlar Birligi announced their decision to open three Sosyal Himaye
Evleri (Public Houses of Protection) in Eyiip, Sile, and Alibeykbyfi where (k6ylii
vatandaslar) citizens from the villages would receive free physical examinations and care,
they also hoped to begin the process of helping village women progress (koy kadlnlarrnm

kalkrnmasr).92

It was not that Istanbul did not have institutions by which to help those who
needed it. Istanbul had its formal institutionalized charities as well as philanthropists.
Some of the institutions had been inherited from the Ottoman Empire, and modernized to
serve continued needs of the urban poor such as the Dariilaceze and Darfissafaka, both of

which had been founded in the late 18705.93 There was at least one association formed by

 

9|Mithat Perin, “Turk Kadrnlarrnl Bekleyen Vazifeler,” Ibid., 12 July 1954. This is again an example of the
state’s modernization project: taking Western women as the ideal for Turkish women and the Turkish
Women’s Association to follow. This was actually done in many areas, especially in new institutions where
modern skills were necessary, the government sent many men and women to the West, including the
United States, with the intention of topping off their education. This example also shows that obviously
some women were concerned but I haven’t been able to find anything more about the issue.

92 Here the women they refer to as ‘village women’ are both women in distant villages and the village
women in the city. Within the name Alibeykéyr’i for example ‘k6y’ means village. Ibid., August 1954.

93 Ozbek, Osmanlt Imparatorlugu ’nda Sosyal Devlet, 195-216. See also “What to do with orphans?”
Istanbul Ekspres, September-October, 1952. Darlilaceze was established to help “the paupers and orphans
who roamed the streets aimlessly, and to help those who slept in the mosque yards” due to migration from
the lands lost during war. It was the first official welfare institution in Istanbul: as an effort to look and be
modern. In 1924 it was placed under the municipality; in 1998 it was placed under the Ministry of lntemal
Affairs. Dart'issafaka began operating in 1873. It began as an educational facility for the training of orphans
(boys without fathers, fatherless boys) and poor boys (Muslim in conception and origin). Many cemiyet
(associations) opened in association with the facility to promote sports, etc. Dariissafaka shouldered all of
the clothing, shelter, nutritional and school supplies expenses for its students... There was the Istanbul
Yardlmseverler Demegi, which was generally mentioned unfavorably in the newspapersbecause the
Association allegedly spent more on the fund raising activities than it collected through those activities.
VaklfIar (vaqifs) varied in nature; summer camps for poor students were one example. There were various

238

the Istanbul residents specifically to deal with issues of becoming urbanized and
modernized.

Historians like to focus on formal associations because “traditional sources and
methods provide little information on informal group life,” and because they think these
groups played a diminished role in the city.94 In the case of Istanbul, many organizations
that did exist failed to leave traditional records. For example, the few mentions of the
existence and the activities of the Istanbul Hemseriler Cemiyeti (The Association of
Those From Istanbul) prove that certain formal organizations regarding specifically the
protection of the city existed in Istanbul, but information on them is scarce. In 1953 a
story in the Istanbul Ekspres quoted one of the members of the Istanbul Hemseriler
- Cemiyeti briefly as having said, “things do not happen quickly. It takes a long time to see
the fruits of our labor. But this does not mean that we should give up. Rather, we cannot
quit! (ipin ucunu blrakmaya gelmez) The Saygrsrzllkla Savas Cemiyeti (The Association
to Fight the Disrespectful) was short lived, it dried up, because they quit! We must join
forces with the Municipality and we must not expect the state to do all. We must become
civilized. (medenilesmek gerek).”95 A few months later, a reporter who had attended the
Congress of the Istanbul Hemseriler Demegi, authored a short story on “The duty of
being urban” in which he reported briefly what had transpired in the meeting. “Members

of the Association discussed and analyzed in detail the duty of equipping the urbanite.”

 

camps in Biiyiikcekmece, Yesilkéy, Kiiciikyall in the summer of 1952. See Istanbul Ekspres, August 1952.
(Also there were scholarship/ funding opportunities for students, as well as free meals, provided in
cooperation with Sagllk ve Sosyal Yardlm Mfidiirlfigil) Ibid., March 1953. And there were other less visible
occasions for charities such as religious holidays and duties. Nevertheless, none of these
associations/opportunities aimed to help the rural newcomers’ urbanization process.

9’ James Borchert, “Urban Neighborhood and Community: Informal Group Life, 1850-1970,“ Journal of

Interdisciplinary History 1 1, No. 4 (Spring, 1981), 607.
95 Istanbul Ekspres, April 1953.

