thefilmarchive.org Street gangs in the United States have a long and complex history dating to the early 19th century. The most publicized street gangs in the US are African-American; black gangs were not recognized as a social problem until after the great migration of the 1910s. An exception was noted in 1853 Philadelphia. Some have argued that increasing gang activity is directly related to decreases in adult mentors, school failures, decreases in after-school programs and similar failures by the adults in the lives of children. While kids from more affluent neighborhoods may turn to other less dangerous alternatives, children from poorer neighborhoods often turn to gangs both as protection and a place to find love and understanding. The history of European-American youth gangs extends as far back as the 1780s. Although lacking a definition, the gangs then were characterized by young people hanging out on street corners. It is thought these early groups formed to protect their localities from other similar groups of youths. Herbert Asbury depicted some of these groups in his history of Irish and American gangs in Manhattan. He described how gangs would fight for territory, control of criminal enterprises, and simply for the love of fighting. Asbury's book was later used by Martin Scorsese as the basis for the motion picture Gangs of New York. Gangs in the 19th Century were often multi-ethnic as neighborhoods did not display the social polarization that has segregated ...