How Did Jacob Riis Contribute To The Rise Of Urbanization

Urban growth became increasingly popular in the late nineteenth century due to the fact of industry on the rise. Urban growth brought on many unsafe living places for many people. Jacob Riis was a photographer who snapped some pictures of the living conditions of some people in the city. He is able to convey in these pictures how people slept or did their laundry or even stayed warm. Riis was able to show the rest of the world, including the higher classes, how the lower classes lived and worked and learned. The expansion of industries brought on the idea of urbanization. Urbanization is defined as “the act or fact of urbanizing, or taking on the characteristics of a city” Many families moved into tenement housing or rented apartments. The bulk of these residents were immigrants from either Germany or Ireland seeking for better opportunities in America. Since these immigrants would all live in a cluster, they tried to keep the traditions and customs they had back home. These immigrants were able to pass down their heritage from generation to generation even though they were nowhere near their homeland. It’s still evident today of these

Riis was able to take pictures of reality so that everyone could see, even many years later. If these pictures were staged, like some people claim they are, then it would shatter everything that happened because of these photos. In “Five Cents a Spot,” it shows the viewer how cramped the living quarters were and how some people had to sleep sitting straight up. In the photograph “One of four Pedlars Who Slept in the Celler of 11 Ludlow Street Rear,” a young man has laid a piece of wood across two barrels and then stuck a mattress on the top of the wood. That was his sleeping arrangements, while some people had no idea these immigrants or lower class citizens had such horrid