It is well-known that actions speak louder than words; I say photographs speak louder as well. In the book "How the Other Half Lives," by Jacob Riis, the author writes about the living conditions of the tenement houses. Housed in these apartments were mostly poor immigrants trying to survive. Riis, a photographer, captured the unhealthy, unclean and horrible conditions not only through his words but mostly through his pictures. His journalism and photographs during this time period paved the way for reform and allowed others to see what the slums of New York City were like. The photojournalism presented by Riis had a major impact on the message he was trying to get across to the public.
Jacob Riis worked as a reporter and was shocked by the conditions these people lived in. He couldn't imagine that so many people lived in these horrible conditions. Riis only wanted to call attention to the horrendous conditions a large portion of the population of New York City lived in. I felt this book was very difficult to read and the message Riis was giving his readers was unimaginable. His photographs enabled me to see the reality of the late 19th century. Hard working immigrants lived in filthy, dangerous, cramped areas because there was no other place to live. Riis' photographs made it possible to capture horrific scenes and let other people not only read, but see what it was really like to live in a tenement house. .
As he writes about the living conditions of the poor, Riis supports his information with pictures and his words were filled with much more power because of his photographs. Just seeing the filthy, horrible conditions people had to live in is heartbreaking and unbelievable. From children to adults, all suffered from disease starvation, polluted air and no sunlight. Rooms, which families lived in, barely had windows and the ones that did the sunlight wouldn't reach the far side of the room.
