The Authentic History Center Your current position is:
History on the Net > Authentic History > 1898-1913 > progressivism > riis

How The Other Half Lives, by Jacob Riis

curve
How The Other Half Lives (1895 edition)
This pioneering work of photojournalism by Jacob Riis focused on the plight of the poor in the Lower East Side, and greatly influenced future "muckraking" journalism. Riis mostly attributed the plight of the poor to environmental conditions, but he also divided the poor into two categories: deserving of assistance (mostly women and children) and undeserving (mostly the unemployed and intractably criminal). He wrote with prejudice about Jews, Italians, and Irish, and he stopped short of calling for government intervention. Still, the catalyst of his work was a genuine sympathy for his subjects, and his work shocked many New Yorkers.
Jacob Riis
CONTENTS
Creative Commons License
 
curve
curve
curve
Last modified July 11, 2012