Jacob Riis

Question 1

Who was Jacob Riis?

Answer 1

Jacob Riis was a Danish-born muckraker, or journalist, who sought to improve the lives of the poor in New York City

Question 2

What issue did Riis bring to light?

Answer 2

Riis considered poverty the most important concern in major cities across America, particularly

Question 3

Who were the Muckrakers?

Answer 3

Muckrakers were journalists who set out to expose problems, corruption, crime, or dangers which existed in major cities across the United States during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The reason they wanted to expose these problems was to generate public interest and rally support to correct the problems!

Question 4

Periodic Imagery

Answer 4

• An immigrant family of seven is pictured in their tenement house will all of their pictures in a single camera shot
• Clothes were hung on clotheslines in grimy, disgusting back alleys to dry
• A blind beggar sells cigars on the street, hoping to make enough money to pay for a meal and a bed
• Tens of children outfitted in uniforms move trash one wheel barrow at a time; this picture was exposing child labor
• Children sleeping outdoors huddled together for warmth in alleys or near kids on the street, hoping to be warmed by the vents
• Impoverished citizens of New York share shanties made of scraps, squatting on the land in back allies
• A man spreads his sleeping tic on top of a board that is balanced between two barrels in a basement that will very likely flood

Question 5

Periodic Stories

Answer 5

• “Bodies of drowned children turn up in the rivers right along in summer whom no one seems to know anything about. When last spring some workmen, while moving a pile of lumber on a North River pier, found under the last plank the body of a little lad crushed to death, no had missed a boy, though his parents afterward turned up.”
• The poor were frequently found drunk or ill to the point of death on the streets. Freezing to death was entirely possible
• Garment workers might work 14-16 hours a day in deplorable conditions, being paid by the piece— and not very well.
• Frequently, Low paid workers would try to save money by sharing a room. Overcrowding bred disease

Question 6

Effects of “How the Other Half Lives”

Answer 6

• Riis’ work brought attention to the condition in which poor workers and immigrants lived in NYC and other major cities across America
• The 16th Amendment to the Constitution, which created a graduated income tax system was adopted when Americans became increasingly aware of the disparity between the wealthy and the very poor

Question 7

Who did Riis help and inspire?

Answer 7

• Riis helped to end child labor and improve public schools in America by helping reformers like Horace Mann establish public schools and helped labor unions end child labor
• Riis inspired members of the settlement house movement, like Jane Addams, the founder of Hull House