Triangle: The Fire That Changed America

What industrial advancements aided in the rapid growth of the garment industry late in the 19th century? How did these technological changes impact the lives of garment workers?

Explain how the contractor sweatshop system typically worked within the garment industry at the turn of the 20th century. What were its advantages, and why do versions of this system persist today despite more than a century of further technological advancement?

During the Uprising of the 20,000, how did owners seek to undermine the movement, and what mutual interests bound workers together despite their cultural differences?

Discuss the reasons why a wave of Eastern European Jewish immigrants began arriving in the United States in the late-19th and early-20th centuries.

Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, the Triangle owners, kept only one exit from the factory floors unlocked during working hours even though the risks associated with this practice were well known and the law required two working exits. What does this suggest about the incentives that governed labor relations in New York in the early 20th century?

Discuss the reasons why so many progressives and labor activists were cynical about reforms taking place after the Triangle fire. If their pessimism was justified by past experience, how did they find the motivation to fight for reform despite the odds?

What role did Charlie Murphy and Tammany Hall play in the legislative reforms that were implemented after the Triangle fire?

Explain and discuss some of Max Steuer’s primary defense strategies in the trial of Blanck and Harris.