239

Satisfied with the discussion and resolutions the author concluded “but before anything
else we each have to fully comprehend and digest the requirements of city life. Otherwise
efforts like the Hemseriler Demegi will not bear fi'uit.”96

Public Manners and Dress

If records of associations are hard to come by, public records of “original”
Istanbulites reactions to newcomers are not. Starting in 1950, Istanbulites noticed a
decline in the use of proper language and manners in public, which they directly
associated with newcomers’ influence. For example, in one story passengers reported on
the issue of improper language and impolite manners they witnessed on public
transportation. “We are at the platform of the tramway right?” began one passenger
observer. At the instruction of the ticket seller to purchase tickets, “one of the passengers
said ‘stop yelling! You half portion! We are going to purchase the ticket.’” The observer
asked “‘half portion?’ What kind of language is that?” and commented that the ticket
seller was probably twice this disruptive passenger’s size. “It was obvious that the ticket
seller was an experienced man, he let it go.” The observer pointed out that he had
detected an increase in such language on the streets. He did not approve of the young
calling older gentlemen “old man!” He called for street discipline as the way to national
discipline.97

In another story that summer, another passenger reflected on the work of a ticket
collector on the bus. “Such ‘intimacy’ (used negatively) on the public buses, such overly

familiar behavior!” the writer complained of the behavior of a ticket collector, whose

shirt was inappropriately unbuttoned at the collar. The young employee constantly

 

9° Selahattin Karayavuz , “Sehirli Olmak Vazifesi,” Ibid., 2 June 1953.
97 Tahsin Oztin, “Sokak Terbiyesi” in Hiirriyet, July, 18, I950.

240

muttered to himself and grumbled at the driver and the passengers, addressing them
inappropriately as “old man,” “mister uncle,” “old lady,” and “fiiend.” “Move further
on. . .Move up. . .You will be crowded over there, come nearer...” he instructed
passengers respectively. “Brother Hasan, municipal workers are on our tail...” he notified
the driver. He muttered to himself “where to find the proper change now?” He continued
to serve the driver like a side view mirror as he shouted out directives such as “taxicab on
the left,” “Slow down,” and “Two beards on the left.” The observer continued with his
complaints: “We became fiiends, relatives, neighbors all gathered on the same bus, even
though we didn’t know one another,” he explained. “But the young employee, without
constraint, added new aunts and uncles to this family at every bus stop. You would think
this was not a bus but a neighborhood coffee house.”98
Fears about diminishing the “cultured” city were becoming increasingly apparent
in protests of the language being heard in the streets. “Pay attention to the language used
in public places” another observer protested. “The Turkish language has been reduced to
five, ten words.” He was complaining about the “rowdy jargon (Tulumbacr argosu),

9”

swearwords and words which should only be used ‘privately all lined up one after
another. He pointed out that this kind of language showed no trace of respect for the
elderly and courtesy for the ladies. By such language “the elderly are referred to as ‘old
men’ and I dare not repeat how the ladies are addressed, and children are addressed so as
to suggest that they are illegitimate!” He argued that those with courtesy no longer knew
how to behave at the face of such behavior and language. “Those who assault women and

bump into others with their shoulders as they walk on Beyoglu Street even go as far as

claiming that democracy has given them the right to act in such a manner.” He then

 

98 “Yabancr Dostlar,” Ibid., August 16, 1950-

241

recounted a story he had heard from an acquaintance: “While he was getting on a bus
some ruffian grabbed him by the shoulder and got in front of him. Before my friend could
get a word out the ruffian sized him up and said ‘there’s democracy now.”’ The observer
went on, “we cannot overlook such behavior. A society’s strength depends on discipline
in good manners?” Five months later, the same observer argued that the formerly proper
urban citizens had begun to adopt this kind of crude language, becoming vulgar people.
“Like our proverb goes,” he continued, “a person who falls in with bad companions
gradually acquires their bad habits.”'00
In 1951 suggesting that some social requirements in public behavior were
universal one Istanbulite argued that “sitting, eating, traveling in public areas” had rules
every civilized person had to obey. “Unfortunately,” he lamented, “90% of our
population, most enlightened persons included,” neglected them in “play and movie
theaters and concert halls” as well as other public places. “We must enlighten such
disruptive persons” he continued “as well as expect the Municipality to fine institutions
that allow this kind of behavior.””” The turn to the municipality as the authoritative
figure with the power to fine institutions that allowed inappropriate behavior in Istanbul
is very different from the assertive attitude of old settlers in Chicago who instructed and
taught newcomers appropriate manners and dress. Perhaps the municipality could do little
about the manners of such persons who attended public events, but they would later do
something about the dress in which such persons attended public events.

“All traces of manners and courtesy have disappeared,” one observer lamented.

