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When did Jacob Riis take pictures of poor urban conditions?
In 1888, Riis left the Tribune to work for the Evening Sun, where he began making the photographs that would be reproduced as engravings and halftones in How the Other Half Lives, his celebrated work documenting the living conditions of the poor, which was published to widespread acclaim in 1890.
Who took pictures of people living in the tenements?
Journalist, photographer, and social activist Jacob Riis produced photographs and writings documenting poverty in New York City in the late 19th century, making the lives and living conditions of the working poor as widely visible as possible.
What was Jacob Riis’s mission or reason for photographing tenements?
Harrowing images of tenements and alleyways where New York’s immigrant communities lived, combined with his evocative storytelling, were intended to engage and inform his audience and exhort them to act.
How did Jacob Riis book affect the urban poor?
His book, How the Other Half Lives (1890), stimulated the first significant New York legislation to curb poor conditions in tenement housing. It was also an important predecessor to muckraking journalism, which took shape in the United States after 1900.
What is Riis opinion of the poor What does he consider as the causes of poverty?
Gilded Age reformers like Riis believed that poverty was the result of environmental conditions; thus, reform efforts could help the poor. Riis believed that moral citizens, regardless of their economic status, should be given a chance to improve their lives.
Was Jacob Riis poor?
Barre, Massachusetts, U.S. Jacob August Riis (/riːs/; May 3, 1849 – May 26, 1914) was a Danish-American social reformer, “muckraking” journalist and social documentary photographer. While living in New York, Riis experienced poverty and became a police reporter writing about the quality of life in the slums.
How did Jacob Riis take photographs?
In addition to his writing, Riis’s photographs helped illuminate the ragged underside of city life. By the late 1880s, Riis had begun photographing the interiors and exteriors of New York slums with a flash lamp. Those photos are early examples of flashbulb photography.