BROADCASTS.com

The Making of an American

by Jacob A. RIIS (1849 - 1914)

The Bend Is Laid By The Heels

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:
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 , Roosevelt Comes—Mulberry Street's Golden Age , The American Made , When I Went Home To Mother