“What will become of us?” he asked, simultaneously pointing out that these were

 

9° Selcuk Candarll, “Sopall Terbiye” Ibid., September 13, 1950.
'00 Selcuk Candarll, “Terbiyesi Bozulan Sehirler,” Ibid., February 21, 1951.
'0' Hasan Bedrettin Ulgen, “Sosyal kaideler,” Ibid., March 23, I951.

242

statements and questions one heard all together too much in the last couple of years. He
revealed that a few years previously an association had been established with the specific
aim of fighting with such disrespectful behavior. The observer continued regrettably, “we
never hear the name of the association any more. Perhaps once it realized how much
work there had to be done, it dissolved under the pressure.”'02
In 1952 a columnist registered his disgust with the many idle people loafing
around all day long in public places during work hours. This columnist had gone to the
harbor to see the contemporary Prime Minister of Turkey, Adnan Menderes, off and saw
crowds of people loafing around on the balconies overlooking the pier, the pier itself and
the street at 10:30 in the morning. “Who were those people?” the observer asked, “what,
were they doing there at this time of the day?” Stretching this evidence, he commented
that the similar crowds could be seen on the Beyoglu Street in front of store windows,
chatting on the crosswalks all day long, blocking the streets and on park benches, coffee
houses and pastry shops. “Seeing such idle crowds have always made me sick to my
stomach,” he continued, “making me sad about the days spent doing nothing.”103
In February 1956 an editorial recognized that Istanbul’s population had increased
and was increasi-ng at an astonishing rate as revealed by a recent population census. The
author argued that population increase was a desired matter, however such large scale
localized increases were objectionable and even dangerous, because they were draining
city services. “Especially if the city happens to be Istanbul,” he continued, “what they

think, what they expect, what they gain from crowding in Istanbul, no one knows. What

are these people doing on Istiklal Street, wondering around idly, in attire that almost

 

'02 Samih Tiryakioglu, “Nezakete Dair,” Ibid., June 23, 1952.
"’3 Tahsin Oztin, “Kalaballk” Ibid., April 29, 1952-

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mocks the clothing reforms? Of course this nation belongs to all of us. However, the
villager who loves his nation is one that works hard to succeed in his own village. If the
villager does not comprehend this sacred duty and we don’t have the means to send him
back to his village, we need to consider other solutions. Otherwise we will no longer find
bread in the bakeries, prices will continue to rise, and robberies will increase.”'04
Newspapers generally made little mention of the rural migrants’ dress, except in
terms of disrespecting the law. A long tradition of state legislated dress reform continued
when Ataturk banned the fez during the republican period under the 1925 “Hat Law.”'05
That is what led one contemporary author to exclaim that lately on trains, ferries, and in
parts of the city which fell out of the city’s control it had become common place to come
across old men in black skullcaps, or in turbans and with prayer beads in their hands.
“How dare they walk around in 'such apparel? It is illegal! What do such persons mean to
do?” he asked. “I know what it is” he answered his own question, “this is open hostility
to dress reform.”'06
Women’s magazines addressed issues of dress as it related to fashion or good
manners. For example, Hantmeli, a popular women’s magazine of the time, provided

advice on how to be “gfirgiilii” (or courteous/ decorous/ well—mannered). In August 1950

Hantmeli discussed what to wear on the streets. This column continued with various

 

'0’ Selman Edis, “Istanbul ve Kéyliilerimiz,” Istanbul Ekspres, February 1956.

'05 Bernard Lewis, The Emergence of Modern Turkey, pp. 100-102; and 266-271. The “Hat and Attire
Reform” was “no mere external change. It was a step symbolizing and reinforcing the efforts towards
catching up with the times, assuming a place within contemporary civilization.” “...By adopting a modern
and international mode of attire the Turkish nation would have a better opportunity to display the great
merits it possessed.” Turhan Feyzioglu, “Cornerstone of the Turkish Revolution” in Atatiirk '5 Ways,
(Istanbul: FORM Advertising and Public Relations, 1982) p. 226.

'06 Hasan Bedrettin Ulgen, “Kryafet Diiskfinlfigii,” in Hiirriyet, August 26, 1953.

244

advice on being public: how to act in the theater, at the dinner table, how to sit properly,
and how to act on public transportation.'07

Over time, Istanbul writers found increasingly more to be criticized about both the
manners and dress of migrants. “Far be it from us to advise anyone but” started one
columnist “it is our job to be the translator of an Istanbulite’s feelings upon having to
briefly passing through Topkapr.” Topkapr, being one of the main entrance points into
Istanbul, was a visitor’s first experience with the city. Saner categorized the migrants as
“savage” Native Americans, who did not let the “civilized” white men pass. “The errand
boys to the transportation companies” were Mohicans; “the drivers of the minibuses”
were the Apaches; and the street peddlers were Comanche. After pointing out that no one
wanted these people to lose their jobs and starve, the author demanded they be more
orderly and leave Topkapr in peace. They had to learn to act according to city life, be
polite and respect the rules. “Mohicans should be clean in dress, well-shaven, and not
speak unless spoken to first,” and be civilized in the way they addressed people. Apaches,
too, he continued “should be well dressed, shaven and polite. They should drive their
minibuses more carefully and admit no more than 14 passengers on the minibus.” And
the Comanche “should only peddle in areas pre-designated by the Municipality.” They,
too, were advised to be well dressed and polite. And they were asked to refrain from

waylaying their customers.‘08

 

“’7 Hantmeli, August 1950- 1951.

