ABSTRACT
In a society which exalted the almighty dollar and whose underlying social values put a premium on the man who succeeded in life, however questionably, blacks received a chorus of advice to avoid unseemly behavior and to lead lives of industry and honesty. Social discrimination against free blacks in New York City was another phenomenon that had far-ranging effects on the daily lives of these people. While housing conditions played a crucial role in the day to day well-being of blacks and foreign immigrants, no problem was fraught with seemingly greater significance than that of health. Both blacks and whites showed a marked tendency to succumb to the ravages of various maladies and their susceptibility to disease appeared to be in direct proportion to their exposure to an unwholesome environment. To a large extent the degree to which blacks succeeded along economic lines was, as was generally true with whites, an accepted index of their standing in society.
