Sunday,
February 24, 2008
Rediscovering Jacob Riis; Advocate of
Italian Immigrants
The
ANNOTICO Report
Jacob
Riis was one of the first and most effective crusaders to take up the cause of
A new book, "Rediscovering Jacob Riis: Exposure
Journalism and Photography in Turn-of-the-Century New York,"
seeks to reframe Riiss legacy by asserting that it is better to
understand his empathy for the immigrant slum than to dismiss him as just a
dogmatist bent on civilizing the immigrant castes. ,
By showing the
conditions of the slum dwellers, by showing his audiences pictures of
starving children, homeless men and damp sweatshops, he was able to provide
visual incentive for the raising funds for the uplifting of the slums.
Riis was not a
serious photographer. He had the idea that photography could reveal the
conditions about which he was writing. In 1888, after some personal resistance,
he began taking pictures."He made a discovery, By using photography, he
could shout to the conscience".
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Jacob
August Riis (1849-1914), born in Ribe, Denmark, was the third of fifteen
children born to Niels Riis, schoolteacher and editor of the local Ribe
newspaper, and stern father, and Carolina Riis, a homemaker. In 1870 he
emigrated to
As one of the
urban poors greatest advocates, Riis wrote: How The Other Half Lives (1891),The Children of the Poor (1892;
new edition, 1902),Out of Mulberry street (1896), a
collection of fiction, A Ten Years' War (1900), The Making of an American
(1901; new edition, 1913), his autobiography, The Battle with the Slum
(1902), Children of the Tenements
(1902), The Peril and the
Preservation of the Home (1903), Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen
(1904), The Old Town (his birthplace) (1909), Hero Tales of the Far North
(1910), Neighbors: Life Stories of
the Other Half (1914).
=============================================================================================================
Defending
Jacob Riis
Jewish
Daily Forward
Wed. Feb 20,
2008
Rediscovering Jacob
Riis: Exposure Journalism and Photography in Turn-of-the-Century
By Bonnie Yochelson and Daniel Czitrom
The New Press, 288 pages, $35.
As incredible as
this might seem to some, the generation born in the 1980s has no knowledge of a
dangerous
Jacob Riis, who
immigrated to
A new book, "Rediscovering Jacob Riis: Exposure
Journalism and Photography in Turn-of-the-Century New York,"
seeks to reframe Riiss legacy by asserting that it is better to
understand his empathy for the immigrant slum than to dismiss him as just a
dogmatist bent on civilizing the immigrant castes. For Daniel Czitrom and
Bonnie Yochelson, the authors of the new book, a fresh look at his photography
is a way to expand our view of Riis and, in turn, to understand the ways that
equality for immigrants was attained at a time when race science was accepted
as fact. "There is a disconnect between his photographs and his
writing," Czitrom said in an interview with the Forward. "His
prejudices and ethnic stereotypes give way to his humanizing images." To
support this claim, the book contains a beautiful insert of photographs and
illustrations from the Jacob A. Riis Collection at the Museum of the City of
Best known for
his 1890 book "How the Other Half Lives", Riis was also
well known for traveling the country with picture slides, lecturing to
Christian charity organizations about the conditions of the slum dwellers, most
of whom were Italian, Jewish, Irish or African American. By showing his
audiences pictures of starving children, homeless men and damp sweatshops,
he was able to provide visual incentive for the realization of the gospels
teachings. With his own evangelical leanings, and the New Testament alive in
the countryside, Riis became a pioneer of photojournalism at a time when
newspapers often didnt have the technology or funds to print photographs.
According to Czitrom, a professor of history at Mount Holyoke College, As Riis
tried to connect with an audience of turn-of-the-century, wealthy white
Protestants, he was probably aware that playing on their prejudices in
his words while pulling at their heartstrings with his ima ges was a way to
provide funds for the uplifting of the slums.
Riis had his
own values as a crime reporter, which were at the core of his work. He had a
tremendous intimacy with the poor, and was skeptical of Tammany Hall,"
remarked Bonnie Yochelson, an independent curator and historian of photography
"It is easy from the perch of the 20th century to dismiss him by saying,
Look at this racism! I dont know if it was his personal belief
as much as a strategy."
As it turns out,
Riis was not a serious photographer. He had the idea that photography could
reveal the conditions about which he was writing. In 1888, after some personal
resistance, he began taking pictures.
He made a
discovery," Yochelson said. "By using photography, he could shout
to the conscience".
Riiss
entrepreneurial and theatrical intentions are also examined in the new book. In
the same year that he began his photography, Riis submitted a cover page for
his slide lecture to the Library of Congresss Copyright Office, titled
"The Other Half: How It
Lives and Dies in
According to the
authors, the goal of the book is to appeal to anyone interested in the history
of
Eli
Rosenblatt is a writer who lives in
The
ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed (and are Archived) on:
Italia
Italia Mia: http://www.ItaliaMia.com (3 years)
Annotico
Email: annotico@earthlink.net