Kassandra Horta-Tovar

History 1700-013
December 16, 2015
PART I
The historical issue we talked about that stood out most to me was the "Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory Fire." The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was owned by Issac Harris and Max
Blanck they had started off as immigrants as well, working hard to make a successful company.
The two owners really only cared about the money for example, at the end of every work day
they would not let any worker leave until every bag was checked for stolen items. Another way
they made sure no one stole anything, was by locking one of the two stairways, the Washington
stairway so no one would leave unchecked. So when the fire broke out, on March 25, 1911 a
tragedy happened because of their greed. This tragedy took 146 lives mostly women varying
from many ages and backgrounds. A disaster that would be remembered forever.
This historical issue really stood out to me because it was a huge incident in industrial
history and affected many people. Even though Issac Harris and Max Blanck were the owners of
the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory they were let free instead of paying for the consequences of the
fire. Blanck and Harris did not take safety precautions for their workers they locked one of the
stairways, they did not install sprinkler systems, and the hose they did have was useless it had
rotted and rusted closed. After this tragedy happened, there were protests for better safety
conditions. The safety requirements were being more enforced than before because the people
were protesting and fighting for their rights.

This disaster really stood out to me because it was such a huge part of history and it
affected so many people. During class, as we began to talk about it I distantly remembered
learning about it in my history class junior year of High School. After we had watched the film in
class and I learned more in depth about it. Honestly, it really surprised me that I had only learned
about it once before.

PART II

The Triangle Fire tragedy could be linked to my Religious Education 2400 course
because in that course we talked about immigrants from all over the world moving to America in
order to have a better life for themselves and their families. But most of these immigrants were
widely discriminated because of their religions. In this course we talked about how immigrants
who come to America sometimes are not as welcomed as they hoped to be. They may be victims
of hate crimes and violence when they just want to make peace. This connection helped me
understand more about how it was for immigrants at this time in history as they came to
America.
Many workers during that time were protesting for equal rights. They were protesting for
the right to have less work hours and more pay. Many of these workers were immigrants that had
come to America for better lives. But because of the discrimination, they were forced to work in
very unsafe conditions while being discriminated.