Tuesday, May 26, 2020
Assignment 1.3 "How the Other Half Lives" by Jacob Riis
I learned about Jacob Riis in an episode of a podcast series called "Bowery Boys: New York City History". Riis immigrated to New York in 1870 and lived in the poorest part of the city before finding a job working for a newspaper. He wanted to document the type of life that was either hidden or ignored during that time. In the image below, you can see a cramped alleyway with tenants peering out windows and doorways, laundry hanging over them. The picture is an adequate summary of the squalor of NYC at that time and what Riis was trying to convey.
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This is so awesome! I love old photographs. It's so cool to see how far we've come as a society and with technology. It's especially interesting because NYC is still a cramped city space and would like to see how this compares to a photograph taken in that same spot in today's world.
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