“Jacob Riis: Revealing 'How the Other Half Lives'" on C-SPAN3

SUNDAY, Oct. 18 at 6pm & 10pm ET on C-SPAN3's American Artifacts
Revisit a 2016 exhibit at the Library of Congress, co-sponsored by the Museum of the City of New York, and learn about the many notable photographs of poverty & poor living conditions taken by the Danish American social reformer.
www.c-span.org...

[@michaelbauers8800]

An interesting person, thanks for posting this.

[@ImranSahir1]

The "contemporary" criticism of Riss's photos does not apply to the time he was living in, I think. There are a lot of other things in the book that should not be in a book by modern standards but they are in there. Judging someone in retrospect is a bad idea generally (unless it involves some serious wrongdoing).

[@valentinius62]

One of the best photographs ever. That young "dude" on the right with the bowler hat...I would not dream of messing with him, and would be sure to address him as "Sir". LOL
Another good slum series is Thomson's photos of Whitechapel, London in 1877. My favorite is the one with "Hookey Alf".
Too bad we can't know what became of most people in these photos. Lot of sad stories I imagine, but I like to think that at least some managed to enjoy better circumstances eventually.

[@sheanweel8308]

hi

[@sheanweel8308]

huonm

[@danielmorgan4899]

This is the kind of poor that you don’t escape from these people you see today begging for money is just shear laziness these people in the photo actually “WORKED” but often could not earn enough money to improve their lives

[@valentinius62]

A lot of those men drank and gambled their pay away as soon as they got it. It has always been thus, for thousands of years. Anyone hoping for some kind of change in the Human condition is deluding himself.

[@klara8643]

@@valentinius62 not a lot, some. Those were the days that men that had horse carriages for hire froze to death on v cold nights waiting for a client.
You worked or you died of hunger together with your family.

[@valentinius62]

@@klara8643 The ITV series _Secrets From the Workhouse_ goes over what many people lived through back then, and how they ended up.

[@Ryan-vg4wn]

If that's your take then you've missed his point entirely.

[@breathejuliet390]

@@valentinius62Oh wow, you must be old. My guess is you met some of them. They drunk and gambled their $ away and froze instead of using their $ to get a warmer room. Fascinating. You taught me so much. And you’re probably going to teach a lot of ppl.