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Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Research Paper

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The 1900s in the United States were a time of great reform, discovery and advancement. Industrialization and urbanization were taking over the social and economic life. Immigrants and women workers were powering the factories in the east, while farmers were supporting them in the fields in the west. The laissez-faire strategy of the government allowed corporations led by captains of industry to form monopolies and control entire industries. However, this boom of industry came with many byproducts. Many of the owners of the corporations were known as robber barons because they would profit off the long hours and low wages of the factory workers. The late 1800s brought many strikes such as the Pullman and Homestead strikes, both spreading nationwide …show more content…
On March 25, 1911 on a spring Saturday afternoon five hundred workers consisting of mostly young women, prepared to get their pay for the day and return home. It was a beautiful afternoon and the workers were about to hear the end of the day bell to be dismissed and head home. Around 4:40 pm to be exact, there was a dropped cigarette or match that ignited New York’s deadliest workplace accident to date. If it weren't for the carelessness and ignorance of those in charge of the factory and the conditions, this accident could have been prevented and just under 150 innocent lives could have been saved.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory took up the eighth, ninth and tenth stories of the Asch building in 23-29 Washington place, at Washington square East in the heart of Manhattan. (trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu, “SWEATSHOPS & STRIKES BEFORE 191.”) The owners of this factory, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris profited greatly off of the sweatshop quality work of the young women. These women, a large portion of whom didn’t speak English because they were immigrants, worked about 14 hours for a workday. These hours were worked toiling in cramped, unhealthy conditions that have clearly been proven hazardous. They earned at most two dollars a day, greatly under what their male counterparts earned,

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