Jacob Riis 1849 - 1914

Below is a New York Times article about Riis which can be read here...


And a 10 minute film about him can be seen here..


Jacob Riis - How the Other Half Lives 

Riis went to New York, age 21, in 1870 with little money which soon ran out completely.
He ended up roughing it and became down and suicidal. He landed on his feet getting a job
as a police reporter.
He wanted to report what he saw in these slums, and wrote about them but sketches didn't show the truth.  He thought about photographs but the areas were too dark. However this coincided with the new magnesium flash.  Riis was one of the first to use this and he managed to get his photographs sneaking up on people surprising them with the flash and then moving away again.  He produced the images that he wanted horrifying the middle classes who were unaware of what was going on around them.

There was a million poor and undernourished.  There were many areas he photographed, one he photographed a dozen men apparently all wanted for murder.
The young sold newspapers by day and slept in alleys at night, they also worked 7 days a week in sweat shops and many were orphans.  The conditions were totally unacceptable where they were forced to live.

Tenement housing is where they are as many people in the smallest space as possible.  It is the lowest
overheads for the landlord, and there were no laws.
They were 6 or 7 floor high and some of the interior rooms had no light or air.  One in five children were killed within these houses.
Disease spread rapidly, they were ill fed and clothed.  There was no plumbing.
The biggest problem was TB .. 20,000 new cases each year, with 8,000 yearly deaths.

This book awakened the middle classes and spurred them into much needed action for change.
If people are left to live like this them they will steal etc..

Commissioner Rosevelt went to the office of Riis and left him a note to say .. I have read our book and have come to help ....

The tenement housing was taken down as a result of this book and these photographs.