The Factory Floor

Objective: Students will examine the conditions for workers and the realities for immigrants during the period of industrialism in the United States through primary and secondary source analysis. 

The Situation: It is Saturday, March 25th, 1911. You and your group are workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, located at 23-29 Washington Place. A garment factory that makes women's blouses (called shirtwaists) in Manhattan, located in the top 3 (8th-10th) floors of the Asch Building. You have been working at the factory for a couple months now and while the work is difficult, and the hours long (6 days a week, 9 hours a day Mon-Fri, and 7 hours on Saturday), you are fairly well paid compared to some other people in the country, $7-12 whole dollars a week! This is just enough for rent, groceries and other necessities for your family, and you might be able to put some money aside from time to time. 

Most of the people you work with are other recent immigrants, mostly of Jewish or Italian origin and almost entirely women (many still in their teens). The work you do at the factory is tough, and the floor bosses are often very strict! They even lock the doors to keep you and the other women from taking unauthorized breaks or stealing fabric! Where is the trust? There are wooden bins and bins full of completed shirtwaists and even more filled with scraps and extra cuttings. You take a moment to reflect how happy you are that smoking has been banned on the factory floor as basically everything in there with you is highly flammable. You have heard that the men who own the factory, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, have had four fires in the past at other properties, so you assume they know how to avoid deadly infernos. 

The your sixth day of work this week is coming to an end, and you're looking forward to your day off tomorrow. However, at 4:45, your worst fears occur as you faintly hear someone from a lower floor yell "FIRE!!!"

You and your coworkers drop everything and bolt for the doors, but you slam into them and realize, with cold clarity, that they are still locked! 

YOU AND YOUR GROUP MUST FIGURE OUT HOW TO OPEN ALL OF THE LOCKS BEFORE THE WORST SHOULD HAPPEN. You will do this by finding clues hidden in sources about working conditions, immigration and urbanization. So follow the links and read/analyze each of the sources. As you do this, take notes about the categories on your physical organizer and search for the clues for your locks! You don't have much time, so you'll need to work together.