Jacob Riis Social Reforms

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Jacob Riis Jacob Riis was a social reformer, photographer, and author during the late 1800s. His photos and book helped improve the lives of many people. He brought the horrible living conditions of the poor to the eyes of the upper class. Most people had no idea how bad it was and it called for the need of man social reforms. Jacob Riis is historically significant and should be remembered for all of the reforms that he helped pass with his pictures of the poor living conditions. Motivation Everyone has motivation in their live, but for some people it pushes them farther than most. Riis was horrified with all the horrible conditions people had to live through, “Horrified by the conditions under which the inhabitants of this loathsome house …show more content…

Riis didn’t like that everyone didn’t have the same chances in life. He tried his hardest to improve their lives as much as he could. Riis enjoyed bringing things to people’s attention that they never noticed before, “Riis made the invisible visible, but he also made the audience feel its responsibility to act, to take a part in the reform movement that would eventually sweep away the tenements” (Klinkenborg, 2008). He wanted to motivate other people to care as much as he did. He used his motivation and his photos to move people to action. Jacob Riis had lots of motivation to bring reform to the U.S. JACOB RIIS 3 Preparation Everything that happens in your life prepares you for what you’re destined to do. Riis had been pushing for reforms since a young child, “By Riis's time, social and political reform efforts had been going on for half a century, but to little effect. What made the difference was his photographs…” (Klinkenborg, 2008). He had been fighting for the reforms his entire life.

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