President Theodore Roosevelt called Jacob Riis the best American I ever
knew. The pioneering photojournalist, an immigrant from Denmark, drew
attention to the poverty and evils of slum life in the late 1800s. Riis
won national acclaim when his photos illustrated his bestselling book
How the Other Half Lives. The book focused on the difficult time
immigrants faced as thousands of newcomers flooded into the United
States each year. Riis called for reform and hoped to prod government
officials to help the poor people who were forced to live under horrible
conditions. The impact of Riis' photos came from capturing the poor and
homeless as they lived and worked, with the subjects' eyes often staring
directly into the camera. The great photographer Ansel Adams called them
magnificent achievements in the field of humanistic photography. But the
reforms that came from Riis' work have not eliminated urban poverty and
homelessness, and important work remains to be done.