How the Other Half Lives

The narrative focuses on Jacob Riis, a Danish immigrant who aimed to reveal the harsh realities faced by poor immigrants in the 1890s Lower East Side of Manhattan. Leveraging his experience as a police reporter, Riis created a compelling photojournal that combined vivid descriptions, sketches, photographs, and statistics to shed light on the dire living conditions in the slums, seeking to raise awareness among the oblivious upper- and middle-class society.