'08 Ilker Saner, Istanbul 'un Son Kullanma T arihi, 35. (This is a compilation of the columnist’s work as they
appeared in the Sabah, another Turkish newpaper.) The issue of commenting on migrants dress, and
hygiene only intensified over time, especially once migrants began to move into middle and upper middle
class apartment buildings as workers in the basement. See Girl Ozyegin, Untidy Gender/Baskalarmm Kiri.

245

By April 1958, an editorial in Istanbul Ekspres was publicly thanking the
municipality for outlawing the attendance in the theaters by people in dirty clothes. '09
Havadis, too, congratulated and thanked the municipality for restricting entrance in
movie theaters. The municipality had passed a resolution to prohibit the entrance of
persons who wore clothes dirty enough to disgust the other attendees. “We were in need
of such a law against those who do not know how to respect the peOple,” Havadis
proclaimed, “it is partial but it deserves our thanks. It is partial because unfortunately
such persons that offend others with their disrespectful attire attend more than theaters.
They are on public transportation, on buses, on tramways, on dolmus (shared taxis). This
law should be extended to all public places, including streets themselves.” The author
ended with “every civilized city has a set of public good-manners (ummni terbiye) and
citizens owe each other that much at least.”l '0

On 23 April 1958, the day of the National Turkish Children’s Holiday/Festival
coincided with the religious Ramazan Bayramr. An author took the opportunity to
recognize that the religious tradition of gift giving to the less fortunate had been extended
to the Children’s Holiday as a national custom, fulfilling the requirements of being
Muslim and Turkish. This was a week of .“thk klyafet” (or outward appearances). He
wanted to touch on a point that he considered a source of national pride: “In our cities, in
our towns, even in our remote regions no one’s barefoot anymore... Our people also pay
more attention to cleanliness, which we owe largely to the wider availability of water.

Our public appearance has been rescued from the inferior eastern appearance.”I ”

 

'09 “Belediyeye Tesekkiir: Pis klyafetle sinemaya girmeyi yasak etti,” Istanbul Ekspres, 3 April 1958.

"° Havadis, 3 April, 1958.

111 “23 Nisan, Klllk Klyafet Haftasr,” Havadis, 23 April 1958. All of this was also in line with the turn to
West, to modernization- the different meanings associated with dress in Turkey.

246

Commentary on educating and training the youth and “the people” increased by
1958. One author warned against the ‘Don Juan’ types. “Occasionally, yes, some come
into view. But if they increase in number, if they get braver... We have to pay attention
to this in raising our youth.”l '2 On the need to train the people, another author pointed out
that the enlightened people of Istanbul had a series of duties because the people were
getting to think too much of themselves. Paralleling the attitude of the venerable Ottoman
lady, who held 19505 leaders and their ‘democracy’ responsible for spoiling the peasants,
this author addressed the enlightened people of the city. “Our leaders told the villager that
he was the ‘effendi’ of the nation. Politicians told the masses that they would remain in
power only if the masses wanted them there, and they stayed. Enlightened citizens told
the illiterate that they would learn the language from them. In short, democracy stood
ready to take orders from the masses, and treated them in a way that would please each
and everyone. In this case masses of undeveloped peoples came to consider themselves as
infallible...” What the enlightened persons had to do was bring the masses down easy. If
this were to hurt their pride, then to do it with skill, compassion, and courtesy. “Our half
enlightened citizens who have turned fully idealist need to take things fiom ‘well, this is

what the public wants,’ to ‘well, this is what is good for the public.”’l '3

 

“2 “Don Juanlarrmlz,” Ibid., 4 April, 1958.
”3 “Halkl yetistirrnelt,”1bid., 8 May, 1958.

