Jacob Riis

Jacob Riis: Influence throughout society

There have been many people throughout the course of history who have made a positive impact on the way people live their lives. Jacob Riis whose disturbing yet eye-opening photographs of urban poverty changed the course of history in a positive way.

Jacob A. Riis, himself.

      Jacob Riis came from modest beginnings, he was unable to find work and immigrate to the United States in 1870 because he only had $40’s in his pocket. He spent seven years of his life barely making a living by working various odd jobs.This sparked his interest to recognize and fix the problems in New York City Lower East Side’s worst slums. Riis documented poverty by photos and writings, however his most famous one is, How the Other Half Lives (1890). This extraordinary book by Riis was an eye-opener to most people who lived in wealthy homes or who were fortunate to have their own water supply. Riis brought more attention to the unsafe and horrible conditions of these tenements to the world through this book. It served as a tour of the slums going through every neighborhood alerting millions of Americans of the many  problems accumulating as a cause of urban poverty. Every tenement included the working poor of the city who came from Italian, Irish, German, Jewish, Czech, and Chinese backgrounds. Many middle and upper class Americans were shocked and appalled by Riis’s photographs in How the Other Half Lives. Riis took a plethora of photographs mostly of dark alleys, overcrowded apartments, and the plight of the urban poor who lived there. In American History, Jacob Riis said, “The hall is dark and you might stumble over the children pitching pennies back there. . . . A flight of stairs. You can feel your way, if you cannot see it. Close? Yes! What would you have? All the fresh air that ever enters these stairs comes from the front door that is forever slamming, and from the windows of dark bedrooms that in turn receive from the stairs their sole supply of the elements God meant to be free, but man deals out with such a niggardly hand. . . . What sort of an answer, think you, would come from these tenements to the question "Is life worth living?”  Riis was extremely concerned with the effects of such horrible conditions on all the families. Riis didn’t believe that these people deserved such harsh conditions to live and to raise their families.

Riis took his pictures using newly invented flash photography. A mixture of magnesium and potassium chlorate powder ignited the flash illuminating the shocking sights of a tenement, documenting urban poverty. All the photographs in his books were eye-opening and disturbing photographs of slum life which caught the eyes of middle and upper class Americans. Riis explicated the horrible conditions of the tenements through his book, for example: 12 adults had to sleep in a room that was only 13 feet across. The living conditions in the tenements in New Y

Three little boys sleeping in a dark, dirty slum corridor,
photo taken by  Jacob Riis.

ork were known to be the worst living conditions ever to the public. Many of the buildings had inadequate ventilation, indoor plumbing was rare, water was never available to anyone living in the building, and indoor/outdoor privies were shared by all the residents. Who would want that type of lifestyle? My guess is, no one.  He also talked about how the infant death rate in tenements was as high as 1 in 10. This stunned many Americans across the county and led to a renewed call for reform. In 1901 city officials passed the Tenement House Law. This outlawed the construction of new tenements on 25 foot long lots and mandated improved sanitary conditions, fire escapes, and access to ventilation/light. This also led to the building of 200,000 new apartments within 15 years which was supervised by the city authorities. Riis not only was concerned about the slum life, but he was also very passionate about the condition that children were in and worked to secure parks, playgrounds, and strived for better schools. He fought for the passage of child labor laws and established a boys’ club. Riis strived to make sure that children had positive outlets despite their poor living conditions.

Jacob Riis's first photograph ever taken, most famous one- "Five Cents".

Through Jacob Riis’s exposure of horrid living conditions and different groups of peoples’ depressing living arrangements, he was able to catch the eyes and attention of the outer world and make a difference in their lives. Not only were the lives of people across the globe changed positively, but the people living in the tenements were forever grateful for the efforts Jacob A. Riis put in to improve their living conditions. 

Citations

1. McGuire, William, and Leslie Wheeler. "Jacob Riis." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

2. "Jacob Riis." Photos/Illustrations. Cirker, Hayward and Blanche Cirker, eds. Dictionary of American Portraits, 1967. American History. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

3. Jacob A. Riis, Social Service Review, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Jun., 1949), p. 231 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30018266

4. Yochelson, Bonnie. "Excerpt: 'Rediscovering Jacob Riis'" Www.npr.org. Ed. Daniel Czitrom. N.p., 30 June 2008. Web.

5. Siegel, Robert. "Jacob Riis: Shedding Light On NYC's 'Other Half'" Www.npr.org. Robert Siegel, 30 June 2008. Web.

6. Jaycox, Faith. The Progressive Era. New York: Facts On File, 2005. Print.

7. Evans, Harold, Gail Buckland, and Kevin Baker. The American Century. New York: Knopf, 1998. Print.

8. Pendergast, Tom, and Sara Pendergast. American Decades. Detroit, MI: UXL, 2003. Print.