History

Jacob Riis grew up in Copenhagen, Denmark. After struggling to find a job as a carpenter and having a marriage proposal declined, he moved to the US aged 21 hoping for a fresh start. When he arrived in New York city he was shocked by the conditions and how dangerous it was. The first thing he did was buy a gun with half the money he had. In the 1880s, 334,000 people were crammed into a single square mile of the Lower East Side of New York City, making it the most densely populated place on earth. They were packed into filthy, disease-ridden tenements, 10 or 15 to a room, and the rich knew nothing about them and cared less. The old saying, “out of sight, out of mind” applied. People of importance never set eyes on this part of New York. Without a job, eventually, Riis was destitute. He survived on scavenged food and handouts from local restaurants and slept in public areas or in a foul-smelling police lodging-houses. At one point, Riis's only companion was a stray dog. O