Jacob A. (Jacob August) Riis

PD-US

Riis was born in Denmark in 1849, a carpenter by trade, he emigrated to America in 1870. After a period of unemployment and poverty he became crime reporter for the New York Tribune conssistently presenting the poor as victims of rather than the makers of their fate. A pioneer of flash photography, he later became associated with "muck raking" journalism. He wrote and lectured on the poor and published over a dozen books.