A new retrospective spotlights the indelible 19th-century photographs of New York slums that set off a reform movement. Perhaps ahead of his time, Jacob Riis turned to public speaking as a way to get his message out when magazine editors weren't interested in his writing, only his photos. H ow the Other Half Lives is an 1890 work of photojournalism by Jacob Riis that examines the lives of the poor in New York City's tenements. He goes to several different parts of the city of New York witnessing first hand the hardships that many immigrants faced when coming to America. Mention Jacob A. Riis, and what usually comes to mind are spectral black-and-white images of New Yorkers in the squalor of tenements on the Lower East Side. Riis used the images to dramatize his lectures and books, and the engravings of those photographs that were used in How the Other Half Lives helped to make the book popular. Words? Jacob Riis Photographs Still Revealing New York's Other Half. They call that house the Dirty Spoon. That is what Jacob decided finally to do in 1870, aged 21. His photos played a large role in exposing the horrible child labor practices throughout the country, and was a catalyst for major reforms. In preparation of the Jacob Riis Exhibit to the Keweenaw National Historical Park in the fall of 2019, this series of lessons is written to prepare students to visit the exhibit. 1887. Oct. 22, 2015. By focusing solely on the bunks and excluding the opposite wall, Riis depicts this claustrophobic chamber as an almost exitless space. Although Jacob Riis did not have an official sponsor for his photographic work, he clearly had an audience in mind when he recorded . A Downtown "Morgue." An Italian Home under a Dump. Riis used the images to dramatize his lectures and books. Riis Vegetable Stand, 1895 Photograph. A "Scrub" and her Bed -- the Plank. He contributed significantly to the cause of urban reform in America at the turn of the twentieth century. Using the recent invention of flash photography, he was able to document the dark and seedy areas of the city that had not able to be photographed previously. These conditions were abominable. Celebrating creativity and promoting a positive culture by spotlighting the best sides of humanityfrom the lighthearted and fun to the thought-provoking and enlightening. Walls were erected to create extra rooms, floors were added, and housing spread into backyard areas. This website stores cookies on your computer. Jacob August Riis ( / ris / REESS; May 3, 1849 - May 26, 1914) was a Danish-American social reformer, "muckraking" journalist and social documentary photographer. It told his tale as a poor and homeless immigrant from Denmark; the love story with his wife; the hard-working reporter making a name for himself and making a difference; to becoming well-known, respected and a close friend of the President of the United States. Decent Essays. (LogOut/ Eventually, he longed to paint a more detailed picture of his firsthand experiences, which he felt he could not properlycapture through prose. A Bohemian family at work making cigars inside their tenement home. Rather, he used photography as a means to an end; to tell a story and, ultimately, spur people into action. Stanford University | 485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA 94305 | Privacy Policy. His writings also caused investigations into unsafe tenement conditions. However, a visit to the exhibit is not required to use the lessons. Over the next three decades, it would nearly quadruple. As a result, photographs used in campaigns for social reform not only provided truthful evidence but embodied a commitment to humanistic ideals. And few photos truly changed the world like those of Jacob Riis. Public History, Tolerance and the Challenge of Jacob Riis. Jacob Riis: 5 Cent Lodging, 1889. The city is pictured in this large-scale panoramic map, a popular cartographic form used to depict U.S. and Canadian . Indeed, he directs his work explicitly toward readers who have never been in a tenement and who . Jacob himself knew how it felt to all of these poor people he wrote about because he himself was homeless, and starving all the time. An Italian immigrant man smokes a pipe in his makeshift home under the Rivington Street Dump. He became a reporter and wrote about individuals facing certain plights in order to garner sympathy for them. His book, How the Other Half Lives (1890),stimulated the first significant New York legislation to curb poor conditions in tenement housing. New Orleans, Louisiana 70124 | Map A Danish born journalist and photographer, who exposed the lives of individuals that lived in inhumane conditions, in tenements and New York's slums with his photography. analytical essay. One Collins C. Diboll Circle, City Park 676 Words. He had mastered the new art of a multimedia presentation using a magic lantern, a device that illuminated glass photographic slides on to a screen. Think you now have a grasp of "how the other half lives"? By 1900, more than 80,000 tenements had been built and housed 2.3 million people, two-thirds of the total city population. Definition. May 1938, Berenice Abbott, Cliff and Ferry Street. Often shot at night with thenewly-available flash functiona photographic tool that enabled Riis to capture legible photos of dimly lit living conditionsthe photographs presenteda grim peek into life in poverty toan oblivious public. Word Document File. Riis knew that such a revelation could only be fully achieved through the synthesis of word and image, which makes the analysis of a picture like this onewhich was not published in his How the Other Half Lives (1890)an incomplete exercise. (24.6 x 19.8 cm); sheet: 9 7/8 x 8 1/16 in. From theLibrary of Congress. Roosevelt respected him so much that he reportedly called him the best American I ever knew. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Jacob Riis' interest in the plight of marginalized citizens culminated in what can also be seen as a forerunner of street photography. VisitMy Modern Met Media. My case was made. His article caused New York City to purchase the land around the New Croton Reservoir and ensured more vigilance against a cholera outbreak. 