Jacob Riis
Sign in to saveAmerican photographer, journalist and activist (1849–1914)
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1849
- Died
- 1914
- Works
- 49
Top works
- The making of an American
- Santa Claus Tales for Kids
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Hero tales of the far North
- How the other half lives
via Open Library + Wikidata
Listeners · Last.fm
- Listeners
- 3
- Total plays
- 13
Jacob August Riis (May 3, 1849 – May 26, 1914) was a Danish American social reformer, "muckraking" journalist and social documentary photographer. He is known for using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York City; those impoverished New Yorkers were the subject of most of his prolific writings and photography. He endorsed the implementation of "model tenements" in New York with the help of humanitarian Lawrence Veiller. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/J
Key facts
- Born
- ( 1849-05-03 ) May 3, 1849, Ribe , Denmark
- Died
- May 26, 1914 (1914-05-26) (aged 65), Barre, Massachusetts , U.S.
- Occupations
- Photographer journalist activist
- Known for
- Social reform
via Wikipedia infobox
Key dates
- Born
- 3 May 1849
- Died
- 26 May 1914
via Wikidata · CC0
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Jacob
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Danish Realm
- Place of birth
- Ribe
- Place of death
- Barre
- Occupation
- sociologist
- Employer
- The Sun
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Field of work
- portrait photography
Article
Jacob August Riis (/riːs/ REESS; May 3, 1849 – May 26, 1914) was a Danish-American social reformer, "muck-raking" journalist, and social documentary photographer. He contributed significantly to the cause of urban reform in the United States of America at the turn of the twentieth century. He is known for using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York City; those impoverished New Yorkers were the subject of most of his prolific writings and photography.
Riis endorsed the implementation of "model tenements" in New York with the help of humanitarian Lawrence Veiller. He was an early proponent of the newly practicable casual photography and one of the first to adopt photographic flash. While living in New York, Riis experienced poverty and became a police reporter writing about the quality of life in the slums. He attempted to alleviate the poor living conditions of poor people by exposing these conditions to the middle and upper classes.
Connections
Categories
1849 births1914 deaths19th-century American biographers19th-century Danish biographers19th-century Danish memoirists20th-century American biographers20th-century Danish biographersAmerican documentary photographersAmerican male journalistsAmerican memoiristsAmerican portrait photographersCommons link is on Wikidata