I Go Into Business, Headlong

The Making of an American

by Jacob A. RIIS (1849 - 1914)

Jacob Riis was an esteemed reporter and documentary photographer in New York City. In his autobiography he movingly recounts his early life and unrelenting attempts at courtship in Denmark followed by his later experiences in the United States, first as a struggling itinerant immigrant and later as a journalist. He describes how he became a reporter and how his work in lower Manhattan’s teeming, squalid immigrant communities sparked his passion and activism for social reform. In his opening note he writes: “To those who have been asking if they are made-up stories, let me say here that they are not.” NOTE: Elizabeth's letter (In Chapter 7) is read by Ann Boulais. – Lee Smalley

Listen next episodes of The Making of an American:
Early Married Life; I Become An Advertising Bureau; On The "Tribune" , Elizabeth Tells Her Story, Part 1 , Elizabeth Tells Her Story, Part 2 , I Become An Author And Resume My Interrupted Career As A Lecturer , I Try To Go To The War For The Third And Last Tlme , In Which I Become An Editor And Receive My First Love Letter , Life In Mulberry Street , My Dog Is Avenged , Roosevelt Comes—Mulberry Street's Golden Age , The American Made , The Bend Is Laid By The Heels , When I Went Home To Mother