Iconic Photographs of Blind People Prove Seeing Isn’t Knowing

In 1887 a police reporter named Jacob Riis stormed the tenements of New York armed with flashlight powder—an explosive form of magnesium that he would be among the first to enlist as camera flash—in order to “shine a light on the darkest corners of poverty.” These photos, along with an accompanying text, became How the Other Half Lives (1890).It was in this book that I found the photo Upstairs in Blind Man’s Alley. Blind Man’s Alley was located at 26 Cherry St