Jacob Riis and Jane Addams:
City Reformers
• Jacob Riis spent his
life documenting the
lives of the poor and
down-trodden in the
cities.
• His work as a
photographer helped
to illustrate the need
for change in the
slums and tenements
of the cities.
Bandits' Roost, c. 1890
Jacob A. Riis
Hand-colored glass lantern slide
Baxter Street in Mulberry
Bend,
"At 59 Baxter Street . . . is an
alley leading in from the
sidewalk with tenements on
either side crowding so close
as to almost shut out the light
of day. On one side they are
brick and on the other wood,
but there is little difference in
their ricketiness and squalor."
New York Sun, February 12,
1888
Bohemian Cigar Makers at Work in Their Tenement
"In the front room man and wife work at the bench from six in the morning
till nine at night. They make a team, stripping the tobacco leaves together;
then he makes the filler, and she rolls the wrapper on and finishes the cigar.
For a thousand they receive $3.75, and can turn out together three thousand
cigars a week."
Five Cents A Spot
"The doors are opened unwillingly enough . . . . It was photographed by
flashlight . . . . In a room not thirteen feet either way slept twelve men and
women. . . . The 'apartment' was one of three in two adjoining buildings we had
found . . . similarly crowded. Most of the men were lodgers, who slept there for
five cents a spot."
Italian Mother and
Her Baby in Jersey
Street
"Come with me...when those
stony streets are like fiery
furnaces, and see those
mothers walking up and
down the pavements with
their little babes...and hear
the feeble wails of those little
ones!...Here is one of them,
an Italian baby in its
swaddling clothes. You have
seen how they wrap them
around and around until you
can almost stand them on
either end, and they won't
bend, so tightly are they
bound."
Necktie Workshop in a Division Street Tenement,
"...The bulk of the sweater's work is done in the tenements, which the law that regulates
factory labor does not reach....Ten hours is the legal work-day in the factories, and nine
o'clock the closing hour at the latest. Forty-five minutes at least must be allowed for
dinner, and children under sixteen must not be employed unless they can read and write
English; none at all under fourteen....But the tenement has defeated its benevolent
purpose. In it the child works unchallenged from the day he is old enough to pull a
thread."
Shoemaker Working in
House in yard of 219
Broome Street
"This shoemaker, knows a
trick...He has his 'flat' as
well as his shop here. A
curtain hung back of his
stool in the narrow passage
half-conceals his bed that
fills it entirely from wall to
wall.
A "Slide" in Hamilton
Street
"A dozen years ago [l890],
I gave a stockbroker a good
blowing up for hammering
his cellar door full of
envious nails to prevent the
children using it as a slide.
It was all the playground
they had."
Jane Addams too
saw the plight of the
immigrants. She
worked diligently to
make changes in the
city of Chicago. She
established Hull
House, a settlement
house, in order to
improve the lives of
the immigrant
population.
SOME HULL-HOUSE FIRSTS
 First Social Settlement
in Chicago
 First Social Settlement
with men and women
residents
 Established first public
baths in Chicago
 Established first public
playground in Chicago
 Established first
gymnasium for the
public in Chicago
 Established first little theater
in the United States
 Established first citizenship
preparation classes
 Established first public
kitchen in Chicago
 Established first college
extension courses in Chicago
 Established first group work
school
 Established first painting loan program in Chicago
 Established first free art exhibits in Chicago
 Established first fresh air school in Chicago
 Established first public swimming pool in Chicago
 Established first boy scout troop in Chicago
 Investigations that led to creation and enactment of
first factory laws in Illinois
 Investigations that led to creation of the first model
tenement code
 First Illinois Factory Inspector, a Hull-House
resident, Florence Kelley
 First probation officer in Chicago, a Hull-House
resident, Alzina Stevens
 Labor unions organized at Hull-House:




Women Shirt Makers
Women Cloak Makers
Dorcas Federal Labor Union
Chicago Woman's Trade Union League
Jane’s funeral at
Hull House.The
streets are
crowded with
people who
admired her and
who were helped
by her.
The Hull House as a museum today.
Jacob Riis- photographer who exposed
“How the Other Half Lives” (rich vs poor)
Jane Addams- philanthropist that helped
poor people to gain a skill to be successful
by living in her ”Hull House” in Chicago.
(Providing opportunities for the
underprivileged)