Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
A photo of Manhattan 1870 1900, when the island was the slums of New York City
In the last decades of the nineteenth century, Lower Manhattan in New York City could safely be called the slum capital of the world. In those years, New York City was under attack by immigrants who dreamed of finding their dreams on a new continent. Entrepreneurs bought up buildings and divided them into small cells, turning the houses into housing for hundreds of homeless people. Very quickly, housing in Lower Manhattan became a cluster of small, dark, unventilated rooms.
By acts of 1867 and 1879, city officials attempted to impose safety, ventilation, and health standards on landlords in the spaces they rented, which eventually led to the “dumbbell” design, where a narrow central hallway became the main source of light and ventilation for the rooms on its sides.
Jacob August Riis, an immigrant of Danish descent, spent part of his life in complete poverty. After several years of hard work, he took a job as a reporter in Lower Manhattan. In this position, he endeavoured to show the squalor and extreme poverty of the people and environment he himself encountered.
In 1887, he discovered photography and began adding to his articles author's photographs taken on the streets of Lower Manhattan. Although his audience was limited to those attending presentations of his articles that he gave in churches, in 1889 he managed to get an 18-page article with his photographs published in Scribner's Magazine. The following year he expanded it and published a book.
Music done by fantastic service : © Epidemic Sound.
This video is edited under by Fair use law of YOUTUBE.NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED. Credits to the owner of images, video and etc.
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comments, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by a copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational, or personal use tips the balance in favour of fair use.
#rare #historical #oldphotos #historicalphotos #Uncovered #intertainments
#Photos #mustsee #photos #old #london #vintage #vintagephotos #retro #rarevintagephotographs #old #oldphotographs #historyfacts #facts #photography #blackpanda #50 #shocking #vintagephotographs #historyfacts #RareHistoricalPhotos #HistoryInPictures #VintagePhotography #retrophotography #blackpanda #retro #antique #newyork #manhattan #city #imigrants
A photo of Manhattan 1870 1900, when the island was the slums of New York City
In the last decades of the nineteenth century, Lower Manhattan in New York City could safely be called the slum capital of the world. In those years, New York City was under attack by immigrants who dreamed of finding their dreams on a new continent. Entrepreneurs bought up buildings and divided them into small cells, turning the houses into housing for hundreds of homeless people. Very quickly, housing in Lower Manhattan became a cluster of small, dark, unventilated rooms.
By acts of 1867 and 1879, city officials attempted to impose safety, ventilation, and health standards on landlords in the spaces they rented, which eventually led to the “dumbbell” design, where a narrow central hallway became the main source of light and ventilation for the rooms on its sides.
Jacob August Riis, an immigrant of Danish descent, spent part of his life in complete poverty. After several years of hard work, he took a job as a reporter in Lower Manhattan. In this position, he endeavoured to show the squalor and extreme poverty of the people and environment he himself encountered.
In 1887, he discovered photography and began adding to his articles author's photographs taken on the streets of Lower Manhattan. Although his audience was limited to those attending presentations of his articles that he gave in churches, in 1889 he managed to get an 18-page article with his photographs published in Scribner's Magazine. The following year he expanded it and published a book.
Music done by fantastic service : © Epidemic Sound.
This video is edited under by Fair use law of YOUTUBE.NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED. Credits to the owner of images, video and etc.
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comments, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by a copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational, or personal use tips the balance in favour of fair use.
#rare #historical #oldphotos #historicalphotos #Uncovered #intertainments
#Photos #mustsee #photos #old #london #vintage #vintagephotos #retro #rarevintagephotographs #old #oldphotographs #historyfacts #facts #photography #blackpanda #50 #shocking #vintagephotographs #historyfacts #RareHistoricalPhotos #HistoryInPictures #VintagePhotography #retrophotography #blackpanda #retro #antique #newyork #manhattan #city #imigrants