247

Conclusion

In 2003 Ali Miifit Giirtuna, the mayor of Istanbul at the time, regarded migration
to Istanbul that resulted from “flawed modernization politics” as one of the reasons why
an urban culture in which the traditional and the modern generally overlaps, failed to take
shape in Istanbul. From a municipal financial perspective this meant that half a century of
migration continually undermined the municipality’s efforts to improve Istanbul. He
argued that “Istanbul was being demolished at the same time it was being built up; the
city was being won back at the same time it was being devastated.” In order to preserve
the existing progress and to win back all that had been lost, he continued, everyone who
lives in Istanbul has to be brought to a certain level of consciousness—one that requires
residents to feel like Istanbulites so that they can attend to the future of their city and
claim their city back.1

This dissertation agrees with those involved in the Kentim Istanbul Campaign. It
shows that in order to attain that level of consciousness, that sense of belonging to the
city, it is important to guide newcomers during the “modernization process.” As the
examples of Chicago and Istanbul have shown, the process of guiding can be varied due
to differences in time and place, but it is when residents are able to be actively involved
in solving their local housing, health, and political problems that they are more likely to
attain and sustain that level of belonging to their city. Economic Opportunity was an

important factor in drawing rural migrants to the city, but it was not the ultimate defining

 

' “Istanbul’un yanlls modemlesme politikalan sonucunda aldlgl goc, yatlnm planlanndaki di'lzensizlik ve
fiziki varlgl ile tarihi, tabii, ve kl'iltiirel yaptsr arasmda bas géisteren marazi durum, gelenekle modemligin
6rtii$tiigii yeni bir kent kiilti'lriiniin tesekkfil etmesini 6nleyen 6nemli bir faktérdiir... Son elli ylldaki gécler
ve hlzll niifus artlsl, Istanbul’da yenilenen ve cogalan sorunlarln dogmasma yol acmlstlr; yani, Istanbul bir
taraftan yaplllrken diger taraftan ylkllmakta, bir taraftan geri kazanlllrken diger taraftan tahrip
edilmektedir. .. Yapllanlann ve halihazuda varolanlarln korunma51, kaybedilenlerin geri kazanllma51 icin
Istanbul’da yasayan herkesin Istanbullu olma ve lstanbul’a sahip clkma bilincine varma51 gerekmektedir.”
Ali Miifit Giirtuna, “Sosyal Yatlrlmlar,” www.kentimistanbul.com (Accessed December 5, 2007).

 

248

factor in how newcomers fare in these two cities. Both African American and Turkish
rural migrants were drawn to their respective cities because of the possibility of a better
future, and once in the city both groups realized that this would take longer than they
expected. In Chicago, kinship and communal ties that contributed to the migration
patterns intersected with the industrial companies’ increasing need for laborers. In
addition to kinship and communal ties, factories and the Chicago Defender together
actively recruited laborers from the south. Chicago’s recruitment drive gave old settlers
time to reflect on the present and the future of their group in the city and contemplate the
best ways to speed up the process of urbanization of rural newcomers so as to keep
friction to a minimum, which resulted in the founding of a Chicago Branch of the Urban
League.

This cooperation between the industrial plants and the newspaper was very
different from the recruitment patterns in Istanbul. Recruitment for small scale
manufacturing establishments did not translate into any systematic campaigns to
encourage large-scale migration to the city in Istanbul. Rapid industrialization was part of
the central state’s project to modernize the nation after the founding of the Turkish
Republic, but a worldwide economic crisis and World War II slowed down the potential
for as rapid an industrialization as planned. Following the end of the war, funds were
poured into the construction of nationwide roads and agricultural advances, which further
directed firnds away from the rapid industrialization as an integral part of the
modernization project. Yet migrants continued to pour into Istanbul becoming

increasingly underemployed and socially marginalized.

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Access to housing, health, and other municipal services also defined whether, and
it what ways, rural migrants were incorporated into the city with a sense of permanence
and belonging. To belong to that community it makes a great difference in whether
housing is perceived as more than a dwelling in the city, but rather as an investment, and
a way to create stability. In Chicago, the profit seeking nature of real estate agents
coupled with the financial concerns of homeowners in the value of their private property
(investment in housing), led to a ghettoization process, which confined the majority of
African American community in the Black Belt. Most of the housing in the Black Belt
were already old and dilapidated. Being restricted to this part of the city, coupled with
taking in lodgers to be able to afford the high rents or house payments demanded of
African American dwellers, caused over-congested living conditions, which further
depreciated property; a self-fulfilling prophecy for property owners elsewhere in the city.
Old settlers, aware of such misconceptions in Chicago, began advising newcomers how
to best handle this situation. For example, the Chicago Defender advised newcomers to
become property owners and keep their property clean inside and outside. Leaders even
went so far as to instruct newcomers on proper behavior on porches and doorsteps. The
Defender published information about city regulations on housing, instructed newcomers
to insist their landlords obey these regulations, and make official complaints when they
did not. Housing itself was not a legal problem here, conditions in housing were.

