Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire 1911 New York City

The fire at the Triangle Waist Company in New York City, claimed the lives of 146 young immigrant workers. This incident has had great significance to this day because it highlights the inhumane working conditions to which industrial workers can be subjected. The tragedy still dwells in the collective memory of the nation and of the international labor movement. The victims of the tragedy are still celebrated as martyrs at the hands of industrial greed. Within a month of the fire the governor of New York State appointed the Factory Investigating Commission. For five years, this commission conducted a series of statewide hearings that resulted in the passage of important factory safety legislation. Frances Perkins, later to become Secretary of Labor under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, watched fire, an event that influenced her decision to become a lifelong advocate for workers. Perkins assisted in the factory investigation from her position as executive secretary of the New York Committee on Safety. For much more information about this tragedy link to the website: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire/ . This wonderful web exhibit presents original documents and secondary sources on the Triangle Fire, held by the Cornell University Library. They are housed in the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. The bulk of the primary sources were drawn from the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Archives which, along with the records of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, form the basis for the archives of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE!) which reside at Cornell. Also read the excellent book by David Von Drehle (2003). Triangle: The Fire that Changed America. New York: Grove Press. $14.00 paperback. ISBN 0-8021-4151-X. This is clipped from the 1990 video, OSHA at Work, from the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and available on the Internet Archives.

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[markdcatlin]

Thanks for your comment - I'm glad you are learning about this. But tragically the lessons from this often get forgotten. In the 1990s, at the Imperial Foods chicken proceesing plant in Hamlet, NC, more than 10 workers died during a fire inside the plant. The emergency exits had been locked by the plant mangeament. The workers were primarily African American women. You can find more details at the Wikipedia and at other sites on the Internet.

Mark

[wendyXpeggyXpancho]

@ItalianGabi5678, Same here. A really sad book :'(

[triangleshirtmemoria]

a few weeks later when the aquitted owners reopened the factory, fire inspectors who visited the site found the owners had once again blocked the exits, this time stacking sewing machines against the door.

[triangleshirtmemoria]

Don't forget that the owners were found not guilty of locking in the workers. New York failed to throw away the key on the guilty duo who threw away the key on 141 teenage girls.

[ItalianGabi5678]

I just read a REALLY good book about this. It was a historical fiction/nonfiction. "Uprising" by Margaret Peterson Haddix. The book really got me interested in this event. Before the book, I didn't know any of this happened!! I think my school should be teaching me this....it's really sad and a learning part in history!

[codfreak38]

Well at least it taught the generations to come not to lock your workers in...

[mellmell95]

so sad. I am learning this in school