Jacob Riiss Photographs Immigration Urbanization 1880 1920 Immigrants

Jacob Riis’s Photographs

Immigration & Urbanization (1880 -1920) Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island in New York City in 1902 2

Immigration & Urbanization (1880 -1920) Before 1880’s: • Northern and Western Europe • Protestant Christians • Settled in rural areas From early 1880’s: • Southern and Eastern Europe • Catholic & Jewish • Settled in cities in the Northeast and Midwest 3

Tenements in New York City around 1900 4

Tenements Over-Crowded No Bathrooms No Running Water No Windows No Electricity No Ventilation Diseases Crime Infant Death 5

Jacob Riis 6

Jacob Riis 1887 – 1897 “flashlight powder” Could take pictures: • windowless interiors • dark alleys “detective camera” 7

Riis & Flash Photography 8

Riis & Advocacy for the Poor How the Other Half Lives and Dies in New York Magic Lantern show with glass slides 9

Riis & Advocacy for the Poor 10

Riis & Advocacy for the Poor Why do you think Riis selected images that would have been shocking or troubling to his audience? 11

How the Other Half Lives 1889 Article 1890 Book Ascribes problems to housing, not heredity Cure is better government and better housing Launches the Progressive Era Inspired many other journalists and photographers to this day 12

Central Historical Question What were conditions like in New York City tenements in the late 19 th century?

Document A 14

Document B 15

Document C 16