In Istanbul, on the other hand, newcomers’ housing itself became a legal problem.
Gecekondus were built illegally on land that did not belong to the persons who built the
gecekondu. Since it was the state’s “modernization project” that brought newcomers to

the city, the state had to shoulder the housing problem. Local and national debates

250

centered on how best to deal with the gecekondu, or gecekondu settlements, legally. The
municipality tried to meet the existing housing shortage by building low cost housing
(which is different from the way housing was initially handled in Chicago. The local and
national government did not cooperate to solve the city’s low cost housing problem until
the 19305 in Chicago), and by providing cheap land and low-interest long-term credit for
private builders. But these efforts did not materialize quickly enough to end the housing
shortage. So the gecekondu became tolerated as a temporary measure until construction
of new legal housing could catch up with ever increasing demand. Throughout the 19505,
the national government passed a series of laws, which attempted to outlaw the further
construction of gecekondu even while it answered the demands of gecekondu dwellers by
bringing basic services to the existing settlements. Istanbulites, themselves facing the
housing shortage and increasing rents, watched and waited as the national government
decided the fates of “original” Istanbulites and newcomers alike. Meanwhile, some profit
seeking gecekondu dwellers, seeing their chances in the wavering ways governments
dealt with the housing issue, began to build or to add on to their existing gecekondus with
the intention of collecting rents from other newcomers. Contests over existing housing
conditions and the future of the newcomers’ legal place in the city were marked by chaos.

Less chaotic for Istanbul was the provision of health facilities that would protect
the entire city. Health can be used as an arena on which to build a sense of belonging to
the city as well. Yet, unlike in Chicago, where residents’ concerns to make their city
healthier led to persistent campaigns, the state centered approach to increasing the
number of curative facilities and incorporating newest technological and medical

advances into the training of doctors that were logical first steps in a growing nation like

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Turkey, contributed little to raising consciousness about living in a community in
Istanbul. In the process of explaining to newcomers in detail why they should do certain
things and not do others, Chicago leaders imparted information related to diseases as well
as why it mattered for the whole community that each urban resident lived healthily.
They may not have called it modernization, but the way newcomers were directed to
leave certain remedial practices behind and adopt new ones such as seeing a doctor
played a significant role in the way Chicago was experienced by newcomers who had
come from rural shacks to urban tenements.

The role of local politics in creating a sense of belonging to the city also
demonstrates the possibilities for rural newcomers to become part of the urban
community. Here, again, Chicago and Istanbul present us with two comparative venues.
In Chicago, the long standing practices of ward politics guaranteed that newcomers
would be politically involved if they so desired, and here again old settlers and the
Chicago Defender assumed responsibility for explaining to newcomers the process, the
actors, and the potential of newcomers’ votes to make a difference for themselves and
their community. African American residents of the Second Ward were politically
incorporated into the city in a way that proved their votes made a local difference, a
process similar to that which incorporated foreign ethnic immigrants into the political
process as other scholars of Chicago ethnicity and politics have explained.

The “modernization project” of the Turkish state had included a level of mistrust
of local politics early on. Therefore, even the local governments, which had been
conceptualized as bastions of democracy, remained dependent on the center for the time

being. Dependence on the central state restricted the municipality’s local powers, reduced

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its efficiency, and provided no inroad into the political life of the city for rural migrants.
The municipal practices of regulating prices and foodstuffs in Istanbul, and providing a
few other basic services gave Istanbul residents a way to keep track of the local
government’s actions in these regards, but this gave the residents no real local political
power-- through which they may have become more invested in their local politics--
since the mayor/ governor was appointed by the center.

Even though national leaders had planned to institute a more democratic political
system that would include the active participation of citizens on the long run, in the 19205
it was decided that the citizens first had to be educated on how. The people’s houses had
been instituted nationwide with precisely that aim. But the single party rule throughout
the 19305 and 19405 gave the people’s houses the reputation of being centers of
inculcation to the ideals of the single party, CHP (Republican People’s Party). When the
DP (Democratic Party) came into power, this switch from a single party rule to a
multiparty system resulted in the closing down of the people’s houses. The DP did not
replace the centers with new ones; instead the rhetoric of the national agenda offered that
nationwide democracy now gave citizens, urban and rural alike, the same power. This
meant that the newly empowered rural political allegiance was with the nation, its leaders
and the party that they helped bring into power, DP. (As the way the central government
dealt with the housing problems showed, newcomers’ allegiance to the center also meant
that their expectations were from the center.) Were the citizens ready for this? As is
evident in their increasingly acerbic reactions to continuous streams of newcomers,

“original” Istanbulites believed that rural newcomers were not socially, politically, or

253

culturally equipped to be considered a part of Istanbul; were regarded as too culturally
and socially backwards to appreciate Istanbul’s essence and significance.

