Triangle The Fire That Changed America Essay - 1282 Words

On the afternoon of March 25, 1911, a fire broke out in the 10-floor Asch Building, a block east of Manhattans Washington Square. This is where 500 mostly young immigrant girls were producing shirts for the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. Within minutes, it spread to consume the buildings upper three stories. Firemen at the scene were unable to rescue those trapped inside: their ladders werent tall enough. Exits were locked, and the narrow fire escapes were inadequate. Panicked, many jumped from the windows to their deaths. People on the street watched in horror. The flames were under control in less than a half hour, but 146 people perished, 123 of them women. It was the worst disaster in the citys history. Von Drehles wide-angle†¦show more content†¦In November, she burst onstage during a meeting at the Cooper Union Grand Hall to call for a general strike of the citys ladies garment workers. That impulsed the quot;Uprising of the Twenty Thousand,quot; and within three months the union won higher wages, shorter hours, and official recognition from its opponents. The settlement, though, proved only a partial victory. It would require several years of struggle, including the Triangle disaster, to effect Tammany Halls transition. Von Drehles description of the Tammany change is a real contribution to a much-mistreated chapter of American history. While the Triangle fire was a turning point for Tammany Hall, the movement for social and economic reform in the United States was well under way earlier. The first decades of the 20th century are commonly referred to as the Progressive Era. The author shows how the activist workers in the garment sweatshops of Manhattan were as vital to the progress of the period as the intellectuals who moved into Federal offices in Washington, D.C. When the 1909 general strike broke out, the garment workers found themselves with unexpected allies. A number of women from some of the wealthiest families of the Gilded Age kindly supported the strikers. They paid fines and put up their mansions as collateral for bail; a few even picketed and were jailed. They had names like Vanderbilt,Show MoreRelatedTriangle: the Fire That Changed America Essay1432 Words   |  6 PagesThe infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Fire occurred that day, and left one hundred and forty-six people dead in its wake. While many at the time thought the story would soon pass, and with it all the potential bad publicity, the story of the fire spread quickly, and outraged many people. As a result, the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire ended up changing many business and political practices of the time. In his book Triangle: The Fire that Changed America, David von Drehle argues that the fire largely impactedRead More Triangle: The Fire that Changed America Essay1615 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"The ‘Triangle’ company, â€Å"With blood this name will be written in the history of the American workers’ movement, and with feeling will this history recall the names of the strikers of this shop- of the crusaders† (Von Drehle 86). Even before it happen, the Forward predicted the terrible disaster of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory that occurred one year, one month, and seventeen days later (86). Triangle: The Fire that Changed America, by David Von Drehle tells the story of the horrible fire. DavidRead MoreBook Review of Triangle: The Fire That Changed America1473 Words   |  6 PagesTriangle: The Fire That Changed America New York: First Grove Press David Von Drehle 2003 Book Review 1. Did the author make a complete and honest analysis of the topic? 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Proper workers’ rights and fire prevention installations were not in place or were not followedRead MoreThe Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of New York City Essay502 Words   |  3 PagesThe Triangle Shirtwaist Fire not only affected the city of New York, but also the rest of the country. It forever changed the way our country would look at safety regulations in factories and buildings. The fire proved to America what can and will happen if we over-look safety regulations and over-crowd buildings. Unfortunately, 146 lives are taken before we fully understand this concept. On July 13, 1900 Joseph Aschs’ new building plans in New York City are approved and by January 5, 1901 theRead MoreThe Triangle Shirtwaist Fire: A Case Study908 Words   |  4 PagesVon Drehle (2004) outlines the Triangle Shirtwaist fire as a tragedy of the gilded age. The fire occurred in New York in 1911, and 146 people perished. The fire broke out in a shirtwaist or blouse factory in Greenwich Village. The workers inside, most of them Jewish women, worked in sweatshop conditions common to the industry at the time. They worked in the factory to support their families, and often had no other means of support. They had little or no say over their working conditions, whichRead MoreEssay about Lessons of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911602 Words   |  3 PagesThe sheer physical nature of fire is to consume all fuel that lay in its path. That is exactly what happened in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911. The building itself was reported to be fire proof, but what abou t its contents? The amount of unused cotton and other fabric scraps that were piled up were ample amounts of fuel just waiting to be consumed by a spark. The business owners kept what little exits and escape routes the building had locked for fear of a thieving employee. The employeesRead MoreFdr s New Deal Program853 Words   |  4 PagesThe CCC under his New Deal program, prompted the young males of America the chance to work and bring in money for their graving families, who were suffering during the Depression. They were working outside all the time, so it would better their overall physical appearance, but also their mental health too. FDR used the CCC to get the young men of America to become manlier. This ties to Teddy Roosevelt’s propaganda about America needing to show off their manliness to the rest of the world. The CCCRead MoreWomen s Rights During The 1848 Seneca Falls Declaration And The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire945 Words   |  4 PagesThe women of America have struggled to gain the same equality as men. The 1848 Seneca Falls Declaration and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire were two documents showing the mistreatment and the unfairness of women in the work place and America as a whole. Some people did not believe women had the same rights as men, but women thought otherwise and wanted their voice heard. The aspects of equality in the American Dream were unavailable to women because women were not given the same rights as menRead MoreThe Tragedy Of August 25 By Max Blanck And Isaac Harris1426 Words   |  6 PagesThe tragedy of March 25, 1911 was a crucial turning point and important era of awareness of worker powerlessness during the age of early American industrialization. The fire that consumed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory remains a haunting memory for this nation. The fates of innocent workers sent a wave of grief throughout the entire nation. The victims died as a result of a serious neglect for safety features wit hin the facility and brought widespread attention to the dangerous working conditions