Gangs In The 1800's

When the word “gang” is mentioned the first thought that comes to mind is a person wearing baggy clothes, a bandana across the forehead and tattoos all over the body. That is a stereotype. Obviously back when gangs were first initiated in the 1800’s they did not dress like that. Not all gangs are associated with colors, signs or names. A gang is defined as a group of criminals or a number of people forming a group (www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary). In fact the word “gang” actually originated from the word “gonge”, which meant a journey and then referred to a group of sailors during the fifteenth century. The term came to be used to label outlaws during Shakespeare’s era (source cited 1). Gangs also were not always racially profiled.
These immigrants soon became the unruly terrorizers of the Five Points intersection in New York City. This is the root of the Forty Thieves street gang; the first recorded organized street gang of the U.S. They were originally formed to rebel against the slum, poor living statuses but very quickly turned to crime to justify the anger they had due to the disgusting living conditions. The forty thieves would meet in the back room of Rosanna Peers grocery store. From there they would be given strict quotas of illegal actives enforced by Edward Coleman. Robbers, murders, pickpockets were all following orders by Mr. Coleman. If the members of the gang did not meet Mr. Coleman’s quota they would be assassinated reminding others about the importance of meeting the demands. On January 12, 1839 Edward Coleman was the first man to be hung at Tombs Prison after being convicted of killing his wife (source cited
These new massively growing gangs were created by the arrival of Latino and African Americans. These people were pushed into poverty grade areas also known as the “ projects”. Black males organized gangs to face the White gangs that were terrorizing their neighborhoods. This was the beginning of the racial profile gang wars. In the movie West Side Story, the gang members were perceived to be very young and primarily not Caucasian. That is not true. All races made up gangs equally. Even though by 1950 the black and Latino population were the minority and this is why they were forced to live in high-rise public housing. Drugs and violence were becoming competition along with control over territories. Racial unrest contributed highly to the rapid growth of gangs in the U.S. (source cited