The Living City | New York City >> 1910s >> 1914

The turn of the century brought a new period of tenement reform lead by City reformers such as Jacob Riis. Born in Denmark in 1849, Riis Immigrated to the United States in 1870 and became one of the most important social reformers of his time. For over twenty years, he waged a battle with the slums of New York City. As a police reporter for the New York Times, he became known for his harrowing descriptions of tenement life as experienced by immigrants living in the City's poorest tenement house districts. In 1890 he became nationally known for his book "How the other Half Lives" (and then later, the "Battle with the Slum") in which he forced the public-the advantaged half-to acknowledge the poverty that existed in tenements. He books on "The children of the Poor," and "A Ten Years' War," probably did more to educate the general public on living conditions then the writings of any other person. He used a new tool, photojournalism, to capture images of poverty and deprivation in the tenements, and was instrumental in tearing down one of the worst slums areas the City had ever seen, the old Mulberry Bend.

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