American Gangs In The 1800s

Throughout the centuries, gangs have been rapidly growing. As early as the 1730s different groups of people in Europe began forming gangs. At first they were composed of people upset with the government who started riots to rebel against the government. Decades later, gangs began to spread worldwide very quickly. Gangs made their way all the way to the United States, or the 13 colonies at the time. They were largely created by people upset with the government. There were gangs for federalists supporters, and gangs for people who supported the Anti-federalists (“Gangs” 2015). As centuries passed, people formed gangs for different reasons. Beginning in the 1940s in cities like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and Detroit, gangs of white

This was mainly because back in the 1950s the caucasian gangs died out. The white communities mainly moved into the wealthier areas of the large cities they were in, because it was much easier to get jobs if you were white. If you were african american, and were not a professional athlete, you were most likely living in a ghetto-like area in this time period. For example, in a city like Detroit, the automobile business was booming back in the 1960s, this is after the caucasian gangs died out. Many white people managed to get jobs working in assembly lines for the car businesses and were making very good money. Depending on the job they were doing, they would make up four to five dollars an hour which was a lot for the time period since minimum wage was only one dollar. Their hourly income today would be about 35 - 40 dollars an hour. Not all made that much but the white people were making good money at all levels of that kind of work. The african american people worked in the automobile business too. They worked in department that makes the parts and usually only made minimum wage which was not enough to make a great living, which left them in poor areas which lead them into

There are some positives to being a gang member, believe it or not. The first reason why gangs can be good is that it forms a brotherhood and relationships. This is because when gangs get together they become a family and they all become best friends or “brothers.” Another reason would be that it can provide safety. It provides safety because many gangs live by, “mess with one member, you mess with the whole gang.” So if you are involved in a gang. You have a lot of guys that have your back if you stumble upon conflict. But, you must do the same for the other gang