Tagged: “Triangle Shirtwaist Fire”
The Jewish Roots of Labor Day
In honor of Labor Day and the recent anniversary of the sweatshop workers strike, we are reposting this article originally written by Eva Brune. On September 4 in 1894, more than 12,000 New York State tailors – 4,000 from New York City alone — went on strike to protest the sweatshop conditions in which they […]
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Coping with tragedy through song: balladry of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
On March 25th, 1911, a fire broke out on the factory floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. By the time the flames had been put out, 145 workers, mostly young immigrant girls, had perished. The tragedy sent shockwaves through the immigrant community and became a symbol of the rampant mistreatment of workers by factory owners […]
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Not-So-Living History: The Queens Cemetery Belt
This post was written by Museum intern Sophie Brous. If you’ve ever flown over New York City, you may have noticed the huge number of cemeteries spanning the area around the Brooklyn-Queens border. Known as the Queens cemetery belt, this massive stretch of land claims at least 5 million interred in its soil. In fact, […]
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July 12: The Yahrzeit of a “Fiery Jewish Girl”
This blog post was written by Museum intern Dalia Rubinstein. On July 12, 37 years ago, the world lost a Lower East Sider whose chutzpah changed life for many immigrants of her time. Clara Lemlich, although not a household name today, was one of the “farbrente Yidishe meydlekh” [“fiery Jewish girls”] who made a strong […]
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This Day in History: STRIKE!
This post was written by Eva Brune. On September 4 in 1894, more than 12,000 New York area tailors – 4,000 from New York City alone — went on strike to protest the sweatshop conditions in which they had to work. Many of them Jewish from the Lower East Side, the workers struck to demand […]
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Are We Doomed to Repeat the Triangle Shirtwaist Tragedy?
This post is written by Eva Brune. “In the panic of the fire, I recall that three girls wrapped themselves in the American flag and jumped out the window together… Among the dead, were a mother and two young sons who all worked at the Triangle Company. They suffocated from smoke while taking cover […]
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