Ultimately, residents’ willingness and ability to help each other in all of these
processes played a significant role in creating and maintaining a sense of belonging to the
city. Voluntary association/ civil society activity aimed to urbanize newcomers has
transformative powers. When Istanbulites announce that their city has been sacked, that
their city has been the victim of a “cultural, civilizational genocide,” without the
understanding of the historical context and how Istanbul saw itself for centuries, this has
elitist implications. But when Istanbulites discussed newcomers in terms of “civilization”
in the 19505, when they began to notice a change in the character of their city, they meant
they wanted city residents who did not spit in the streets, who did not walk around in
their dirty clothes, who did not loaf around aimlessly, who did not scream to sell their
wares as peddlers did. Chicagoans registered similar complaints, too, yet the way
Chicagoans dealt with city manners and dress differed. Old settlers, who wanted to help
newcomers urbanize and become Chicagoans accordingly in the 19105, undertook
campaigns to instruct newcomers, explaining the whys and the hows of their efforts and
what they wanted to accomplish. A group of reform minded and forward looking
Chicagoans understood that they had to act before problems caused by modernization
worsened in their city.

It was the cycle of turning to the central state to solve local issues that the Kentim
Istanbul Campaign aimed to break. The main idea underlying the Kentim Istanbul
Campaign, which seems to have been incorporated into the mainstream municipal

activities since 2004, is that by raising consciousness about Istanbul’s historical value and

254

potential future significance, newcomers will learn to respect the city and understand
their individual roles in how to contribute to its progress. The Istanbul Metropolitan
Municipality has become a clearinghouse for various activities aiming to improve the
city, which are very much like the civic efforts undertaken by voluntary associations and
citizens’ groups in the Chicago of the Progressive Era. Because of the differences in the
time and place in undertaking these similar efforts, the Istanbul Municipality campaign is
able to utilize various mass media sources and personalities. The website for the Istanbul
Metropolitan Municipality proudly updates its activities daily. In the beginning of the
campaign, enlisting the cooperation of famous actors, actresses, authors, and
businessmen, Istanbul historians and sociologists, and journalists, the municipality:
1. Surveyed, investigated, and questioned citizens to determine how they
felt about the city in general, and about their place in the city more
specifically;
2. Organized conferences across the city, in coffee shops (kahvehane), in
meeting balls, at the universities, in elementary schools, etc.;
3. Organized free informational and educational tours for school age
children and working class mothers to teach them about Istanbul;
4. Interviewed “old” or “original” Istanbulites.
5. Began training municipal staff to work more efficiently, and
6. Began publishing books on Istanbul.2
The investigation that lay at the root of the Kentim Istanbul Campaign was
undertaken in 2001 among 2300 subjects, combining desk research, quantitative
and qualitative research methods. Its results were shocking to officials, who found
out that only 33 percent of those interviewed said they were Istanbulites, followed
by 43 percent who said “felt” like they were Istanbulites. 17 percent of the

residents interviewed revealed that they liked “nothing” about the city, followed

by 48 percent who said they lived in Istanbul out of “absolute necessity.” In order

 

2 Kentim Istanbul Tanltlm Kitapclgl, http://wwwkentimistanbul.com/downloadasp (Accessed December 5,
2007).

255

to correct some these conditions, the municipality sent groups composed of
officials, scholars, and journalists to kahvehanes (coffee houses) to educate
residents about the historical significance of the city. They designed educational
field trips for school age children and their mothers, who have had no contact
with the rest of the city, to historical sites. Campaign workers interviewed
“original” Istanbulites and collected oral histories. The Campaign also initiated
the publication of various kinds of books and collections on Istanbul—ranging
from history books to brief community studies, from statistics to memoirs, fi'om
city guides to conference proceedings.’ One type of book is especially interesting,
and that is the “traveling,” or “the mobile” book titled Istanbullu Olmak (Being an
Istanbulite) that aimed to transform Istanbul into one big “open air library.”
10,000 copies of this book were published and dropped off in public places such
as the buses, metros, ferries, sea buses, park benches, and cafes so that all
Istanbulites would have the opportunity to read it and pass it onto others.4

More recently, through “Projem Istanbul” (My Istanbul Project), based on
the understanding that the university constitutes a venerable shareholder in the
city as the center of science and investigation, municipal officials have been
working in cooperation with 21 universities across Istanbul, drawing on scholarly

expertise in order to strategize and carry out new projects more systematically.5

 

3 For further details on the investigation that initiated the Kentim Istanbul Campaign, See “Istanbullu Olma
Bilinci Tam Arastlrma,” htmzl/wwwkentimistanbul.com/download.asp (Accessed December 5, 2007).

’ Istanbul Bl’iyi'lksehir Belediyesi Ki‘lltfir A.$. Yayrnlan, Istanbullu Olmak, (Istanbul: 2006).

