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History 2402 – United States History since the Civil War
Introduction
The photographs of New York City slums taken between 1888 and 1898 by photographer and journalist Jacob Riis has served as a daunting highlight on the plight of people suffering from poverty in a highly prosperous area of the United States (US). The context within which Riis took his photographs, most of which he published in his book How the Other Half Lives, portrays a time when immigrants started flocking to the US – New York City being among the most popular places for settlement. In gaining a greater understanding of the aforementioned period in US history, the photographs ...