Every day brings a new story. And each day contributes to the art of story telling -- in prose and poetry, in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books.
Today is the story of May 3rd
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It is the 123rd day of the year, leaving 242 days remaining in 2022.
On the date in 1849, the journalist and photographer Jacob Riis was born in Ribe, Denmark.
After he emigrated from Denmark, Riis was a poor immigrant himself. In cities such as New York, Pittsburgh, and Chicago, her worked as a carpenter or at any other jobs he could find. He also scrounged for food, often going hungry, and lived either outside or at an available flophouse.
Eventually, he found a job as a crime reporter for the New York Sun. Using his words and the new technology of flash photography, he published a story in The Sun exposing the crowded, dirty slums in which people lived and died.
In a subsequent book, How The Other Half Lives, published in 1890, he told more stories and printed more pictures, documenting the poverty, child labor, crime, and corruption he saw. He wrote that the story "is dark enough, drawn from the plain public records, to send a chill to any heart." He also started on a public speaking tour to show and continue his work.
He wasn't wrong. Among those whose hearts were chilled was Theodore Roosevelt. The future president wrote simply, "I have read your book, and I have come to help." At the time, Roosevelt was Board President of New York's police department, and compelled by Riis' writing, TR ushered in many needed changes.
Riis himself became a social reformer, urging and enabling lawmakers to pass regulations dealing with labor -- including child labor -- standards. He also fought for improved laws regarding the safety and other conditions of housing, health care, and sanitation, particularly the need for clean water.
Riis died in 1914 in Barre, Mass.
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