The Making of an American

Jacob August Riis (1849–1914) was a Danish-American journalist, photographer, and social reformer, whose work shed light on the dire conditions of the urban poor in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Riis immigrated to the United States in 1870 and experienced poverty firsthand, struggling to find work and enduring periods of homelessness. This personal history profou...