Pests in the City: Flies, Bedbugs, Cockroaches, and Rats

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Tracking experiments by the Rodent Ecology Project seemed to show that rats stayed within the confines of a single city block and that they moved freely among rowhouse backyards. David E. Davis, John T. Emlen, and Allen W. Stokes, “Studies on the Home Range of the Brown Rat,” Journal of Mammalogy 29 (1948): 207–25. Backyard scene from Baltimore Plan target block, 1947. The high-board wooden fences, construction debris, and other items provided ample harborage for rats. Citizens’ Planning and Housing Association Collection, Series VIII, Box 1, folder 5-Alleys and Backyards, 1947, University of Baltimore Archives. Courtesy of CPHA Collection—University of Baltimore. Wire fences in these Baltimore backyards provided no cover to rats, unlike labyrinths of wooden fences found in other backyards. Citizens’ Planning and Housing Association Collection, Series VIII, Box 1, folder 5-Alleys and Backyards , 1947, University of Baltimore Archives. Courtesy of CPHA Collection— University of Baltimore. Many health departments used education of adults and children as their main approach to rat control, distributing materials such as this 1964 coloring book created by the Cleveland Health Department. The book suggested, among other things, that landlords and tenants could cooperate to control rats. Meanwhile, tenants striking in Harlem withheld rent from landlords and displayed rats caught in their homes as tactics for demanding improved living conditions. Rileigh Coleman, The Dirty Rat Coloring Book (Cleveland: Division of Health, Community Action for Youth, 1964). Courtesy of the City of Milwaukee. The Milwaukee Intensive Rodent Control Program attempted to “educate and motivate” residents to steward garbage. This poster uses the figure of a fashionable man in an attempt to lend an air of cool to environmental citizenship. Intensive Rodent Control Progress Report, 1969–1973 (Milwaukee: Municipal Reference Bureau, 1973). Courtesy of the City of Milwaukee. “Black Misery! Ain’t We Got a Right to the Tree of Life?” by Black Panther Party Minister of Culture Emory Douglas. Douglas’s portrait contrasts with images of women afraid of rodents; the woman’s grip on the rat suggests determination, courage, and fury. ©2013 Emory Douglas/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. A roach adorns this 1972 Emory Douglas poster supporting Shirley Chisholm’s campaign for the Democratic nomination for president. Douglas used roaches as a motif in his posters to illustrate unjust living conditions in homes and prisons.©2013 Emory Douglas/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. A rat-control survey in Baltimore in the late 1970s found dented cans and lids, indicating the difficulty of maintaining rat-proof sanitation infrastructure. Trash cans must be closed tightly to keep rats from eating their contents. Citizens’ Planning and Housing Association Collection, Series VIII, Box 1, folder 121-Rats, University of Baltimore Archives. Courtesy of CPHA Collection— University of Baltimore. Loose trash in a Baltimore alley provides food and harborage for rats. Scenes such as this result from both community members’ failure to store their waste in appropriate receptacles and the strains placed on sanitation systems and households by increasing reliance on disposable packaging. Citizens’ Planning and Housing Association Collection, Series VIII, Box 1, folder 121-Rats, University of Baltimore Archives. Courtesy of CPHA Collection —University of Baltimore. ...