US History CP
2013-14
Triangle Fire
extra credit assignment
American Experience/PBS
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/triangle/player/
The following post-viewing questions are organized into four strands, focusing on the
immigrant experience as embodied by workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory; the
challenges and perils of industrialization; workers' demands for unionization and bosses'
resistance to these demands; and the changing relationship between labor and
government that emerged as a result of the Triangle fire on March 25, 1911.
Directions: Answer each of the following questions in complete sentences.
The Immigrant Experience
Dreams versus realities. Review Chapter One of Triangle Fire.
1. According to the film, what countries of origin were represented among New York
City's 100,000 garment workers?
2. What brought these immigrants to America, and what motivated them to work such
long hours?
3. How did the realities of their working lives contrast with their dreams and their
observations of promise and opportunity in America?
From rags to riches.
4. When and from where did Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, the owners of the Triangle
Shirtwaist Company, arrive in America, and how had they transformed their lives and
social status?
5. In what ways does their story embody the American Dream?
Inside the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
"A plum job."
6. What is a shirtwaist?
7. Why was working at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory a desirable job?
8. Describe the factory environment. In what ways was it modern?
9. What does historian Annelise Orleck mean when she asserts that "Triangle was a
plum" (a great place to work)? Do you think workers shared this view?
Conditions at the Triangle factory.
10.What was a typical day like for workers at the Triangle factory?
11. In what ways was this workplace dangerous?
12. How much money did the workers earn?
13. For what reasons did bosses reduce workers' pay?
14. Review some of the first-person testimony presented from women who worked at the
Triangle factory. Which anecdotes about factory life strike you as most troubling?
Most eye-opening? Why?
Demanding a Union
Envisioning change. Review Chapter Three of the film.
15. What changes were shirtwaist workers agitating for when they made the decision to
go out on strike?
16. How did factory owners respond to these demands?
US History CP
2013-14
17. Why did factory owners like Harris and Blanck see unionization as a threat and as a
personal attack?
18. How would unionization affect conditions at the factory?
19. In your opinion, were the workers' demands reasonable?
20. Were the factory owners justified in resisting these demands?
A daring idea.
21. Who was Clara Lemlich and what arguments did she make in favor of a general
strike?
22. How did workers respond?
23. Why was an industry-wide strike unthinkable before the shirtwaist workers gathered
in November 1909 and heard Lemlich's speech?
24. How did reformers and labor leaders respond to Lemlich's idea?
25. How did the police and mayor respond?
26. What was the impact of the general strike by shirtwaist workers?
"The mink brigade."
27. Who was Anne Morgan and what was her view of the garment workers' strike?
28. Why was Morgan's support and that of the so-called mink brigade "amazing,
shocking, and exciting," in the words of historian David von Drehle?
29. How did Morgan's involvement affect media interest in the strike and police
treatment of the striking workers?
The Fire and Its Aftermath
Causes of the Triangle fire.
30. What caused the fire that broke out at the Triangle factory on March 25, 1911?
Justice denied?
31. How many people died in the Triangle fire?
32. Why were factory owners Harris and Blanck brought up on charges of manslaughter?
33. What was the outcome of this case?
34. In your view, was justice served? Should Blanck and Harris have been held legally
responsible for the deaths of the Triangle workers? Explain.
Legacy of a deadly blaze.
35. What impact did the Triangle fire have on the private system of unregulated
industry?
36. What concrete changes were made to provide for safer workplaces for factory
workers? Which state passed the first laws for worker safety in the country?
37. Which of these laws are still in effect at workplaces today?
Review Chapters Five and Six of the film as you consider these questions.