This week the reading and lecture material covered the immigration of the Irish and Jews. Chapter six covers the immigration of the Irish, and explains that the Irish people fled the English that were taking claim over their farms and crops. Many of the Irish came to America for the promise of a better life after the English took over, and others left their home countries after the Great Famine. The Great Famine was the potato famine that occurred in Ireland, it had caused one million people to die from hunger and sickness. Since the Irish, were not able to sell their potatoes for money, many were evicted from their homes. This caused one and a half million more Irish people to flee to America. Chapter eleven covers the immigration of the Jews …show more content…
The Triangle Fire killed one hundred and forty-six people that were trapped in a factory fire. The owners of the factory would lock the people in, because they believed that was the only way to stop them from stealing the products they were making. The fire caused the surrounding community and those that lost people in the fire to ask the government for better working conditions in the factory and their jobs. The government set in place a safety commission that viewed the factories and how they treat their workers, and after the observation thirty new laws came into motion. One of those laws was law that implemented minimum wage, which was the minimum amount of money workers could make. Other laws included the implement of maximum hours workers were allowed to work, and created a foundation for a better work environment. All of these are still in place in America today, and were the start of a better life for factory workers. The term “white” was used to describe the people that had a higher education and were higher up in the community. The professor in the video also mentioned that over time the children of the immigrants and the children after them, eventually the children of immigrants were considered “white,” because they were given the opportunity to get an education and a better lifestyle. The women I focused on for the learning activity was Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and she was someone that fought for the women’s right to vote. All of these events in history were important for the changes America needed to make. They led to America changing ultimately for the better for the