It was 100-years ago today that the 146 women working in a sweat shop in New York city died when a fire broke out in the workplace and they couldn't escape because all the doors had been locked from the outside by the company bosses.
The Triangle Factory Fire, as it was called, so shocked the nation that Congress was compelled to pass some workplace safety reforms and the labor union movement began to grow across the country, in part as a response to this horrific tragedy.
Most people weren't taught this history in school. It didn't fit in with an education system that is more concerned with preparing children to fit into the corporate world than it is in teaching the sometimes shameful truths of history. So most people have never heard of the Triangle Fire.
How tragic that 100 years later unions and working people are again under attack by corporatists and Republican policies that elevate reverence for wealth and power over respect for working men and women.
Click the links below to learn more about American history.
The story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
Death behind locked sweatshop doors.
The Triangle Factory Fire, as it was called, so shocked the nation that Congress was compelled to pass some workplace safety reforms and the labor union movement began to grow across the country, in part as a response to this horrific tragedy.
Most people weren't taught this history in school. It didn't fit in with an education system that is more concerned with preparing children to fit into the corporate world than it is in teaching the sometimes shameful truths of history. So most people have never heard of the Triangle Fire.
How tragic that 100 years later unions and working people are again under attack by corporatists and Republican policies that elevate reverence for wealth and power over respect for working men and women.
Click the links below to learn more about American history.
The story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
Death behind locked sweatshop doors.
This is a very sad story indeed. It's so sad that 100 young women (Beautiful too, I saw their pictures... wow... they dressed up so nicely for work and their hair... up in a nice bun) have to die so needlessly before regulations were introduced to ensure work place safety.
ReplyDeleteThink of it this way, 100 young women who died suddenly... can you imagine how many husbands, boyfriends, love-stricken men suddenly had a broken heart that day. Not to mention father, mother, siblings, cousins, etc.
I'm glad they are not forgotten....
A lot of hearts were broken that day.
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