Triangle Shirtwaist Strike Dbq

Life in the early 1900’s wasn’t easy. Competition for jobs was at an all time high, especially in New York City. Immigrants were flooding in and needed to find work fast, even if that meant in the hot, overcrowded conditions of garment factories. Conditions were horrid and disaster was inevitable, and disaster did strike in March, 1911. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York set on fire, killing 146 workers. This is an important event in US history because it helped accomplish the tasks unions and strikes had tried to accomplish years earlier, It improved working conditions in factories nationwide and set new safety laws and regulations so that nothing as catastrophic would happen again. The workplace struggles became public after

In 1905, in the United States, some children as young as six years old are working in factories and women aren’t allowed to vote. Florence Kelley is a fiery and inspiring child labor activist and also a suffragette. On July 22, 1905, in Philadelphia, she gives a speech to the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to try to rally them to assist her in her main cause which is fixing the child labor system. In her speech where she doesn’t hold back, Kelley lets the audience know why the child labor system is atrocious and why they should get involved. She also tells them the steps that they should take to try to right these wrongs, in convincing their husbands to vote for child labor

In the late 1800s and the early 1900s, labor was anything but easy. Factory workers faced long hours, low pay, high unemployment fears, and poor working conditions during this time. Life today is much easier in comparison to the late 1800s. Americans have shorter days, bigger pay and easier working conditions. Not comparable to how life is today, many riots sparked, and citizens began to fight for equal treatment. Along with other important events, the Haymarket Riot, the Pullman Strike, and the Homestead strike all play a vital role in illustrating labor’s struggle to gain fair and equitable treatment during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The battle for suffrage was a long and slow process. Many women tried to initiate the fight for suffrage, like Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. “These were the New Suffragists: women who were better educated, more career-oriented, younger, less apt to be married and more cosmopolitan than their previous generation.” (pg 17) Eventually, in 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified; allowing women to vote, but it was not any one person or event that achieved this great feat. It was the confluence of certain necessary factors, the picketing and parades led by Alice Paul, militaristic suffrage parties and the influence of the media that caused the suffrage amendment to be passed and ratified in 1920. But most importantly, they successfully moved both

3. Urban industrialism dislocated women’s lives no less than men’s. Like men, women sought political change and organized to promote issues central to their lives, campaigning for temperance and woman suffrage., Susan B. Anthony, launched the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869, demanding the vote for women suffrage, though not yet generally supported, was no longer considered a crackpot idea. Thanks to the WCTU’s support of the “home protection” ballot, suffrage had become accepted as a means to an end even when it was not embraced as a woman’s natural right.

For social reform, the Women’s Trade Union League was on the foremost authority, organizing protests and working against prostitution, white slavery, and other social problems that many women faced (15). For political and labor reform, Frances Perkins was on the vanguard of political protests and building regulations. Not only did she get the attention of Tammany Hall, and helped push it to become more progressive, and pass the fifty-four hour law, which took 20 hours off a worker’s week, but she eventually became the first female cabinet member and pushed for Charles Murphy to endorse voting (218). After the Triangle Factory Fire, “she quickly mastered the details of the sprinkler systems, fireproof stairways, fire drills, and more. She knew, in an intellectual way, that New York Factories were extremely vulnerable” which was invaluable in pushing for more building regulations (195). As for economic opportunity, the overall strikes of the women who had been protesting eventually got the attention of the government, and a minimum wage was established in the early 1930’s. Clara Lemlich was one of the leaders of these strikes for pay raises and better factory conditions, and despite being beaten, she led many strikes and became one of the foremost figure in the labor reform movement. She was, “a new sort of

But by September 1909, the workers had become fed up with the mistreatment and terrible conditions, leading the men and women of garment industries all across New York to look for a change. Over a hundred garment workers of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company met in secret to listen to speakers from the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) and the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL) (Argersinger 63). These speeches prompted the Triangle Shirtwaist Company employees to unionize

Woman along with the children were affected while working during the industrial revolution. During 1834 and 1836 Harriet Martineau, a British feminist and abolitionist, visited America and enthusiastically embraced the social implications of the Industrial Revolution, (DTA, 223). Martineau compared the lifestyle of women to slaves and said the United States contradicted the principles of the Declaration of Independence. She did believe though with some progress that it could become New England’s new industrial order. One of the Mill factories Martineau visited, Waltham Mill, was a prime example of the scheduled lifestyle of women mill workers. Women Mill workers of all ages worked at Waltham Mill, which I compared to a boarding school because of their strict schedules. The ladies had a time to wake up, to be at work, to eat, and to go to school. A lot of women did not mind the harsh conditions they lived and worked in because they fought for their equality of rights for a long time now.

