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History: The Progressive Era

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On “March 25, 1911, a fire broke out on the top floors of the Asch Building in the Triangle Waist Company in New York City,” and as a result of the building being engulfed, 146 employees were killed (Fire!). Most of the victims burned to death, but some chose to leap from the top floors to their death in order to spare themselves the excruciating pain of being burned alive. The “Death List Shows Few Identified” article, published by the New York Times, recounts the identified dead, unidentified dead, reported missing, and injured. All in all, the article, published on March 26, 1911 (a day after the fire), reported 32 identified dead, 35 unidentified dead (where they could actually make out of human qualities), 39 unidentified dead (where they were burned beyond recognition), 21 reported missing, and 24 injured. The identified dead and reported missing sections include each victim’s name and address, while the unidentified dead section includes each person’s approximate height, weight, age, sex, and one or two other distinguishing features, such as jewelry found on the person’s body or …show more content…

The main objective of the Progressives was “to harness the power of the federal government to eliminate unethical and unfair business practices, reduce corruption, and counteract the adverse social effects of industrialization” (___). In other words, they wanted to improve the lives and conditions of factory life and protect them from as much corruption as they could. The International Ladies ' Garment Workers ' Union (ILGWU) was one of those Progressive Era unions demanding improved factory life. The fire can be seen as a “major turning point in history,” and finally, gave Progressive reformers the opportunity to start changing labor conditions for the better

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