Jacob Riis

Michael Brooks (West Chester University)

Ed. by Stephen E. Meats, Pittsburg State University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.2: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth Century, 1783-1900.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University)

Dates

Born 3 May 1849
Died 26 May 1914
Activity 1874-1914

Places

Born in Denmark
Active in United States

Activities

Primary

Autobiographer
Journalist
Photographer

Resources

Riis' Works

Save to Bookshelf

Jacob Riis's

How the Other Half Lives

(1890) is a masterpiece of American journalism. It is also the book that originated the tradition of documentary photography. Its boisterously self-confident author would have been pleased at the first distinction and puzzled by the second.

Jacob Riis's career was entirely bound up with the wave of immigrants who came to America between 1870 and 1929. Disappointed in love, often in conflict with his father, and with no immediate prospects of a career, he left Denmark and reached New York City's Castle Garden on Sunday, June 5, 1870. With no friends and no career prospects, he worked as a miner, a brick maker, a ship's carpenter and a door to door salesman. He tried to become a telegraph operator and at last succeeded in becoming a journalist. He was

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1620 words

Citation: Brooks, Michael. "Jacob Riis". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 January 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12486, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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