User:Kayjay428/Group 2 Introduction

Riis and How the Other Half Lives

Jacob Riis, born May 3, 1849, was a Danish American who specialized in flash photography and writing journals on the tenements in the city of New York. Riis created the novel How the Other Half Lives after his attempt to publish his work depicting the squalor of the tenements failed, due to the graphic images shown.

Flash Photography

Using his flash photography to take his photos in the dark, Riis was able to capture a side of the tenements that was usually unable to be published: people of New York living in great suffering, with little to no furniture, weak flooring and walls, etc. Despite these terrible living conditions, adults and children alike worked hard to make and save money in any way possible.

Financial Burdens

All of this took place after the Reconstruction, so much of the town had already been destroyed. As Industrialization began, people living in poverty could not afford to fix up the city and many of them still had to live off of what they already got. The situation worsened as increase of immigration continued in America, leading to more and more people to add to the economic destruction with these families. Many had to share homes-those who didn’t were seen through the alleyways.

Focus

Riis focused on the life of the people who were living in poverty inside the tenements provided in New York. He created the title of the book with the quote, “One half of the world does not know how the other half lives,” by François Rabelais, in mind. This title explains the differences between both halves of New York: from rich, to low class, then gradually compares them to the middle and upper class. Riis uses his journals and photographs to portray the conditions of said people living in New York. Riis saw all of this and wondered what he needed to do to create change. He soon thought that when the public would see his photographs, the public would gain a better perspective of what was occurring in their own land.