The photographs shown in class on Monday, taken by Jacob Riis, depict the inferior living conditions of the poverty stricken working class people in certain neighborhoods. The photographs convey an alarming message to many of the wealthier members of society at the time, and could have been intended to instigate the social reform efforts that were carried out by Jane Addams. Riis minimized the presence of human beings in most photographs and focused on the dirty environment in which the poor people lived, and the partially ruined buildings where they resided. The pictures even depict unsanitary living conditions such as people having solitary meals in a coal cellar, where the table cloth is covered in black soot from the coal. There was an image of a woman standing on the rooftop with her children. Most of the photos depict ‘immorality’ and ‘disorder’, which Riis strongly opposed, and contradicted the “Victorian notion of home and mothers and children”. Riis’ efforts to show the substandard living conditions and lifestyle of the working class and immigrants were intended to appeal to the “Victorian desire for cleanliness and social order”. He helped begin reform attempts by using his photography as a means of reaching out to the ethics and qualms of the wealthier member of societies.
Jane Addams originally came from a Quaker household and had both religious and nationalistic values instilled in her, owing to her veneration of her father and Abraham Lincoln. She developed the belief of equality amongst individuals, regardless of their social class, as exemplified in the passage where her father tells her to wear her old cloak, which would keep her as warm as her ‘new, gorgeous cloak’ “with the added advantage of not making the other little girls feel badly” (Addams, Page 13) although she didn’t derive much pleasure from self sacrifice at the time. The photographs coupled with Jane Addams' eagerness led to a progressive socialist movement, aimed at promoting equality amongst the poorer and wealthier class of society. Eventually, she believed in establishing a global religion, where people would follow a single religion worldwide, while pertaining to their own distinct traditions. However, religion would face severe problems in reaching out to the poverty-stricken people depicted in Riis’ photographs. The lack of religious texts in the photographs was a source of concern, especially because the working class people were under such severe financial constraints that they could ill afford to buy one. There was also a time constraint because the picture depicts most men too busy with their work, while the women were shown as taking care of the family. Nevertheless, in such a state of despair and hopelessness religion can comfort people and offer hope for a better future.
Source: Addams, Jane. "Twenty years at Hull House"
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