Research Paper On The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire’s Role in Women’s Suffrage Fire swept through the eighth floor of the Asch Building at 4:40 P.M. on Saturday, March 25, 1911. Five minutes later, the fire alarm was pulled down the street, and firefighters arrived at the scene just two minutes later. By 4:57, the fire was over, and one hundred forty-six people had died. In those seventeen minutes, panic ensued as six hundred workers on the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors rushed to escape. This was incredibly difficult since the rooms were crowded with equipment, the floors were littered with piles of fabric, and the air was filled with lint. When workers ran to the exits, they found the stairs and elevators blocked and filled with smoke. The building’s

It was later discovered that the fire had probably started when a worker disposed a cigarette or match into a rag bin containing three hundred pounds of thin, oxygen-rich, cotton fabric. It was also estimated that there was a total of more than one ton of those cotton scraps in the upper three floors of the factory. “In that brief span, the fire did more killing than any other workplace disaster in New York City history up to that time, or for ninety years afterward.” It was considered “the worst industrial fire in American history.” The fire was one of the most important and biggest factors in the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment. Although it certainly didn’t start the women’s suffrage movement, the fire was used to demand change. Without it having occurred, it would have taken a bit longer for women’s suffrage, as well as many of the reforms about

Because they were poor immigrants who barely knew English, factory owners could easily take advantage of them. They use this to explain why America was so motivated by the fire, which helped push for industrial reforms. Other scholars focus on the horrible working conditions in the factory and the sensationalized newspaper stories and images to explain how this caused Americans to blame the factory owners for their poor treatment of workers. Americans’ outrage and blame of the owners helped increase support for reform. They agree that the Triangle fire added fuel to the Progressive movement and served as one of many pieces of evidence that helped in reforming labor laws. However, this paper goes further by arguing that the fire was not just one of many pieces of evidence, rather, it was one of the most important pieces of evidence that helped reform and was an integral force in adding power and support to the women’s