ProgressiveEraTopics

The Progressive Era included many areas of concern in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Among them were worker safety and one of the most horrific tales revolved around the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in 1911. The photographs were gruesome and the political cartoons of the day fixed the blame on many people but especially the owners of the factory (but not the building owners.) The Cornell site below does a great job of presenting the Progressive point of view of this tragedy. Like all of history, however there are other points of view that we may want to explore



Cornell University ILR School site
 * Progressives || Reformers who wanted to improve the lives of the urban poor. The often used media to convey their message to as many people as possible. Many were "muckrakers" or journalists who sought to expose the condition of the poor to the middle and upper classes in order to affect political action ||
 * Sweatshop || A factory where working conditions are often crowded and dangerous and the workers have very few rights. ||
 * Sweatshop || A factory where working conditions are often crowded and dangerous and the workers have very few rights. ||
 * Sweatshop || A factory where working conditions are often crowded and dangerous and the workers have very few rights. ||

.A different view of the fire from the New York Times