Essay Examples on York University

Jacob Riis was an innovative Photographer

Jacob Riis was an innovative photographer who utilized his unique style of photographing to expose social issues like poverty and healthcare during the Industrial Revolution His exposé in a book titled How the Other Half Lives impacted public opinion on these issues among the upper classes and encouraged the enactment of political reforms to alleviate the poor s plight Riis s own background as a middle class citizen allowed him to understand the importance of revealing the dangerous housing situation in many New York slums Riis eventually become a champion of tenement housing reform adding to his reputation as an author and photographer Riis was born on May 3 1849 in Ribe Denmark and immigrated to the United States at the age of 21 His life in the US began shakily as he wandered through Pennsylvania New Jersey and New York taking up various jobs like ironworking farming bricklaying and salesman all of which allowed him to gain an acquaintance with the less prosperous side of city life In 1873 he began working as a police reporter for the New York Tribune specifically in the New York City's Lower East Side where he gained further exposure to the ragged underside of New York s population in poverty 



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