I recently met a man with social ideas much like mine, with an investigative mission much like mine and a heart on fire for the underprivileged, again, much like mine. There are two differences between us though:
1) He’s much older than I am (159 to be exact, if he were still alive);
2) My work is words scratched in beach sand compared to his.
But I did meet him in his book How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York (1890), and he taught me something I didn’t care to learn so soon in my young life: we as Americans (or perhaps people in general) haven’t changed our fundamental thoughts on the socially deprived in at least 100 years.
No doubt there have been other priorities in the last century like women’s suffrage, civil rights, gay rights, a Red Scare, a Cold War, a Great Depression…
Jacob Riis, an immigrant from Denmark, photojournalist and social reformer, developed a theory in the late 19th century that if he could expose the middle- and upper-class citizens of New York to the hardships of its slums that social reform would ensue. He documented NYC’s streets, sweatshops, alleyways and hidden corners with a new invention known as flash photography that allowed Riis to shed light on never-before-seen areas of run-down tenements. The result was a shocked and responsive audience. The photos of the poor living in filthy, over-crowded conditions eventually led to the New Law Tenement, the closure of poor houses and helped mark the beginning of investigative-style journalism known as “muckraking”.
As I was thumbing through the pages of this remarkable book, scanning photos, sketches and captions, I got a sinking feeling. These pictures look exactly like some very real places in Chicago – right down to the collapsing building walls, grimy alleys and groups of empty eyes staring out from broken windows. As a matter of fact, if I didn’t know any better, I would have guessed they were photos taken from neighborhoods right off the Green Line on the South Side. What a @#$% shame. It’s been over 100 years, and we still allow people to live in these conditions.
I’m no Jacob Riis or James Nachtway or Lewis Wickes Hine, but I can snap a picture. And you can bet on it that I will. All it takes is a little courage, some time, effort, a creative eye and a focused aspiration, and maybe someone will be moved do something.
In the meantime just browse the photos that Riis took, and hopefully next week I’ll have something for you to compare them to. Who knows if you’ll even be able to tell the difference…
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Lauren Fleming
Lauren Fleming was born and raised in rural east Texas and now calls Chicago home. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Tyler with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism and works full-time in Illinois politics for a state official. She has volunteered with the Homeless Coalition, served in AmeriCorps National Service, has tutored at-risk youth and coached youth basketball. She has a heart for the homeless and the hurting and works alongside various organizations to help eradicate social injustices. More
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