What Is The Significance Of The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
Introduction The fire that erupted at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City is remembered as one of the worst disasters since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The infamous incident claimed 146 lives of young immigrant workers due to negligent safety precautions. To this day this incident has continued to have great significance because it highlights the inhumane working conditions that industrial workers have to be subjected to. Sweatshops before 1911 The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was like any other factory during this time in Manhattan; it consisted of low wages, long hours, unsanitary and dangerous working conditions. Many owners of factories would subcontract much of the work to those who would hire the hands and …show more content…
There were about 500 workers working at this time when a fire began in a rag bin. Out of the 500 workers 146 of them had lost their lives. Those that survived were left to relive those agonizing moments of sheer terror and fear. Many of the workers were women, some as young as fourteen. They were for the most part recent Italian and European Jewish immigrants. Most had come with their families to create a better life for themselves but instead they faced poverty and horrific working conditions. Some turned to labor unions to speak for them, as many didn’t know how to speak English. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was a non-union factory, although some of their worker joined the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ …show more content…
Yet there was still the responsibility of finding who locked the doors, which led to the District Attorney’s office to seek an indictment against the owners. A grand jury indicted Blanck and Harris on seven counts, charging them with manslaughter in the second degree, under section 80 of the Labor Code, which mandated that all doors must be unlocked during business hours. Twenty-three days after the trial had started, a jury acquitted Blanck and Harris of any wrong doing. The jurors had the task to determine whether the owners had known whether not the doors were locked. Twenty-three civil suits were brought against the owners of the Asch building. Three years after the fire Blanck and Harris settled, they paid 75 dollars for every life
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Essay
801 Words | 4 PagesMost women either died from the fire or jumped from a high height. They jumped because the fire trucks' ladders could only reach up to seventh floor. The doors were locked to prevent workers from stealing or leaving, thus, they
Why Did The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
192 Words | 1 PagesThe triangle shirtwaist company was owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris and was located on the Greene Street in Manhattan. Most of the workers were teenaged girls that worked long hours daily. Most were immigrants and knew little English. In March 25, 1911 a fire was initiated at the top of the Asch Building where the company was located. How the fire started is still a mystery.
How Did The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Benefit America?
1557 Words | 7 PagesConstructed in 1901, the then called Asch Building, was an ideal spot for running a company (Timeline). Two men by the names of Max Blanck and Isaac Harris purchased the building. The two men were notorious for being anti-union supporters who refused to comply with any union worker's demands (Drehle 62). Harris and Blanck managed to keep from getting into trouble by the hands of restless union workers and rented out the ten floors to numerous businesses. The top three floors would become the working place for the Triangle Shirtwaist Company employees.
Essay On Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
592 Words | 3 PagesOn March 25, 1911, around 4:40 pm, a fire overtook the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. 146 workers died; most of them being women. It is remembered as one of the most infamous incidents in American industrial history Max Blanck, and Isaac Harris were the owners of the Triangle Waist Company.
History Of The Triangle Shirtwaist Factor Fire Of 1911
671 Words | 3 PagesFire drill, fire escapes, sprinkler systems, and forty-eight hour work weeks may seem so common, but if it wasn’t for the fires that broke out in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in the early 1900’s, there might not be fire and labor laws like there are today. The triangle shirtwaist factor was a clothes making facilities in downtown Manhattan.
Uprising By Margaret Peterson Haddix Sparknotes
763 Words | 4 PagesThe book Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix is about a 1911 New York fire at the Triangle shirtwaist factory that killed 146 immigrant workers, which followed a citywide strike led by the workers. In this writing piece, you will learn about three key elements to support labor, women’s rights and the importance of standing up for what you believe in from the three main characters: Bella, Yetta and Jane which all come from different social situations. Bella is an immigrant from Italy who is desperate to make money to send back to her family. Yetta is a Jewish refugee from Russia and Jane is from a very wealthy family but unhappy with her life because of the many restrictions her father imposes on her due to her support of the Triangle strike.
