Analysis Of Triangle : The Fire That Changed America

“The ‘Triangle’ company, “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.

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was one of the largest disasters in American history. Practically overnight the great city of Chicago was destroyed. Before the fire there was a large drought causing everything to be dry and flammable, then a fire broke out in the O’Leary’s barn and spread throughout the city. Many attempts were made to put out the fire but there were too many errors and problems in the beginning. After the fire many people were left homeless and had to help build their city again (Murphy, 39)

However, after the deadly fire, which was not related to the strike, things changed. Without anywhere else to lay the blame, the D.A. and newspapers at the time began placing blame on the factory owners, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris. Drehle points out that the D.A. of the time Charles Whitman, “was no longer focused on improving factory safety laws. His priority was to indict Isaac Harris and Max Blanck on charges of manslaughter (pg. 188).” They were tried and acquitted, but their trial showed that management was becoming less powerful than it had been. In the past management mistreated workers with impunity, but the public outcry after the Triangle fire changed that. The incident showed that now owners could be held accountable for any harm that might come to their workers as a result of their negligence. Tammany Hall, and Murphy himself, faced their own difficulties brought about by the fire. Having just lost the election for mayor of New York City, Murphy realized his power, and that of Tammany Hall, was waning. William Randolph Hearst was very outspoken against Tammany Hall, workers feared its power less and less, and the new wave of immigrants coming into the US had no respect for its influence. Murphy realized that he had to win over the workers and progressives if he wanted to keep power. “The Triangle fire struck directly at those people who Tammany needed most (pg. 211).” Realizing that he needed the growing influence of

On the afternoon of March 25, 1911, a fire broke out in the 10-floor Asch Building, a block east of Manhattan's 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 building's upper three stories. Firemen at the scene were unable to rescue those trapped inside: their ladders weren't 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 city's history.

These are the survivors thoughts on the Triangle Factory Fire. There was over 100 survivors but I choose two of the most important people who lived from the fire and I am sharing their thoughts.

After the fire, the owners, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, were instantly frowned upon for the death of the 146 people who lost their lives in the Triangle Factory Fire. Following the detest, the owners declared that the building was incombustible, and that the fire should not have occurred, using the Department of Building's statement of the matter to enhance their claim. However, the public pressured the city with an ultimatum, and demanded that a trial take place. The rejection of this ultimatum would result in riots and cause an equal or greater number of lives to be lost than the Triangle Factory Fire. The city had no choice but to accept, and so the investigation began. The charge that was being forced onto Max Blanck and Isaac Harris was manslaughter in the second degree, and the first argument was that the doors to the stairwells should not be locked during work hours. The owners refuted this, claiming that they were only trying to stop theft. They did not fully trust the workers, and they were trying to prevent vandalism at the same time. The owners used the locked doors to inspect the bags of the workers to ensure no fabrics or other valuable materials were stolen from the workplace. One owner, Max Blanck, according to Cornell University, had no idea that the doors were locked, and thus, the argument was dropped. The next topic was that what started the fire. The majority of people, including Albert Marrin,

What happened after The Triangle Shirtwaist fire?The Triangle factory, owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, was located in the top three floors of the Asch Building, on the corner of Greene Street and Washington Place, in Manhattan. It was a true sweatshop, employing young immigrant women who worked in a cramped space at lines of sewing machines. Nearly all the workers were teenaged girls who did not speak English, working 12 hours a day, every day.

When a fire in a bin started on the eighth floor of the Asch Building on New York's Lower East Side. The eighth, ninth, and tenth floors were occupied by the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. The fire spread very fast throughout the factory, some tried to put out the fire like they had in the past, but it was useless. The workers looked for a way out. The eighth and tenth floor workers found a way out but many on the ninth floor were trapped in the factory ,

The Triangle fire was released in 2006, produced by Jamila Wignot. The triangle fire was the result of dangerous work conditions, neglected safety features and locked doors within the factory building. The film maker had an agenda of how the film was presented. Order was present in the movie. The film was trying to tell the world that because of careless behavior a lot of people died for no reason. The fire was the result of careless behavior that cost a lot of people their lives. The film as evidence had people who lived during the tringle fire talk about how the experience was. Some survivors who lost family were telling their own stores. The survivors who survived were evidence enough to show how accurate enough the film was. The film does

Follow the link below to watch a video about the Triangle Fire. As you watch, write down all the causes you can think of for why this tragedy happened. You'll need at least five to complete your assignment.

Albert Marran also gives evidence about who’s the problem even caused by the awful tragedy. There were two different people, the owner’s fail or the builder’s fail. In paragraph 2 it states,” The hose had not been connected to the standpipe.” This is a building fail because if they built the building correctly, then they could use the hose to collect water to stop the fire from spreading. In paragraph 6 it states,” There were no lights in the stairway, so they had to grope their way in darkness.” This is the owners fail because they should have taken the time and money to put up lights in the stairway for safety. In paragraph 7 it states,” This was not unusual, as employers often locked doors to discourage latecomers and keep out union organizers.” This is the owner's fail because it caused a hazard for the workers if there was an emergency. Human life wasn’t valued or a priority. At the beginning of the excerpt, there is a subtitle, “ Holocaust.” Holocaust means a mass scale of destruction by a fire. This subtitle is put at the beginning of the excerpt because it shows the reader how much the=is tragedy changed the

[That day] is remembered as one of the most infamous incidents in American industrial history, as the deaths were largely preventable–most of the victims died as a result of neglected safety features and locked doors within the factory building. The tragedy brought widespread attention to the dangerous sweatshop conditions of factories, and led to the development of a series of laws and regulations that better protected the safety of workers. (Fire of 1911)

Both fire extinguishers and smoke detectors were invented in the early 1900s, yet 146 lives were taken in the Triangle Fire. Could you imagine the lack of safety standards during this time period? The non-fictional story, Flesh and Blood So Cheap, by Albert Marrin, uses explicit and implicit evidence throughout the text to convey his theme about the unsafe conditions that resulted into the tragedy of the Triangle Fire.

The video for this week’s application exercise was about the 1911 New York Triangle Fire where a factory caught fire killing many of the workers that were trapped in the building. The fire caused the people of New York to realize the women that died, could not die in vain. When the women went on striking, because of their working conditions, most were beaten up by hired people and sent to court where they potentially faced a fine, jail time, or they were sent to the workhouse on Blackwell’s Island. The women were ambushed by the fire, because no one thought to warn the women that a fire had occurred, everyone else was given time to leave, but the women. Everyone was horrified of the things they had seen during the fire, and were really trying to help the women that were trapped. The impact of the

The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal is a film that was initially released for TV in 1979 and later released in 2006 on DVD. It was based on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire incident, which occurred in New York, taking the lives of multiple individuals. It was one of the most catastrophic events prior to the terrorist attacks of 2001. Copious lives could have been spared if it was not for the negligence of the factory managers. Antiquated policies suggested managers to lock the doors in order to prevent factory workers from stealing company assets. This inhibited workers from being able to escape from the premises. According to the film, the fire occurred due to the carelessness of an employee who disposed of a lit match in the waste bin.