HIS 114 – Chapter 21 Activity (10 points)
A study of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911 in New York brings together several themes that are central to Chapter 21 on the Progressive Era: women, organized labor, immigration, and progressive reform. View this PBS documentary on the fire and then complete the assignment below. Post to the designated discussion board by 12:00 Midnight on Friday, February 26.
http://video.pbs.org/video/1817898383/
Respond briefly to 10 of the following questions, at least 2 from each of the four groups A,B,C and D. Then select 2 other questions of your chose from any group for a total of 10 responses.
Place all of your responses into a single post on the designated discussion board, numbering each one accordingly, (ie, A1,2, B5,4,7, C1,4, D1,3) NO Attachments and NO email responses.
A. The Immigrant Experience
1. What motivated these immigrants to work such long hours?
2. How did the realities of their work lives contrast with their dreams of opportunity in America?
B. Inside the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
1. Why was a Triangle Shirtwaist Factory job desirable?
2. What does historian Annelise Orleck mean when she asserts that “Triangle was a plum”?
3. What was a typical day like for workers at the Triangle factory?
4. In what ways was this workplace dangerous?
5. Cite a reason why bosses docked a worker’s pay.
6. Why did the Triangle owners keep the factory’s Washington Place exit locked?
7. Which anecdote about factory life strike you as most troubling?
C. Demanding a Union
1. What was a change workers agitated for when they made the decision to go out on strike?
2. How did factory owners respond to these demands?
3. Why did factory owners see unionization as a threat and as a personal attack on them?
4. How would unionization affect conditions at the factory?
D. The Fire and Its Aftermath
1. Why were factory owners Harris and Blanck brought up on charges of manslaughter?
2. Why weren’t the owners held legally responsible for the deaths of the Triangle workers?
3. What impact did the Triangle fire have on the private system of unregulated industry?
4. What changes did the government institute to make workplaces safer for factory workers?
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