5 “Projem Istanbul,” MulicgtionZ.ibbaov.tr/gmjsite/defaulthtml (Accessed December 5, 2007) Bilgi
University, which defines itself as a private “city university” established in 1994, opened the first Center
For Migration Research in Turkey in 2005. The mission of the University is “to strengthen institutional co-
ordination among researchers through several networking activities, support new research and joint
projects, and produce reliable information based on research findings that can contribute to realistic policy
and decision-making processes.” See http://goc.bilgi.edu.tr/ (Accessed December 5, 2007).

256

Another activity, “I Projem Var” (I Have A Project), has been designed to
involve the participation of all who want to be involved, in finding solutions to
the city’s problems, in developing the socio-cultural life of the city, and in raising
the standards of life.6 The Youth Assembly, which has been serving Istanbul since
2005 with 347 representatives from all districts who serve on 22 Commissions,
was brought about in order that city officials could benefit from the youthful
population of Istanbul through avenues by which this population can display its
capacity to generate alternative solutions to its own problems and design youth
projects.7

The Kentim Istanbul Campaign and the municipally-directed
contemporary activities, are in the process of creating a new generation of
Istanbulites, who are armed with the necessary knowledge and consciousness of
their city to make due improvements. The citywide investigations that initiated

citywide conversations and pushed for citywide solutions to economic, social and

 

6 “l Projem Var,” http://www.ibb.gov.tr/tr-TR/Pages/Haber.as_px?Newle=14847 (Accessed December 5,
2007). “Istanbul’un problemlerinin cozt’imii, sosyal kiilti'lrel hayatln gelistirilmesi, hemsehrilerin
hayat standartlarrnln iyilestirilmesi, katlllmel belediyecilik anlaylsl cercevesinde IBB
callsanlarlnln, lstanbul’da ikamet eden gercek kisilerin, faaliyette bulunan tuzel kisilerin, orta
égretim kurumlarl veya ogrencilerinin ve sivil toplum 6rgl'itlerinin lstanbul’un yonetimine
katlllmlnl saglamak, bu y6nde projeler firetilmesini tesvik etmek, callsanlarln performansrnl
artlrarak, t'iretebilirlik ozelliklerini ortaya clkarmak ve kendi islerinde profesyonel bir ekip
anlaylslnln olusumunu desteklemek ve 6diillendirmek uzere Istanbul Bl'iyl'iksehir Belediyesi
taraflndan l Projem Var sistemi gelistirilmistir.”

7 h_ttp: //www1. ibb. gov. tr/GenclikMeclisi/misvon_ vizvon. asp (Accessed December 5,2007). Some of the
commissions are: AB Uyum, Takip ve Izleme Komisyonu (Commission to Observe the Accommodation to
the EU); AR-GE (Arastlrma-Gelistirme Komisyonu, or the Investigation and Improvement Commission);
D15 Iliskiler Komisyonu, or the Foreign Relations Commission, which communicates with international
youth commissions; Meclis Izleme Komisyonu, or the City Council Observation Commission, which
attends City Council meetings to observe the workings of the Council as well as coordinates and establishes
communications between the City council and the City Youth Assembly; Health Commission, which has
brought a new approach by generating projects that would directly affect residents’ daily habits such as
providing information about how to deal with urban stresses and opening “stress parks” and which aims to
help students live more healthily; Sosyal Dayanlsma-Yardlmlasma Komisyonu (Commission for Social
Solidarity and Mutual Aid); Sehir ve Kentlilik Bilinci Komisyonu (the City and the Consciousness of Being
Urban Commission.)

257

political problems (“social dislocation”) faced by residents of the modernizing
city (“to achieve an urban equilibrium”) that were hallmarks of Progressive Era
Chicago are being undertaken by Istanbulites today. As the urban populations
continue to grow, especially in the developing countries, it is important to pay
attention to this line of activity which manifested itself at different times under
two different settings. A city that is aware of the kinds and depths of its own
problems can solve those problems more efficiently with the cooperation of all
who live in it.

In both of its manifestations, whether citizen-driven in Chicago of the
19105, or the municipally-initiated in the Istanbul of the early 21‘” century, a city
that works for all of its residents is possible through the active participation of its
residents and the cooperation between residents and local governments. Enabling
residents to direct the future of their city by helping to define its problems
clearly—in other words, by the collecting data, information sharing through
public campaigns, and consciousness raising activities-- encourages cooperation
among city dwellers by opening communication channels. Being thus actively
involved, newcomers attain'a sense of belonging in the city. Jane Addams called
it the mutual dependence of classes on each other. Historians of African American
migration have called it social uplift. Istanbul municipality now calls it urban
consciousness. These are all principles by which the residents of large cities have
sought, or now seeking, to make their city a community, as they confiont the

challenges of modernization.

258

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0 Julius Rosenwald Collection

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0 Department of Health Bulletins

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