President Roosevelt of the United States called him the most helpful citizen in New York. But in Denmark he is virtually unknown.
The Jacob A. Riis Museum tells the fascinating tale of the boy from Ribe who emigrated to America in 1870. Of the man, whose hard-hitting articles and photos of New York’s wretched slums were an eye-opener for the middle classes. And of his love for Elisabeth which, thanks to his stubbornness, was finally requited.
The story of Jacob A. Riis is the story of almost hitting rock bottom in the worst of New York’s neighbourhoods, and the story of how toil, the will to create a better society and belief in himself turned the boy from Ribe into what the President called “the ideal American”.
