The Making of a Slum: A Discussion on Immigration, Housing & Health Policy in New York City, Past & Present Wednesday, April 10 | 6:30 - 8:00 PM The Graduate Center, CUNY The James Gallery 365 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10016 More information & RSVP: https://www.centerforthehumanities.org/programming/the-making-of-a-slum-a-di... This diverse panel on architectural and public health policy responses to poverty and disease at the turn of the 20th century is part of a series of events developed around the forthcoming exhibition *The Lung Block: A New York City Slum and Its Forgotten Italian Immigrant Community* <https://www.centerforthehumanities.org/james-gallery/exhibitions/the-lung-block-a-new-york-city-slum> *,* on display at Department of Records building at 31 Chambers Street starting April 25, 2019, and in the vitrines of the Graduate Center, CUNY. The show draws upon *Stefano Morello* and *Kerri Culhane*’s recent scholarship examining the progressive narrative of the Lung Block as the slum-epicenter of disease, contrasting it with the lived experience of the majority Italian immigrant residents. Join *Katherine LaGuardia*, *Steve Brier, Nancy Carnevale*and others to discuss these issues. The discourse surrounding the Lung Block illustrates a typical pattern of slum-making and gentrification, and in many ways typified the plight and perceived perils of the Lower East Side immigrant in the popular imagination. At this time – when anti-immigrant sentiment has been brought to the fore on the political stage; the very real connection between health and housing continues to be explored; and affordable housing and gentrification remain among the most contentious topics in local debate – the Lung Block story has many parallels in the present. Join us for this panel that explores themes that expand this important history to discuss: • The Lower East Side slum as a historical, social and architectural construct; • The emergent field of public health and its response to disease; • The progressive reform movement and its conflicted role in reinforcing and alleviating slum and worker conditions; • The immigrant experience of the Lung Block, from the personal to the political,including the stories of Italian immigrant residents during the early twentieth century; • Architectural and policy responses to poverty, disease and reform. *Co-sponsored by New York City’s Department of Records <https://www1.nyc.gov/site/records/index.page%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank>, The Calandra Institute <https://calan>, and Queens College Makerspace <http://qcmaker.space/%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank>.*