The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
On Saturday March 25, 1911 at about 4:40 pm a fire broke out in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. In the end, 146 of the 500 garment workers died. Most were Jewish and Italian immigrant women and children. The oldest victim was 43 and the two youngest were 14 years old. Many died not from the fire, or even smoke inhalation but from blunt force injuries from jumping from the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of the building. This tragedy brought to light the working conditions of especially of women and immigrants. America was still considered the place to come to in order to succeed in life and get away from various government laws in other countries. Many immigrant families soon learned that it was not what they expected and struggled to provide the basic needs to their families. Many of the wealthy factory owners knew this and it was quite common for employees to be taken advantage of by working extremely long ho...