A fresh, personal, bottom-up approach to the women’s labor movement in the early 20th century

At a time when labour unions were gaining in memberships, organization, and bargaining power, women in the workforce made marginal gains during this period considering the booming economy. Sociologically, a healthy economy should in theory provide the framework for change. When citizens have low unemployment and more money in their pockets, time and attention is less directed at bread and butter issues like sustenance and poverty, and aimed at equality and social progress. For women unfortunately, this was not necessarily the case. Their battle with employers was still a struggle between classes than gender parity. Male union leadership would naturally further male worker interests first,8 and this shows a culture of sexism in the workplace that was clearly difficult for working women to overcome. Even union-dues paying women rarely openly questioned their subordination as a sex.9 They were most likely outnumbered and the consequences of being a whistle blower did not want to be entertained. In the mindset of women who worked however, was a developing identity as female wage earners and unionists.10

This new generation of activists fought with this new agenda for almost 20 years until a few states in the West began to extend the vote to women. The Eastern and Southern states still refused to give in, but this didn’t stop the National American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1916, Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the NAWSA, worked vigorously to get women’s organizations from all over the country together and fight side by side. “One group of activists, led by Alice Paul and her National Woman’s Party, lobbied for full quality for women under the law” (Divine). She used mass marches and hunger strikes as strategies, but she was eventually forced to resign because of her insistence on the use of militant direct-action tactics (Grolier). Finally, during World War 1, women were given more opportunities to work, and were able to show that they were just as deserving as men when it came to the right to vote. On August 18th, 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified, allowing women to vote. This drawn-out and arduous battle opened a new window of opportunity for women all over the country. Significant changes in both social life and job availability began to create what is now referred to as the “new women.”

At the turn of the twentieth century, a bourgeoisie fixation on capitalistic structures and mass consumerism often juxtaposed the call for meritocracy, thus placing some individuals at an advantage over others. Tension was soon evident between the beneficiaries and the exploited of the gilded economy. This push and pull relationship can best be observed in the 1908 Supreme Court case, Muller v. Oregon, in which the owner of a Portland Laundromat violated state legislation that disallowed women from working more than ten hours a day. Siding with the needs of the laborer, the Supreme Court overruled Muller’s claim for freedom of contract and right to property (Gagnon Lecture, 01/26/15). While many argue that this decision devalues the relationship between employee and employer as well as undermines an individual’s inalienable rights to life, liberty and property at the hands of another, there is an underlying, and perhaps even larger issue at hand. The ruling of the case indicates that judiciary actions taken only reinforce gender formations- once again attacking the plea for equal opportunity. Because of this alarming backlash in societal equity, the Supreme Court’s decision should be deemed unjust. Although the case recognizes the significance of employee rights in the workforce, the decision is restricted to the sole protection of female workers and only

After the shirtwaist fire, the ILGWU ( International ladies garment workers union) met and discussed possible strikes for a 20 - percent raise, a 52 - hour work week and overtime pay (Kourt, Melissa The Fire That Changed Everything, 2011). The union also proposed a day of mourning. The strike became the largest movement in the U.S at the time. The striking gave many women a motivation and a purpose. Also, The striking kept women busy while many of their husbands were fighting in World War I at the time. The striking at this time was a great way for women to fight for their beliefs and form bonds with the people around them. Many organizations were started such as the ILGWU and the WTUL (Women’s Trade Union League). These organizations hosted

Two years after the infamous Triangle fire, 20,000 workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts; angered over wage cuts and deplorable conditions went on strike, prompting the twin reactions of police brutality and press coverage (Hodson & Sullivan, 2008). “As a result of the strike, not only were wages raised and conditions improved in the textile industry as a whole, but important legislation was also enacted that restricted the exploitation of child and female labor” (Hodson & Sullivan, 2008, p. 132). It is doubtful that working conditions would have evolved to the level of equity we find today, without the sacrifice and activism of unions and their members.

Through its associate with the CNT, Mujeres Libres members could be found in almost all the factories in Spain (Ackelsberg 1984:15). This gave professional women the opportunity to have a safe space to voice their concerns on working conditions such as being paid less than men. Leaders of the organization, drawing on their anarchist prinsiples, recognized that being empowered required both individual action and a collective process (Ackelsberg 2005:32). The numours activites that the members engaged in strengthened the bond between them and fueled their resolve to become emancipated citizens. It is this sense of community that Mujeres Libres members believe differenciates them from the indivudualist views of feminism (Ackelsberg 2005:21). However, evident in the recent poliferation of the #MeToo movement across the United States and Europe the feminist has always sought to create a strong and supportive community of