tshirtsilence-blog

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An Alternative View

The “public” who would benefit from an alternative narration of this history would be the survivors and those who passed away from this fire or due to a working condition caused by poor labor laws. In a way, this could serve as a memorial to them and their families, as the primary view is mostly portrayed through a political sense. Most of the time, when learning about the triangle factory fire, many learn through a school’s educational resources. The personal accounts of those who were there in that moment are not given, not showing the real impact of the fire. The only impact shown tends to be the change after, but such an event must be told by those who were personally involved in order for one to learn its true impact, not just on the government, but as well as the workers and their families.

Using the idea of a newspaper, we modernized the idea of receiving news through the idea of “blogging”. As Tumblr is often a site where many write how they feel or experience common interests, it seemed to encapsulate how we could turn a newspaper more “interesting” for this time. By designing the style of the online news site we made, we turned the history of this factory fire into something more personal. We wanted to focus more on person thoughts of those involved with the fire in order to be a bit more creative.

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Elevator Situations

When the fire first began, Cecilia Walker knew she had to go through severe measures in order to make it out alive. Not without injury, Cecilia made it out through sliding along the elevator cable. However, when the elevator still would not come on other floors, she attempted to repeat her previous plan but never made it out in full consciousness. During her recollection at the hospital, she realizes that there was another woman with her, who was later on reported missing and deceased from the fire from jumping out of a window instead. This was a desperate solution for many stuck inside the building. It is unfortunate to think about how some would have to choose whether to die from being burnt alive or from suicide. Cecilia was one of the few lucky workers to make it out alive. However, a sight such as the one she saw that day is one that she will most likely never forget. With personal witness accounts such as these recorded through writing in news media, it allows us to feel the pain and eerie happenings of beings placed in difficult life-or-death scenarios in a personal manner. 

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One of the saddest features of the thing is the fact that they had almost finished for the day. In five minutes more, if the fire had started then, probably not a life would have been lost.

NY Times Archive (1911)

Quotes such as they can remain disheartening knowing the event that took place. They show that time was truly the day’s worst enemy, knowing now that a few minutes could have saved so many lives. 

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Obituaries II - Recognizing Names

Albino Caruso

Laura Brunette

Tessie Kepple

Theodre Rotner

Jacob Zeitner

Becky Ostrowsky

Tina Frank

Morris Bernstein

Beckie Kabbleman

Annie Novobrisky 

Pearl Sklazar

Benny Kuritz

Annie L’Abbate

Tessie Sarcino

Max Lehrehr

Becky Kessler 

Lizzie Adler

Marina Manara

Violet Schochep

Dominick Kaimen

Jennie Rosenburg

Fannie Lanzer

Abraham Binevitz

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There was a certain lack of care when it came to looking for Max Hochfield’s sister post factory fire. In such a desperate time, Hochfield felt a sort of insanity hitting a breaking point following his sister’s disappearance/death. His anger ended up being directed to “those in charge”, but really his devastation over losing a loved one was just something that he could not process. It made him think about just how crazy the world could be, where one day when celebrating his sister’s engagement, the following could mean never seeing her again following such a joyous celebration.

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The following is another sneak peek into the life of a factory worker. With such overcrowded conditions, women were simply there to support their families. Such work was most likely unfair in terms of labor laws, and in the end it was these conditions that most likely caused the factory fire. Think of these women as mothers, daughters, friends, or significant others. To those in which these women played certain roles to at home, they were more than machines who fell with the building on fire. 

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Obituaries I- Recognizing Names

Frances Maile

Rose Friedman

Rosie Bassius 

Ida Brodsky

Sarah Sabassowitz

Irene Graetinzo

Mary Herman 

Nettie Liebowitz

Nettie Rosenthal

Vincenzio Zellota 

Rebecca Raynes

Gartana Nicola 

Mollier Gerstein 

Loed Rosen

Bessie Stump

Celia Isenberg

Ada Brooks

Annie Starr 

Jennie Stelino

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The Locked Doors

Rose Freedman is a survivor of the factory fire who only recently passed away, but devoted her life after the fire to lead labor rallies, raise awareness for the cause, and voice her story and experience. Something she managed to remain passionate about were the safety hazards of the workspace, specifically the locked doors restraining many laborers from escaping the fire. She explains that one of the owners even tried to bribe Freedman into keeping her mouth shut about the locked doors, but she remained truthful and followed her morals by speaking publicly about this hazard. This is a clear representation of the way in which media and authorities try to silence injustices to save themselves. It is likely that the owners asked many of the survivors to keep the unsafe conditions a secret, and many of them probably agreed to in order to receive money. Those who preserved this silence and wanted to keep it hidden away from the public failed to consider the injuries, and even the deaths, that could have been avoided if the doors were unlocked. Innocent laborers died because the owners lacked trust in their workers, and when there were dire consequences, they still tried to save their reputation through bribes.

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This only represents a section of the factory workers. We see the floors cluttered with fabric scraps and very little space for movement between each worker. In the case of a fire or other emergency, it is clear that there would be many safety hazards. Each of these workers performed extremely arduous and tedious labor for very low wages and no breaks, most likely because this was the only way to provide any kind of support for their families. They received unjust treatment and were put in such a crowded space, thus limiting each of their individualities and often being considered unimportant.

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She Will Never Be Strong Again

Rosey Safran is a survivor of the factory fire. She conducted her own piece in “The Independent” disclosing her own experience. Safran describes her working conditions to have been extremely poor; she worked overtime and always received subpar payment, and she described the crowdedness of working in such a small proximity that the factory allowed. The actual factory only took up three floors of the building, and over 700 girls were packed onto these floors. The factory owners thought of these young girls as untrustworthy, keeping almost every door locked and blocking every possible exit with a guard. Safran was grateful to have been able to make it out of the one open exit door, free of any injury, but her mental state was forever changed. When documenting the tragedies of the shirtwaist factory fire, many newspaper coverages and much of public discourse were solely directed toward those who suffered injuries or died from the fire, and rightfully so. However, individuals like Safran were heavily impacted by just the shock of the situation and the rest of her life was shadowed by her experience in this tragedy. She and a close friend who was also a survivor agreed that they “do not think they will ever be strong again”. These girls along with many were left with no choice but to observe the travesty from outside and know that their friends and loved ones were either being burned alive or jumping to their deaths because of the unjust labor laws they also had to endure. While Safran’s physical and outward appearance may have seemed intact, many silences have been overlooked in regard to the mental state of many of the fire’s survivors.