The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Activity Two:

1. Have the students work in groups to research the events of March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City and the investigation, the indictments, and trial that resulted from the event.
   
   
2. In order to determine the kind of information they need to understand why the tragedy occurred, students should identify the important historical questions they want to ask. Questions might include:
   1. What were the working conditions for women in the textile industry?
   2. Were there laws regulating factory work? If so, what were they?
   3. How did the fire start?
   4. Who was responsible for the safety of the workers?
   5. What did the investigation reveal?
   6. How do the indictments and trial help us to understand the attitude of the government and the public to both industrialists and the working class?
      
      
3. Divide the class into several groups. Have students create an account of the event. Each group might choose to create one of the following:
   • A newspaper edition devoted to the event, the trial and the reforms adopted as a result of the fire. This should include personal accounts of survivors, witnesses, owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.
   • A pamphlet for the ILGWU that uses the Triangle Fire to convince women of the importance of standing together in the union.
   • Film a newscast about the event.

Activity Three:

1. Using the following website which examines the original trial, retry the defendants.
   
   http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/triangle/ trianglefire.html
   

Activity Four:

1. Using the following sites and the instructions for analyzing primary documents and secondary information, research early industrialization of the textile industry in the United States. This may be done in groups and the information shared.
   • http://faculty.uml.edu/sgallagher/Mill_girls.htm
     
   • http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/ article_display.cfm?HHID=609
     
   • http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/robinson-lowell.html
     
   • http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/whole_cloth/ u2ei/u2materials/dublin.html
     
   • http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/whole_cloth/ u2ei/u2materials/dublin.html
     
   • http://www.historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5714/
     
   • http://www.pinn.net/~sunshine/whm2002/bagley.html
     
   • http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/pwwmh/ma48.htm
     
   • http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/jackson/mill/people.html
     
   Have students use the information to write a history of the industrialization of the textile industry in the first half of the nineteenth century. Students may work as a class or in small groups, and the project might take the form of one of the following:
   
   • A children’s book
   • A comic book
   • A chapter for a textbook

Extension Activities:

Essay
To what extent did changes in the textile industry in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries affect the lives of women in the United States. Be sure to identify the women that you are including in your discussion.