How the Other Half Lives
How the Other Half Lives
How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New
York (1890) was an early publication of photojournalism by Jacob
Riis, documenting squalid living conditions in New York City slums
during the 1880s. It served as a basis for future "muckraking"
journalism by exposing the slums to New York City’s upper and
middle classes.
History and contents
During the 1880's many people in upper- and middle-class society
were unaware of the dangerous conditions in the slums among poor
immigrants. Jacob Riis, an immigrant himself who could not originally
find much work, hoped to expose the squalor of the 19th century
Lower East Side of Manhattan. After a successful career as a police
reporter he decided to publish a photojournal documenting these
Bandit's Roost by Jacob Riis, New York, 1888
conditions using graphic descriptions, sketches, photographs, and
statistics. Riis blamed the apathy of the monied class for the condition of the New York slums, and assumed that as
people were made more aware of these conditions they would be more apt to help eradicate them.
During 1889 Riis wrote a magazine article exposing some of the bad conditions of New York slums which was
published with a number of engravings of his photographs. The article proved to be popular and Riis spent the better
part of a year expanding it into the book How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York.[1]
The book was also successful. Soon after its publication, the New York Times lauded its content, claiming it to be a
“powerful book”.[2]
The title of the book is a reference to a sentence by French writer and philosopher François Rabelais, who famously
wrote in his Pantagruel : "one half of the world does not know how the other half lives" ("la moitié du monde ne sait
pas comment l'autre vit").
Riis was a police reporter who had himself known poverty[3] . In How the Other Half Lives he describes the system
of tenement housing that had failed, as he claims, due to greed and neglect from wealthier people. He claims a
correlation between the high crime rate, drunkenness and reckless behaviour of the poor and their lack of a proper
home.[4] Chapter by chapter he uses his words and photographs to expose the conditions inhabited by the poor in a
manner that “spoke directly to people's hearts”.[5]
He ends How the Other Half Lives with a plan of how to fix the problem. He explains how the plan is do-able and
how the upper classes will not only profit financially from such ventures, but have a moral obligation to tend to them
as well.[6]
Due to the recent invention of flash photography, Riis was able to photograph the unlit areas of tenements and
expose wretched working and living conditions. The harsh white light from magnesium flash powder often caused a
look of shock on the faces of those photographed and was accepted as an indication of candid and objective
photography. Riis gained credibility from this effect and from the spontaneous appearance of the newly introduced
snapshot.
How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York explained not only the living conditions in
New York slums, but also the sweatshops in some tenements which paid workers only a few cents a day. The book
explains the plight of working children; they would work in factories and at other jobs. Some children became
garment workers and newsies (newsboys).
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How the Other Half Lives
How The Other Half Lives and other works of Riis were greatly influenced by the reporting of Charles Dickens,
whom Riis greatly admired for his stories of London’s poor. Much of Riis’s writing style is similar to Dickens', who
used first-person encounters to expose the “other half.”
References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
Pascal, Janet B., Jacob Riis: Reporter and Reformer (Oxford University Press, 2005), pg. 85-86.
“Matters We Ought to Know: How the Other Half Lives,” The New York Times 4 Jan. 1891.
“Jacob A. Riis Tells of His Early Trials,” The New York Times 29 Oct. 1906.
Riis, Jacob, How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York (Kessinger Publishing, 2004), pg 3-5.
Pascal, Janet B., Jacob Riis: Reporter and Reformer (Oxford University Press, 2005), pg 87.
Riis, Jacob, How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York (Kessinger Publishing, 2004), pg 152-153.
Literature
• Marien, Mary Warner. “Photography: A Cultural History.” Syracuse University, New York, 2002.
External links
• How the Other Half Lives complete text and photos online (http://www.authentichistory.com/1898-1913/
2-progressivism/2-riis/index.html)
• Audio version of How the Other Half Lives (http://librivox.org/how-the-other-half-lives-by-jacob-riis/) from
LibriVox
• How the Other Half Lives Portfolio at NYU (http://journalism.nyu.edu/portfolio/books/book287.html)
• Documenting the “Other Half” (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA01/Davis/photography/riis/riis.html)
• What Do The World and People Deserve (http://www.lenbernstein.com/RiisArticle.html)
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Article Sources and Contributors
Article Sources and Contributors
How the Other Half Lives Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443832992 Contributors: 7mike5000, A8UDI, Akadruid, Alansohn, Alexjohnc3, Astronautics, Beyond My Ken,
Bonzolive, Bsherr, Catfisheye, CharlesMartel, Christian75, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, Deltabeignet, Eiad77, Elviajeropaisa, GorillaWarfare, Hailey C. Shannon, Insomattack, Ixfd64, Jenblower,
Jim.henderson, Jivecat, Jmundo, Jovianeye, Kbh3rd, Keilana, Magnaclash, MakeRocketGoNow, Mark Musante, Maurreen, Mcld, MilitaryTarget, Nehrams2020, NewEnglandYankee, Papdefer,
Philip Trueman, Piano non troppo, Poccil, Postdlf, PrestonH, Remember the dot, Rjwilmsi, Saddhiyama, SchfiftyThree, Steven J. Anderson, StrikeTheCore, Stroppolo, TheMindsEye, Varlaam,
Wrp103, 111 anonymous edits
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors
Image:Bandit's Roost by Jacob Riis.jpeg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bandit's_Roost_by_Jacob_Riis.jpeg License: Public Domain Contributors: Original uploader
was Gamaliel at en.wikipedia
License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
http:/ / creativecommons. org/ licenses/ by-sa/ 3. 0/
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