1889. Her photographs during this project seemed to focus on both the grand architecture and street life of the modern New York as well as on the day to day commercial aspect of the small shops that lined the streets. "Police Station Lodgers in Elizabeth Street Station." HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. In their own way, each photographer carries on Jacob Riis' legacy. Jacob August Riis (18491914) was a journalist and social reformer in late 19th and early 20th century New York. Twelve-Year-Old Boy Pulling Threads in a Sweat Shop. $27. Jacob August Riis, ca. Jacob Riis/Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons. Most people in these apartments were poor immigrants who were trying to survive. In this lesson, students look at Riiss photographs and read his descriptions of subjects to explore the context of his work and consider issues relating to the trustworthiness of his depictions of urban life. Compelling images. 353 Words. In a series of articles, he published now-lost photographs he had taken of the watershed, writing, I took my camera and went up in the watershed photographing my evidence wherever I found it. All gifts are made through Stanford University and are tax-deductible. Jacob Riis/Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images. New Orleans Museum of Art Slide Show: Jacob A. Riis's New York. As a newspaper reporter, photographer, and social reformer, he rattled the conscience of Americans with his descriptions - pictorial and written - of New York's slum conditions. After the success of his first book, How the Other Half Lives (1890) Riis became a prominent public speaker and figurehead for the social activist as well as for the muckraker journalist. Circa 1887-1890. Jacob Riis was an American newspaper reporter, social reformer, and photographer. The two young boys occupy the back of a cart that seems to have been recently relieved of its contents, perhaps hay or feed for workhorses in the city. Riis, an immigrant himself, began as a police reporter for the New York Herald, and started using cameras to add depth to and . Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 1895. Jacob Riis, in full Jacob August Riis, (born May 3, 1849, Ribe, Denmarkdied May 26, 1914, Barre, Massachusetts, U.S.), American newspaper reporter, social reformer, and photographer who, with his book How the Other Half Lives (1890), shocked the conscience of his readers with factual descriptions of slum conditions in New York City. In this role he developed a deep, intimate knowledge of the workings of New Yorks worst tenements, where block after block of apartments housed the millions of working-poor immigrants. Baxter Street New York United States. In fifty years they have crept up from the Fourth Ward slums and the Five Points the whole length of the island, and have polluted the Annexed District to the Westchester line. By 1890, he was able to publish his historic photo collection whose title perfectly captured just how revelatory his work would prove to be: How the Other Half Lives. Jacob saw all of these horrible conditions these new yorkers were living in. More recently still Bone Alley and Kerosene Row were wiped out. Decent Essays. It also became an important predecessor to the muckraking journalism that took shape in the United States after 1900. He used flash photography, which was a very new technology at the time. He subsequently held various jobs, gaining a firsthand acquaintance with the ragged underside of city life. But it was Riiss revelations and writing style that ensured a wide readership: his story, he wrote in the books introduction, is dark enough, drawn from the plain public records, to send a chill to any heart. Theodore Roosevelt, who would become U.S. president in 1901, responded personally to Riis: I have read your book, and I have come to help. The books success made Riis famous, and How the Other Half Lives stimulated the first significant New York legislation to curb tenement house evils. Here, he describes poverty in New York. To find out more about the cookies we use, see our. Riis was also instrumental in exposing issues with public drinking water. His innovative use of flashlight photography to document and portray the squalid living conditions, homeless children and filthy alleyways of New Yorks tenements was revolutionary, showing the nightmarish conditions to an otherwise blind public. Figure 4. Mirror with a Memory Essay. By Sewell Chan. 1897. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. His book, which featured 17 halftone images, was widely successful in exposing the squalid tenement conditions to the eyes of the general public. To accommodate the city's rapid growth, every inch of the city's poor areas was used to provide quick and cheap housing options. The New York City to which the poor young Jacob Riis immigrated from Denmark in 1870 was a city booming beyond belief. An art historian living in Paris, Kelly was born and raised in San Francisco and holds a BA in Art History from the University of San Francisco and an MA in Art and Museum Studies from Georgetown University. By the late 1880s, Riis had begun photographing the interiors and exteriors of New York slums with aflash lamp. For Riis words and photoswhen placed in their proper context provide the public historian with an extraordinary opportunity to delve into the complex questions of assimilation, labor exploitation, cultural diversity, social control, and middle-class fear that lie at the heart of the American immigration experience.. Circa 1887-1895. slums inhabited by New York's immigrants around the turn of the 20th century. A documentary photographer is an historical actor bent upon communicating a message to an audience. And Roosevelt was true to his word. Public History, Tolerance, and the Challenge ofJacob Riis Edward T. O'Donnell Through his pioneering use ofphotography and muckraking prose (most especially in How the Other Half Lives, 1890), Jacob Riis earned fame as a humanitarian in the classic Pro- gressive Era mold. July 1936, Berenice Abbott: Triborough Bridge; East 125th Street approach. This resulted in the 1887 Small Park Act, a law that allowed the city to purchase small parks in crowded neighborhoods. Such artists as Jacob Riis, Lewis Hine, Dorothea Lange and many others are seen as most influential . Lodgers sit on the floor of the Oak Street police station. Heartbreaking Jacob Riis Photographs From How The Other Half Lives And Beyond. Street children sleep near a grate for warmth on Mulberry Street. Today, Riis photos may be the most famous of his work, with a permanent display at the Museum of the City of New York and a new exhibition co-presented with the Library of Congress (April 14 September 5, 2016). (262) $2.75. From his job as a police reporter working for the local newspapers, he developed a deep, intimate knowledge of Manhattans slums where Italians, Czechs, Germans, Irish, Chinese and other ethnic groups were crammed in side by side.