What do you know about Jacob Riis? Do you know that he was a journalist who wrote the book How The Other Half Lives and The Children Of The Poor he was also a social reformer, a photographer and a police reporter. Jacob Riis wrote and photographed facts and descriptions of the terrible conditions in New York. He was best known for his journalism and photography and for his actions as a reformer.
Jacob Riis wrote about the slums in New York based on his own personal experiences and sightings as a police reporter. He wrote his first book How The Other Half Lives in 1890, which he became extremely famous for and was also a bestseller. Riis wrote books, newspaper and magazine articles as well as gave speeches and lectures to bring the living conditions in the Lower East Side of New York to the public’s attention. Riis incorporated photographs into his book which provided to the public an insight to the horrifying conditions that Riis had witnessed on a daily basis but it wasn’t just his photography that hooked his readers. It was also Riis’s famous writing style, facts and descriptions he included into his book that invoked the worldwide reading of his book. His introduction to the book How the Other Half Lives pulled in readers, and gave them the slightest glimpse of what tragic sightings and how little the wealthy cared for those who were less fortunate. In his book he wrote “ Long ago it was said“ Half of the world doesn’t know how the other half lives” That was true then.It did not know because it did not care. The half that was on top care of the little for the struggles, and less for the fate of those that were underneath.”(1).
Jacob Riis’s book had such a powerful effect on his readers because he also incorporated his photography, the readers could get an visual representation and see that the things Riis said was true. Riis began taking pictures of New York in the late 1880s, he took his photographs with a recently invented low-light flash photography. He used this new technology in the poorest sections of New York, hoping that it would bring awareness to the situation. One tool he used that had a powerful impact were lecture slides. While giving speeches he used the lecture slides to present the photographs while making his speeches, during one of these speeches it was stated “ Look into any of these houses, everywhere the same piles of rags, malodorous bones and musty paper.”(Progressive Movement 521).
Jacob Riis had a big role in the Reforming Movement, he also had many connections, people such as Theodore Roosevelt. According to the “ How the Other Half Lives (1890), exposed the horrors of tenement life. It caught the attention of Civil Service Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt, who viewed it as a call to action. Immediately after finishing this book, Roosevelt marched into Riis’s office to tender his assistance. In 1895, when Roosevelt was New York Police Commissioner and Riis was employed as a police reporter at the Mulberry Street station, the two often worked together. They ventured out on urban expeditions together to witness first-hand the calamitous conditions affecting the poor.” Public health in the slums was scarce, personal hygiene, and illnesses were a struggle because of crowded living spaces and unhealthy eating situations. Which made being pregnant a challenge for any woman, the infant death rate was close or even more than 10%. Which lead to the building of Tenement House Commission, which Theodore Roosevelt was appointed. In 1901 the Tenement House Department was created as well as the Charity Organisation Society. These committees urged for the building of new housing, improvement on safety and sanitation, as well as more access to the outdoors, Riis described this as a forty- year effort, which required the demolishing and rebuilding of parks and housing, and cutting more than 40,000 windows through the new building structures (Jacob Riis: Revealing 1).
In Conclusion Jacob Riis was a famous journalist for writing and bringing to light the terrible conditions of the poor and He included photographs to give the world a real glimpse of how the other half lived. It is easy to say that Jacob Riis’s actions as a social reformer, most definitely changed the course of history for the East Side and all other lower class citizens.