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Workers During The Progressive Movement
1270 Words | 6 PagesThis major development was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire that caused 148 workers in the fire die. This foul “accident” as the owners of the shirtwaist factory, Issac Harris and Max Blanck, would call it but this act was no accident due to the terrible working condition these people had to go through. Metaphorically and literally Harris and Blanck locked the door and threw away the key of the lives of these innocent sweatshop workers when they locked the door that morning for “better
Triangle Factory Fire Essay
744 Words | 3 PagesThe factory was a true sweatshop that hired young women who were immigrants that worked in a cramped space at lines of sewing machines. Almost all of the girls who worked there were in their teens and did not speak any English. They worked 12 hours a day, every day. In 1911, the factory only had
The Legitimacy Of Government Intervention In The Triangle Factory Fire Case
1871 Words | 8 PagesSince it would be difficult to replace a large amount of workers, strike was an efficient way of getting attention. However, the factory owners could not allow those young girls to teach them how to run their business. “They are biting the hands that feed them,” said in the PBS documentary. (Wignot, Triangle Fire) Because of their wealth and social status, they had the money and power to bribe local policemen and judges while average working-class people did not had chance to know those people.
Effects Of The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
2413 Words | 10 PagesThe factory produced the “shirtwaist”, a fashionable women's blouse that caught on quickly in the New York fashion scene, becoming highly demanded in the early 1900s. In order to keep up with the level of demand, owners Isaac Harris and Max Blanck disregarded what sparing legislature was in place to protect the workers in factories. The factories in New York after the Second Industrial Revolution primarily employed immigrants desperate for jobs to survive who were willing to work for lower wages in bad conditions. In the case of the textile factories, specifically the Triangle Shirtwaist factory, those employed were mainly women, many of whom were sending money back home to their families in other countries. The factory is infamous for the fire that took place there on March 25th, 1911, appropriately nicknamed “the triangle
The Impact Of The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
1173 Words | 5 PagesBlanck and Harris would have to pay $75 per victim. However, they got $60,000 for insurance. This meaning they earned $411 per victim. Later on in 1913 Blank would be fined $20 for locking doors in another factory.
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
938 Words | 4 PagesIn 1911, one of the most infamous incidents in American industrial history occurred when the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City burned, killing 145 workers. It is one of the most remembered incidents since the deaths were largely preventable. Most victims died as a result of neglected safety features and locked doors within the factory building. While the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire did result in a new legislation for safety in the work place, it was not the most important result. The most important result was the institution of the process to enforce pre-existing legislation regarding worker safety and protection in the workplace along with the laws that followed.
The Uprooted By Oscar Handlin: Chapter Analysis
506 Words | 3 PagesIn conclusion, Handlin’s work provides and argument communicating the hardships immigrants during the Second Industrial Revolution experienced. His points are supported by the misfortune of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire and the treatments of the company’s laborers. These issues challenged their ideas, beliefs, and cultures. However, the immigrants endured in the face of
Symbolism In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
1433 Words | 6 PagesThe workers were often subjected to sweltering heat in the summer and frigid conditions in the winter. But, that was not it, at the time there were no laws in place that required businesses to ensure their employees' safety, and this regularly lead to many injuries and fatalities in the workplace on a daily basis. There was not a single work place that did not have injured or mutilated employees, and this was due to the unsafe working conditions of the factories, “Let a man so much as scrape his finger pushing a truck in the pickle-rooms, and he might have a sore that would put him out of the world; all the joints in his fingers might be eaten by the acid, one by one… There were men who worked in the cooking rooms… in these rooms the germs of tuberculosis might live for two years, but the supply was renewed every hour.” (109).
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Essay
451 Words | 2 PagesThe front doors of the factory would always be locked because the owners Isaac Harris and Max Blanck thought one of the employees might steal something from the factory. When they tried to go downstairs, the flames of the fire burned them that prevented them to try leave the building. The factory owners were charged for manslaughter after the fire. A few years later they were acquitted and let out of
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