Impacts Today

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory:
The Fire That Ignited a Change in Worker Rights

Impacts Today

Long Term Impacts

The United States now requires all buildings to include fire escapes, sprinklers, fire alarms, and multiple staircases. Schools hold regular fire drills for students and staff to know where to escape  and to make sure the fire alarms are working.The fire was a crucial part of the progressive era, since it opened the door to the enforcement of workplace safety to state and federal governments.

"Other bills provide for fireproof doors, more ample exits, automatic sprinklers, more seating room for employes, sp that they will have a safe and unobscured passageway to the exits, a limited number of employes occupying any floor above the first or ground floor, the limitations to be based upon exit facilities, and a prominent and legible display of all exit signs."
~ The New York Tribune

Berinsky, Burton. "Esther Peterson, Assistant Secretary of Labor and Director of the Women's Bureau under President Kennedy, speaks at the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Triangle fire." Photograph. March 25, 1961. Cornell University, ILR School, Kheel Center for Labor-Management, Documentation & Archives, Triangle Factory Fire Online Exhibit.

"The Triangle victims were martyrs in the fight for social justice, and the labor movement will always remember them as those who, with their young lives paved the way for a better world with more just society, a world free from exploitation, in which equal rights for all will be respected."
~ Mary Domsky-Abrams, survivor 

Center, K. (2018). Photos & Illustrations. Cornell University - ILR School - The Triangle Factory Fire.https://trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu/slides/185.html.  

"During the last month, for instance, there were more than 107,000 inspections made by the Fire Department. . . Many conditions throughout the city have been remedied, and the general public is beginning to wake up to the dangers from fire which prevail. A campaign of education has been started by the Fire Department which includes wide distribution of literature, such as ‘no smoking’ signs and various ‘don’ts’ for fire prevention. Enforcement of the laws against smoking in factories and other regulations are having a salutary effect. Lecture centers are also being established, and the public schools will soon have a course of fire prevention studies. In carrying out fire prevention laws and regulations a large number of important factors enter into consideration. In the first place, there is the reduction of the fire hazard by the elimination of perhaps 75 percent of our fires –that is, carelessness."

~ The New York Tribune

Memorial

Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition, Workers United / SEIU (ILGWU), and the New York City Central Labor Council “Unveiling and Dedication of the Triangle Fire Memorial,” October 11, 2023. CasaItalianaNYU.

Gonshor, A. (2020, March 30). “Ballad of the triangle fire / bread and roses”: A yiddish language world premiere. YouTube.

Triangle Fire Memorial

  • ​​​​​​​Date Unveiled: October 11, 2023

  • Designer: Uri Wegman and Richard Joon

    Languages: English,Yiddish, and Italian (spoken among the victims) 


    Many Americans were touched by the heartbreaking news of the fire, composing songs and poems that reflect the fire and the feelings the poor victims went through. 

    Poetry: “Eyewitness” and “Escape,” by Paola Corso, 2018

    Triangle Fire Memorial Association Award 

    Song: “The Ballad of the Triangle Fire,” Ben Gonshor

    Performed by the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre

. New NYC Memorial honors Triangle Shirtwaist factory victims. Pontone, M, October 11, 2023. 

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