Editing Jacob Riis (section)

{{Short description|American photographer, journalist and activist (1849–1914)}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Use shortened footnotes|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox artist
| name             = Jacob Riis
| image            = Jacob Riis 2.jpg
| imagesize        = 
| caption          = Riis in 1906
| birth_name       = 
| birth_date       = {{birth date |1849|5|3}}
| birth_place      = [[Ribe]], Denmark
| death_date       = {{death date and age |1914|5|26|1849|5|3}}
| death_place      = [[Barre, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| nationality      = Danish, American
| field            = [[Reform movement|Social reform]], journalism, photography
| training         = 
| movement         = 
| works            = 
| patrons          = 
| awards           = 
}}

'''Jacob August Riis''' ({{IPAc-en|r|iː|s}} {{respell|REESS}}; May 3, 1849 – May 26, 1914) was a [[Danish-American]] [[Reform movement|social reformer]], "[[muckraker|muck-raking]]" journalist, and [[social documentary photography|social documentary photographer]]. He contributed significantly to the cause of urban reform in the United States of America at the turn of the twentieth century.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the City|last=Caves|first=R. W.|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=9780415252256|pages=570}}</ref> He is known for using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York City; those impoverished New Yorkers were the subject of most of his prolific writings and photography. He endorsed the implementation of "model [[Apartment building|tenements]]" in New York with the help of humanitarian [[Lawrence Veiller]]. He was an early proponent of the newly practicable casual photography and one of the first to adopt [[Flash (photography)|photographic flash]].
While living in New York, Riis experienced poverty and became a police reporter writing about the quality of life in the slums. He attempted to alleviate the poor living conditions of poor people by exposing these conditions to the middle and upper classes.