Week 5 Reflection: Immigration and Social Reform
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| Image of The Triangle Shirtwaist Factor: Never be selfish, be selfless The week's blog was very touching. I just feel like honestly Woman are very undervalued; especially in the working field. In 1911, in Manhattan the building in the picture above claimed the lives of 146 people. The thing that makes me upset the most is the people that lost their lives in this building, were the same people fighting (protesting) for a change in their working environment! The Triangle factory, owned by Max Blanc and Isaac Harris, was located in the top three floors of the Asch Building. It was a true sweatshop that mostly employed young immigrant women. They worked in a cramped space in lines of sewing machines. Most of the teenage girls couldn't even speak English!! The workers worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, and only got paid FITHTEEN (15) dollars a week. They literally slaved those people. One particular day on March 11th there was a fire that started in the building and no one was aware... at first. There were 600 workers at the factory when a fire started. The manager attempted to use the fire hose to extinguish it, but the hose was rotted and it was rusted shut. Workers were panicking as the fire was growing because they didn't know what to do! This is exactly why it's so important to have fire drills at work, school, and even knowing what to do at home! The workers tried to escape the building by the elevator but it could hold only 12 people and the operator was only able to make four trips back and forth before it broke down because of the heat and flames. The girls left behind waiting for the elevator attempted to escape the fire by plunging down the shaft, but sadly that killed them. The girls who took the stairwells also didn't make it when they found a locked door at the bottom of the stairs, many were burned alive. Lastly, some girls jumped out the windows of the building to their death! SO MANY safety precautions avoided! Not even sprinklers in the building, and that's the first thing the should have thought of being a factory! The real thing that's upsetting is the owners of the building (*the ones who ignored the worker's protest about their working conditions*) MADE IT OUT ALIVE! The whole situation made me feel so angry on the inside! This is when labor unions to protect the workers and their assets became so important! The Progressive Era was a range of economic, political, social, and moral reforms. This era had efforts to outlaw the sale of alcohol, regulate child labor, and sweatshops, manage natural resources, insure pure and wholesome water and milk, Americanize immigrants or restrict immigration altogether; and bust or regulate trusts From our last blogs we have noticed whites ALWAYS felt like they were superior than all other races. Whites felt even more empowered after the Chinese Exclusion act of 1882. The US thought the Chinese's intelligence was a threat! (*Inside thought: rolls eyes, can't even be smart) Many of the people in the community felt like their voices did not matter. Sounds similar to how some people feel today. The Social Reform was a social movement whos purpose was to bring a social or political system closer to the community's ideal. This weeks blog made my perception change a little about the final essay question. "Wealth is mainly the result of its owner’s efforts and that an average worker can…become” successful.". Just like those owners of the Triangle factory, I bet those workers wanted to be successful. It was not easy or fair to them at all! I think the world we're in today is in a better condition for success than it ever has been. Bibliography Website: The Progressvive Era Website. Wikipedia: Reform movement Website: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory |
Hi Johnese, nice vlog. I do agree on the sadness of the Triangle Factory story. I had learned about that story early in highs school it still makes me sad especially since a lot of the women were immigrants and working to provide money for their families. I also found frustration with the US not liking Chinese because the Chinese people seeming to smart and the fear that they would try to take over America. Nice vlog.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw your image I was like Wooow it is a very powerful image depicting the events that took place at the Triangle Factory. I like the caption title never be selfish be selfless. It not only reflects the Triangle Factory, but can also be said about the way the US government works concerning immigration, as well as the decisions that are made based on gender or race. Good Read , Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteHello Johnese, your bog was very detailed and was a great read. You covered a lot of the material within your blog and the information was useful. I agree with you that women are quite often undervalued especially when it comes to their field of work. With the fire there could have been many precautions set in place in order to prevent the tragedy from occurring yet they weren't. It is sad that the owner made it out alive while many of the women died. I also enjoyed how you discussed the immigration piece of the assignment within your blog.
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