Jacob August Riis was an American journalist, social reformer, and photographer who became prominent for his first-hand documentation of urban poverty in the late 19th century. Born in Denmark, he immigrated to the United States in 1870 and worked as a police reporter in New York City, specifically in the Lower East Side. His pioneering use of flash photography to expose the squalid conditions of tenement housing revolutionized muckraking journalism. His work, particularly 'How the Other Half Lives', sparked significant social reform and legislation regarding housing and immigrant welfare. He is considered one of the most influential Danish-American figures in American history.[1,2]
