1. Tenement Living
Essential Questions: 1). What was tenement life like for immigrants?
2). Who was Jacob Riis and why was he so influential?

2. What is a tenement?

3. What is a Tenement?
Apartment buildings in the slums, or poor, rundown urban areas
No running water in most
Little to no regulations
Many people shared/lived in each room

4. Room in a tenement, 1910

5. Bio of Jacob Riis Born in Denmark in 1849 Comes to the U.S. in 1870
No work suffers poverty but stays
Becomes a police
reporter in 1877

6. Bio of Jacob Riis
Believed poor people were victims and did not choose their fate
Used flash photography to capture immigrants’ living conditions
Used his photos during lectures and to inform middle-class
Believed the power of images over words

7. Outcomes of Riis’s Work
Advocate for the urban poor
Tenement housing reform
Better sanitary conditions
More parks
Availability of schools

8. How the Other Half Lives
Riis’ book published in 1890
Very popular book

9. New York City cc 1870s 1873- ¾ of population living in tenements
Large influx of immigrants = rapidly growing city = rise in tenements
Tenements:
Large rooms chunked into smaller rooms
Little light
Lack of proper ventilation

10. Some Dangers of Tenement Life
DEATH
Children perish due to lack of fresh air
Cholera
No fire escapes
Overcrowding
Dark staircases
Lack of water and proper sanitation

11. Floor Plan of a Tenement

12. Activity Time
Refer to the hand out