Jacob Riis worked as a police reporter for the New York Tribune after immigrating to the United States in 1870. Throughout the late 19th century, a large part of his work uncovered the lifestyle of the city's tenement slums.
Here, an Italian immigrant rag-picker is seen with her baby in a small run-down tenement room on Jersey Street in New York City in 1887. During the 19th century, immigration doubled the city's population every year from 1800 to 1880.
Houses that were once for a single family were often divided up to pack in as many people as possible, as this 1905 photo shows.
A young girl, holding a baby, sits in a doorway next to a garbage can, in New York City in 1890. Tenement buildings often used cheap materials, had little or no indoor plumbing nor proper ventilation.
Immigration provided a large pool of child laborers to exploit. This twelve-year-old boy, shown in this 1889 photo, worked as a thread-puller in a New York clothing factory.
A shelter for immigrants in a Bayard Street tenement, shown in 1888. To keep up with the population increase, tenements were constructed hastily and often without regulations.
Three young children huddle together for warmth above a grate off of Mulberry Street in New York, 1895. Housing was not only constantly divided up within buildings, but also began to spread to backyards in an effort to use every inch of space in poor areas.
This man sorts through trash in a makeshift home under a dump on New York City's 47th Street. In 1890, Riis compiled his work into his own book, titled How the Other Half Lives, to expose the brutal living conditions in the most densely populated city in America.
His book caught the attention of then-Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt. This photo shows a man's living quarters in the cellar of a New York City tenement house in 1891.
By 1900, more than 80,000 tenements had been built in New York City and housed 2.3 million people, or two-thirds of the total city population. This peddler sits on his bedroll, atop two barrels, in his cellar home.
1 / 10: Jacob Riis/Bettman Archive/Getty Images
New immigrants to New York City in the late 1800s faced grim, cramped living conditions in tenement housing that once dominated the Lower East Side. During the 19th century, immigration steadily increased, causing New York City's population to double every decade from 1800 to 1880. To accommodate the city's rapid growth, every inch of the city's poor areas was used to provide quick and cheap housing options.
Houses that were once for single families were divided to pack in as many people as possible. Walls were erected to create extra rooms, floors were added, and housing spread into backyard areas. To keep up with the population increase, construction was done hastily and corners were cut. Tenement buildings were constructed with cheap materials, had little or no indoor plumbing and lacked proper ventilation. These cramped and often unsafe quarters left many vulnerable to rapidly spreading illnesses and disasters like fires.
By 1900, more than 80,000 tenements had been built and housed 2.3 million people, two-thirds of the total city population.
Immigrants at Ellis Island
Jacob Riis, who immigrated to the United States in 1870, worked as a police reporter who focused largely on uncovering the conditions of these tenement slums. However, his leadership and legacy in social reform truly began when he started to use photography to reveal the dire conditions in the most densely populated city in America. His work appeared in books, newspapers and magazines and shed light on the atrocities of the city, leaving little to be ignored.
In 1890, Riis compiled his work into his own book titled, How the Other Half Lives. As he wrote, "every man’s experience ought to be worth something to the community from which he drew it, no matter what that experience may be.” The eye-opening images in the book caught the attention of then-Police Commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt. Riis' work would inspire Roosevelt and others to work to improve living conditions of poor immigrant neighborhoods.
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