Impoverishment In The Progressive Era

The Progressive era was a massive turning point in America’s history. The suffrage movement, Scopes Monkey Trial, and prohibition all had a large impact on America. Each event had a unique effect on the future and we still see the effects of these events today.

Jacob Riis’ book How the Other Half Lives is a detailed description on the poor and the destitute in the inner realms of New York City. Riis tries to portray the living conditions through the ‘eyes’ of his camera. He sneaks up on the people flashes a picture and then tells the rest of the city how the ‘other half’ is living. As shocking as the truth was without seeing such poverty and horrible conditions with their own eyes or taking in the experience with all their senses it still seemed like a million miles away or even just a fairy tale.

The portrayal of Jacob Riis’ views through his book ‘How the Other Half Lives,’ is conveyed by storytelling and is largely made of logos, however the key component is actually ethos, like a politician running a campaign, Jacob Riis’s uses logos and pathos to create a persona of authority on the topic of the poor in New York City. I am going to look in depth on how Riis uses different approaches to convey his views to his audience: why does do some of Riis’ key texts contradict each other? Is he conscious of if? Is it brilliant?

Riis wrote about different ethnic groups when he was living in New York. He wrote about greedy Jews, drunken Irish, and sloppy Italians. Riis also wrote with Christian morality. He blamed the faults of the above mentioned people on the poor living conditions that they were in. Like any other photographer or author, Riis’s motive must be figured out. It was already clear that he wanted change for the slums but in his pictures, the authors of the passage describe some pictures having Riis’s Christian morality in play. Riis highlights the needs for stable, wholesome families. The picture of page 191 is an example of a non-wholesome family. The home is supposed to be a resting place but factory work made its way into the home, making the entire family work. Photos like these were examples of Riis’s motives behind his photos. The photo on page 193 called “Room in a tenement flat” showed a family portrait. The room that they were in was very crammed and Riis again shows a family in poor living conditions. Riis also photographed many children, like the ones in “street arabs” on page 195. The photo is heart wrenching and captivates any viewer because of the pitiful place they had to sleep in.

According to Document 1, Jacob Riis’, “How the Other Half Lives” was a book showing the conditions of the people living in tenements, and showed how the people there didn’t have proper air, and all of it was polluted because of the overcrowding of the small apartments they had to live in. The rooms were also really dark due to the lack of windows, and also

The progressive movement was primarily a reform movement. The movement was pivoted to cure many of the problems of the American society that had developed during the great emission of industrial growth in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. In this Era, the boundary had been restrained, great nations and businesses developed as well as overseas empire established but all citizens were entitled to share the new wealth, optimism and prestige. Therefore, the main goals of the movement were to eradicate the problems cause by immigration, urbanization, industrialization as well as corruption in the government. The movement was succeeded by several progressives who included politicians, writers as well as social welfare advocates who ensured that society would develop as a result of government action.

As the society in the US started to get more progressive, women also started to speak out for their rights. They felt it was unfair to be living as the same human as men, but to have less rights just because they are women. Document 1 presents the Progressive Party demanding better conditions for works. Those who were poorly treated were often children and women. Industrialization brought rapid development in the lives of many. It established many factories and factory systems. However because the new developments were so rapid, new policies on regulation were slow to follow. In the changing century between the 1890s and the 1920s, people started to become more aware and started to advocate for a more just treatment and advocated until change was starting to be made. A major political continuity was in the American political morals. Theodore Roosevelt, one of the presidents during the Progressive Era, stated in document 3 on how he wishes to bring more prosperity to the United States, but emphasizes that the United States, with whatever prosperity that comes along, should not lose the fundamental values that America built upon. With the progressive era bringing rapid changes to the social,

     The progressive movement was an effort made to help make America to be safer and make the economy better. Social Welfare and African American rights where things that improved during the progressive era. Election Reforms started to change so it would give more power to the people

Progressive era in the early centuries was trying to make social changes to the country. During the early century’s there were some issues that taken place far as, having children working hard like slaves and as well as the women and innocent victims losing their lives a lot of things were out of place. Individuals fought and voted to make changes that were going on that wasn’t right in society. There was other problems causing issues with the countries about opinions about poverty, race, class, religion beliefs, and racisms that may have played a role in a lot of stereotype about individuals in my opinion. Like for example, if you didn’t fit a certain type of class far as, being above anything but poor that type of class wasn’t good enough compared to those who wasn’t poor and may had a better chance in life and had more than others to label certain individual in a certain class about problems the country were facing.

The progressive era was a hard time with big changes that made people’s lives harder and made some live better. Money became hard and work became better for women. Women had the best outcome of the era. They got work and the right to vote. Alcohol had a hard time working out in this time. People tried to make, sell, and transport it without being fought but this became hard so the laws were changed.

How the Other Half Lives is hailed as the defining text in promoting awareness and civil action to improve the living conditions of the lower classes. The excerpt and images appeal to the audience’s emotion and sense of Christian service. Riis appeals to his audience through his words and accompanying pictures. He describes the lives of the tenement women and children, the most vulnerable of society. He focuses on the visible negative characteristics of his subjects’ poverty: abuse, hunger, disease, the inability to care for their families, and death. The sensory discretions in the excerpt like the following:

The Progressive Era was a time of social and political reforms in the early 1900s all across America. The goal of the Progressive movement was to repair the issues caused by industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and corruption in government. Numerous reformers worked to improve the workplace, living conditions, and issues with the government.

How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York (1890) was an early publication of photojournalism by Jacob Riis, documenting squalid living conditions in New York City slums in the 1880s. It served as a basis for future "muckraking" journalism by exposing the slums to New York City’s upper and middle classes. This work inspired many reforms of working-class housing, both immediately after publication as well as making a lasting impact in today's society. Vivid imagery and complex syntax establish a sympathetic tone which Riis uses to expose poverty to the general public and calls upon them to take action and make a difference.

In the history of America, there are many books, which had powerful impact on political, social and cultural aspects of the society and influenced transformative changes in building the strong modern America. One of such book is, “How the Other Half Lives”, authored by Jacob Riis in 1888. Jacob Riis migrated to New York from Denmark but as he could not find work, he stayed in slums of New York. The conditions of the accommodation and the plight of the slum developers touched him deeply and he started writing about the same. Important part of his work was the pictures he took of the slums and people living there to depict their horrible conditions.

The viewer can see both of these characteristics in Jacob Riis’s, ‘Bandit’s Roost, 59 1/2 Mulberry Street’ in 1888. In Riis’s photograph, the viewer sees a group of people along the walls of the alley, some hanging out of windows with endless amounts of clothesline behind them, all looking directly at the camera. Even with the intensity of eye contact, there is still a feeling of separation. That there is a clear use of space that creates a barrier between the audience and the urban slum being depicted. I think this was a purposeful decision on Riis’s behalf because it plays into his goal of the book he published, “How the other half lives”. The title itself suggests separation, a divide between the upper class and the forgotten poor. Even though, Riis’s main goal of this series was to show the drastic need for housing reform, he still maintains this barrier. The photograph showcases the identity of people who lived squalor, the intensity, the dark contrast, and the separation of the photo make the viewer more aware and conscious of the living standards of impoverished in the United