Cartoon, 1911, artist unknown, from Cornell University's archives (School of Industrial and Labor Relations)
Two years ago today, we commemorated
the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Factory Fire, the worst industrial
disaster in New York City's history, and one which galvanized ordinary New
Yorkers, labor leaders, and policy makers at city, state, and federal levels to
make significant changes in labor regulations, ensuring better worker safety and
worker rights. The fire was seen as particularly tragic because most of the
dead were young immigrant women, many of them teenagers, and the deaths
resulting from the fire could easily have been prevented.
I often wonder, every year when
watching the calling of the names of the dead from the 9/11 World Trade Center
attacks, waiting to hear the names of my two friends that died in the towers
that day, how long this reading of the names is likely to continue, how long will
it be relevant to those still alive, who will still be interested, 20 years from now, 50 years, 100 years. I think we
have an answer to these questions with the Triangle Fire commemorations.
Events like 9/11 and the Triangle
persist in everyday consciousness because of the sea change (for better or
worse) in peoples' lives that they presaged. They will likely be remembered long after the survivors are gone.
This year, as in the past, the New York City Fire
Department rang the bell, once for each of the victims, at the site of the
fire.
They also symbolically raised the fire ladders to the 6th
floor of the building, which is the highest ladders could go in those days, and
thus were several floors short of the fire on the 9th floor. Many of the dead
garment workers jumped from the windows to their deaths, since the factory
owners had locked them in, the fire escapes were not built properly and collapsed, and the
stairways were blocked. This is a short blurb about the FDNY tolling of the bells: http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/03/102_years_later_fdny_remembers.html
And this year, as in the past,
ordinary people are involved in the "chalking" project, chalking the names of
the victims in front of the tenements where they were living at the time of
their deaths, many of them on the Lower East Side. This ephemeral public art
project is open access, anyone can join and participate in the chalking.
http://streetpictures.org/chalk/
There is what promises to be an
interesting talk by Kevin Baker at the Tenement Museum on Wednesday, March 27th, 2013, about the Triangle Fire. Kevin Baker, as some of you know who are avid historical
fiction readers or NYC history buffs, authored a number of fabulous and award-winning books
about Ole New York, such as Dreamland (turn-of-the-century Coney Island),
Paradise Alley (the NYC Draft Riots/race riots during Civil War period), and Striver's Row
(a young Malcolm X in WWII-era Harlem).
Also, if you haven't seen them already,
check out my blog posts about the Fire and the Chalking Project.
Calling artists, designers, and
architects: There is also a competition, sponsored by Remember the Triangle, for
a design for a permanent memorial at the site of the fire. You must register by
March 29, 2013 on their website. Submission of design entries is in April.
http://rememberthetrianglefire.org/competition//about.html
Interactive map of important places
related to the Triangle Fire.
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