Template:POTD/2023-06-22
Bandits' Roost, 59 1/2 Mulberry Street is a black-and-white photograph produced by the Danish-American photographer and social reformer Jacob Riis in 1888. It is not known whether the photograph was taken by Riis himself, or by one of his assistant photographers, Henry G. Piffard and Richard Hoe Lawrence. It was first published in the photographic book How the Other Half Lives in 1889, which aimed to document the social conditions of the poorest people of New York City. The photograph was taken in The Bend, a dangerous and poor alley in Mulberry Street, New York City, which had a predominantly Italian population at the time, and was known for its high crime rates. Riis's social activism in pursuit of better life conditions for the poorest classes of New York, of which the book where this picture was published was one of the best examples, was one of the factors that led to the demolishment of Mulberry End, which was later replaced by a park.Photograph credit: Jacob Riis; restored by Adam Cuerden