Tenement+Life

1. Jacob Riis was born on May 3, 1849 in Ribe, Denmark. He was the child of Neils Edward Riis and Carolina Riis, he was one of fifteen children. As a child Jacob wanted to be a carpenter so moved to Copenhagen to become a carpenter at the age of 19. He then returned to Ribe to find no available jobs. At the age of 21 Jacob immigrated to the United States in search of a job as a carpenter. He worked as a carpenter for a few months then switched to coal mining for the increased pay. During his time in America he saw the horrible conditions in which people lived and sadly he had to live in those conditions himself. He then discovered a job in journalism at the Cooper Institute. After that job he worked for The Tribune and reported with the police in the most disgusting and impoverished places he has ever been. After that he felt bad for those people and then took up photography and took pictures of these impoverished tenements and brought to light the horrible conditions in which most immigrants lived. He worked with many newspapers and many magazines in which his pictures were used.





3. Life on the Lower East side tenements was really tough. Many immigrants lived in these tenements, the rooms were cramped but the tenants had no other choice it was either this or the streets. There were like 5 families in one room and it was crawling with disease and some were even lacking the necessary amenities. Jacob Riis brought attention to the conditions these people were going through by his photographs. Seeing the person living in these conditions was a horrible sight, there was a bunch of people in one tiny room barely being able to move around and struggling for space. When people would get sick everyone would get sick and it was really unsafe.