Other Jacob A. Riis Documents

The Page for 1900 December happens to be a two-page list of 21 American cities that Riis either already visited or planned to visit at the time he made the list in December 1900.  It is not possible that he traveled to these cities as a tramp looking for work during his younger years since he only did this in the Northeast.

Judging from its content and its page number, this particular page of The Making Of An American could be assumed to be situated at the end of the book. Riis uses the concluding paragraph to reflect on his past journey as a Danish immigrant striving to become an American citizen. His journey entailed having to participate in tramp migrations throughout the United States during the 1870s and having to endure homelessness and starvation during his early years in New York City. There were even nights where the impoverished Riis had to sleep in police housing lodges. Yet the biggest challenge that he faced during his early years in America involved his cultural identity; "He began to see the city as a moral arena which defined his efforts, made at great cost, to integrate his European past and American future. His writings renewed paradoxes that were intensely personal yet that were acquiring a national durability" (Fried, 13). During his lifetime, there were many social trends happening throughout the United States that threatened long-held American traditions. These trends included criminality among members of the lower class, urban poverty, and Eastern European immigrants arriving to America by the thousands. In the end, Riis was able to overcome his personal dilemma and through his writing was able to best address the aforementioned social issues America faced during the late 19th century.