Jacob Riis On Poverty

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Jacob Riis was a police reporter in New York City in the late nineteenth century. He arrived in New York when he was a young man and he quickly ran out money, leading to a personal experience of living in poverty in the New York City’s slums. When he got his position as a police reporter he did not leave the slums; he used his position create awareness of the conditions of the poor in New York City. He stated, “the sites ripped my heart until I felt I must tell of them or burst” (Jacob Riis video). Riis portrayed poverty in a very real way. He snuck around the slums during the day and night, using the new invention of the flash to surprise those who were captured in the picture in order to catch them in actuality. The pictures exposed the truth
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