Bandit’s Roost, Mulberry Street, Jacob Riis, Circa 1888
Late 19th-century New York City was a magnet for the world’s immigrants. Riis ventured into the city’s most ominous neighborhoods with his blinding magnesium flash powder lights, capturing the casual crime, grinding poverty and frightful overcrowding. Most famous of these was Riis’ image of a Lower East Side street gang, which conveys the danger that lurked around every bend.