Jacob Riis How The Other Half Lives

In 1890 Jacob Riis, a Danish migrant and New York Times reported introduced the immigrant problem to Americans using photojournalism in his book How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York. This book provided insight into the harsh lives of the immigrants living in the slums of New York by giving photographic evidence that spoke to the hearts of many Americans. At the time many were unaware of the difficult challenges many immigrants faced and Riis brought up this social issue. Riis himself however has some bias and delineates these people into groups of the “deserving poor” and “undeserving poor”. Despite his muckraking skills and attempts to reveal the hostile conditions of immigrants Riis has some racial prejudices

Riis emigrated from Denmark to New York many years prior to his famous report and having ascended in society we can expect Riis to assume if people do not ascend in society they are lazy and clearly not working hard enough. In addition to this Riis had a victorian mindset of view which can explain his beliefs on class and moral values. In Riis’ early time in New York he faced many challenges. Upon arrival he went straight to finding work and learned quickly the game of making sacrifices. He worked strenuous jobs, but was not too focused on starting a life in America because he desired to return home if the appearance of a war became prevalent. This happen in 1864 when Denmark and Prussia declared war on each other, yet Riis remained in America for the time being. He worked small jobs as a carpenter and slowly began searching for reporter jobs only to be quickly dismissed. Unable to find a journalism job Riis settled temporarily with a salesman job. Soon after he applied and received a position as editor of the Long Island New York newspaper thus beginning his journalism career. Out of the blue another position encompassing Riis’ desire to be a journalism emerged and Riis became the editor of New York News. Slowly but surely opportunities became more frequent and Riis eventually became a refutable journalist within New

Riis loved New York and the opportunities it provided to him. His autobiography gives us personal view of how he did not have the greatest living conditions, and how he lived directly off his wages never having any surplus. This can illuminate his resentment for many of the immigrants living in the city whom he considered to be lazy. Riis was a man of many different hats; Dane, carpenter, reporter, smelter, architect and a farmer. He experienced tough labor but benefited from his money because he was not working for greed or working to buy alcohol or drugs. Riis had a strong sense of perseverance and compromised often with jobs that were not what he wanted, but would give him proper experience. Riis faced several trials and challenges but always overcame because he was very strategic in how he worked. He elevates himself above the other immigrants in how he made his living. He wasn't rough and feisty like the Italians, a drunk like the Irish, greedy like the jews, or a drug addict like the Chinese. He was a hard worker who focused on the end goal and pursued this goal wholeheartedly. During his years in New York Riis thought often of his home back in Denmark. Desiring to go to war he considered himself noble yet he assimilated to the American culture. To the Bohemians particularly we can see his prejudice due to the Schleswig war which was occurring between his people and theres.