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For this assignment, I decided to organize my information in chronological order explaining the backstory as to how the tenements were created. In high school we learned a lot about working conditions and wages which led to widespread poverty, but not much about the city housing itself. I was aware of the overcrowding, lack of maintenance, and widespread homelessness in New York. I was surprised, however, to learn that these conditions were left unchanged because people in power didn’t want them to, not because they couldn’t or didn’t have the resources. Many New Yorkers became used to the begging and unsanitary conditions and simply ignored them as they went about their lives. In my research, I learned a lot about Jacob Riis and his lifestyle. He had connections in New Jersey as a tradesman but he sought to make a name for himself. He originally wanted to fight for his country and make money in carpentry, but he ended up working in newspaper media many years later. Upon reading about his life, I discovered that he experienced street living firsthand and even slept overnight at a police station. He spent many years off and on without food or shelter, so he can relate to these people and their situations. His photographs and speech over the tenements were his first major exposé and gained a lot of popularity. For the media aspect of the project, it made the most sense to include the actual photos taken over each piece of information. This allows the viewer to see the conditions and the tenements themselves while reading background information that can be applied directly to the presentation. I decided to include a youtube video of the tenement museum in New York because it is a preserved walkthrough of what a family living space would have looked like in this time period. The museum itself doesn’t showcase the lack of electricity or the dirty conditions, but it does show personal belongings and that same cluttered feel as in the photos. I felt that the inclusion of the pictures and the video elevated my presentation and contributed to the overall understanding of the concept.

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References:
"How the Other Half Lives". (2016). Library of Congress. Retrieved May 3, 2023, from https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jacob-riis/laymans-sermon.html.

Pascal. (2005). Jacob Riis: Reporter and Reformer. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. https://doi.org/10.1604/9780198033202

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-Pictures included on all slides (except the political cartoon) were taken by Jacob Riis and his team.
-Included is the link to the original presentation: https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jacob-riis/laymans-sermon.html
-Youtube Video of tenement museum:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm6ZFHmpO2Q&t=2s

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The images included in the slideshow evoke much emotion from the audience. The images displayed are black and white, often picturing people both young and old with frowns or discouraged looks on their faces. The surroundings often appear dirty or cluttered with random trash and family belongings. These aspects convey an absence of joy and create an empty or depressed feeling within the viewer. There is no color, smiles, or visible access to clean clothing shelter, or food. Included above is a before and after of a young girl. On the right is her in the tenements, and on the left is her after receiving donations and resources from a charity. By depicting life in this way, it emphasizes the moral problems present in these communities.

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The creator uses logos in his lecture throughout the video slideshow when referring to the moral treatment of human beings. He uses rhetorical questions towards the beginning and alludes to Christian beliefs through logos. He explains that being a bystander to suffering and injustice is just as bad as being the one doing evil. By doing nothing, the city will be led to perdition, a state of eternal punishment and damnation into which a sinful and unrepentant person passes after death. One quote by Jacob Riis, commenting on life in the tenements says “No sunlight, no air, no grass for the children to romp.” This quote appeals to pathos because he is creating sympathy from the viewer, saying that they have nothing and no glimpse at a normal lifestyle. He explains many stories about the lack of law enforcement and safety regulation by landowners. Mr.Riis describes life on the streets and the poor begging for spare change. He describes the neglect and how oftentimes, people overlook the poor or refuse to insert themselves into other people's business because it is viewed as invasive. On the contrary, despite money and resources, Mr.Riis states that these people are worth no less than you or I. But, Mr.Riis explains the importance of speaking out on behalf of these people, simply because they do not have the money nor the status to speak out for themselves and their situations.

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This counterstory is directed towards the richer half of America that lives comfortably and is unaware or avoids awareness of the poverty and conditions that occur in these overpopulated cities. Jacob Riid primarily focuses on the tenants in New York, but this was a national problem and occurred in many places and industrialized cities. Poverty rates in major cities, especially New York, were skyrocketing as lower-class people with minimal education or immigrant status that worked at large-scale factory jobs were overworked for little to no pay. This story highlights the immoral treatment of humans and calls on charitable Americans and politicians to change a broken economic system and the treatment of immigrants and the poor.

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Jacob Riis was born on May 3, 1849, in Ribe, Denmark. He grew up in a small town with little industrialization and did not experience city living until he moved to Copenhagen, Denmark to work as a carpenter. There he experienced a small taste of poverty, but nothing that could be compared to the American slums he experienced when he moved to the Americas on June 5, 1870. He arrived at Castle Gate in New York City (before the Ellis Island facility opened in 1892). He arrived as most immigrants did, hopeful, skilled, and looking to make some money. He spent many years experiencing poverty himself, as he was homeless off and on for many years. After working several menial jobs, Riis became a police reporter in 1877 for the New York Tribune, before joining the New York Evening Sun in 1888. For 23 years, Riis worked for the New York Tribune and the Evening Sun from an office at 301 Mulberry Street across from police headquarters in a tenement district.

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In suburban and booming communities, life was comfortable. Men went to work, most women stayed home but some worked a job, and children went to school. In the late 80s, fashion, technological advances, shifts in political parties, and consumerism were all the craze. In overpopulated New York, thousands of people and families, a large portion of which were immigrants, piled into these uninhabitable facilities, called tenements. Many of these areas had poor sewage, little access to clean running water, no electricity, and very little food. Illness and famine rapidly spread throughout the tenements as people were treated with little respect in both life and death. Jacob Riis and a team of novice photographers set out to capture tenement life on film and comment on these conditions as they were exposed to society and to political reformers.

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After the stock market crash on September 18, 1873, the country went into an economic depression. American politics divided the nation politically between the Northeast and Midwest, mainly over President Grants’ veto of the 1974 inflation bill. This led the republican party to losethe 1874 congressional election and create a Democratic majority in the House. The political realignment alongside Reconstruction led to an increase in government intervention in an attempt to lessen monopolies and trusts and improve working conditions and wages.

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The Panic of 1873, the worst depression in US history. New York had an unemployment rate of almost 25% and charity programs were overwhelmed by increasing poverty. The panic started in 1873 when the stock market crashed. Investors began to sell off the investments they had in American projects, particularly railroads. Back in those days, railroads were a new invention, and companies had been borrowing money to get the cash they needed to build new lines. Major funding was lost and businesses started going into debt and closing.