Sourcing Assessment: Jacob Riis & Tenement Housing

Sourcing Assessment

Jacob Riis & Tenement Housing​

By NATHAN CUSHENBERY-ANDREWS

Source: This photograph, titled “Tramp in Mulberry Street Yard,” was taken by Jacob Riis around 1887. The image shows a man sitting in front of a dilapidated shack in Mulberry Bend, one of the most dangerous areas of the notorious Five Points neighborhood in New York City. Riis took many photographs of poor immigrants living in dangerous and crowded apartments called tenements. He hoped his photos would convince others to support housing reform to make people's lives better.​

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Jacob Riis & Tenement Housing​

Directions: Use the photograph and background information to answer the question that follows. ​

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Multiple Select

Additional facts related to Riis’s photograph: 

1. Riis was born decades after the camera was invented. 

2. Riis reported that he paid the man 10 cents to sit for the portrait. 

3. Riis had worked a variety of odd jobs before becoming a photographer. 

4. Riis referred to this man as a “tramp”, an insulting term for a homeless person at the time. 

Question: Which 2 of the 4 facts above might cause you to question the reliability of Riis’s photograph as evidence of what living conditions were like in tenements at the time? 

• Riis was born decades after the camera was invented. 

• Riis reported that he paid the man 10 cents to sit for the portrait. 

• Riis had worked a variety of odd jobs before becoming a photographer. 

• Riis referred to this man as a “tramp”, an insulting term for a homeless person at the time. 

Open Ended

Additional facts related to Riis’s photograph: 

1. Riis was born decades after the camera was invented. 

2. Riis reported that he paid the man 10 cents to sit for the portrait. 

3. Riis had worked a variety of odd jobs before becoming a photographer. 

4. Riis referred to this man as a “tramp”, an insulting term for a homeless person at the time. 

Explain how one of the two facts you chose might cause you to question the photographs reliability.

Fact #________ might cause me to question the reliability of Riis’s photograph because…

Open Ended

Additional facts related to Riis’s photograph: 

1. Riis was born decades after the camera was invented. 

2. Riis reported that he paid the man 10 cents to sit for the portrait. 

3. Riis had worked a variety of odd jobs before becoming a photographer. 

4. Riis referred to this man as a “tramp”, an insulting term for a homeless person at the time. 

Explain how oneof the two facts you chose might cause you to question the photographs reliability.

Fact #________ might cause me to question the reliability of Riis’s photograph because…

Great work!

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​All Done!

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