Classism Racism Sexism
Did everyone get a fair chance to live, or was there discrimination that decided your fate?
Did everyone get a fair chance to live, or was there discrimination that decided your fate?
As the Titanic was sinking, the survival of everyone aboard wasn't at all guaranteed. Your class, race, and gender could have costed you or saved your life.
By: John R. Henderson
Researcher: Kaaden Francis
Revised by: Everyone
A chart meant to condense the many charts in the article.
Text: Henderson, John R. “Demographics of the TITANIC Passengers: Deaths, Survivals, Nationality, and Lifeboat Occupancy.” Titanic: Demographics of the Passengers, 6 June 1998, www.icyousee.org/titanic.html
Image: Anesi, Chuck. “Titanic Casualty Figures (And What They Mean)", www.anesi.com/titanic.htm.
This website demonstrates the death and survival data of the passengers of the Titanic and shows how many people of each class died. It also tells us how many women, men, and children survived from each class. From all the information from the various charts, the author acknowledged that it was clear that there was classism and sexism that resulted in certain people of certain classes and genders to die. Information on the death and survival data of people of specific nationalities are provided as well.
"In simple terms, almost all of the women and children in First and Second Class survived, while most of the women and children in steerage died. In contrast, most of the men in First, Second, and Third Class died." (Demographics of TITANIC, "WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST?" Section, Paragraph 1)
"To me, a non-statistician, the tables above show significant indications of class discrimination. Evidence of numbers and testimony have proven that only on one side of the Titanic did the rule 'Women and children first,' apply. What becomes even more clear when looking at the numbers is that a more important concept of the day was 'First Class first.' " (Demographics of TITANIC, "DISCUSSION OF THE TABLES ABOVE" Section, Paragraph 1).
By: Rosie Waites
Researcher: Zitlalli Rodriguez
Revised by: Everyone
Survivors, women and children, on a lifeboat.
Text: Waites, Rosie. “Five Titanic Myths Spread by Films.” BBC News, BBC, 5 Apr. 2012, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17515305.
Image: Archive, Universal History. “Survivors Of The Rms Titanic In One Of Her Collapsible Lifeboats,...” Getty Images, www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/survivors-of-the-rms-titanic-in-one-of-her-collapsible-news-photo/188006961.
This section talks about the seperation of classes among the RMS Titanic. The third class consisted of Armenians, Chinese, Dutch, Italians, Scandinavians, Syrians, as well as those from the British Isles wanting to start a new life. There was many measures put into pace to separate the classes such as gates and seperate floors. Since only first and second class passengers were allowed on lifeboats at the time of the sinking, many third class men as well as quite a lot of third class women and children did not survive. This is an example of classism. When people were boarding the lifeboats, it was ordered that only women and children can board at first. This is sexism.
"Gates did exist which barred the third class passengers from the other passengers" (Waites, "Steerage Passengers", p1).
"Third class passengers had to find their way through a maze of corridors and staircases to reach the boat deck. First and second class passengers were most likely to reach the lifeboats as the boat deck was a first and second promenade" (Waites, "Steerage Passengers", p6).
"When the lifeboats were finally lowered officers gave the order that "women and children" should go first. One hundred and fifteen men in first class and 147 men from second class are recorded as having stood back to make space available and as a result died" (Waites, "Steerage Passengers", p11).
"Class did make a difference however - less than one third of steerage passengers survived, although women and children survived in greater numbers across all classes as they were given priority on the lifeboats" (Waites, "Steerage Passengers", p13).
By: Laura Wilson
Researchers: Liam Taylor and Melissa Gilbert
Revised by: Everyone
An illustration of survivors on lifeboats while the Titanic sinks.
Text: Wilson, Laura. “Titanic Today” “Farrago” Farrago 8 August 2016 http://farragomagazine.com/2016/08/08/titanic-today/
Image: Pak, Eudie. “Titanic Anniversary: Stories of Tragedy and Survival.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 18 Apr. 2014, www.biography.com/news/titanic-anniversary-2014-survivor-stories
This source goes over both classism and sexism on the Titanic. To begin, first class passengers had a higher chance of surviving than say third class passengers because first class passengers were the first to be put on the lifeboats. Now here’s the sexism: women and children were evacuated onto the lifeboats first. Women and children, and the first class in general, had a greater chance of being put aboard the lifeboats and surviving than men, and people from lower classes in general.
“Social inequality at its most extreme and...most vertical, with...the richest visibly on top and the poorest visibly on the bottom. The sinking showed just how real the implications of an arbitrary class system can be with a 61% survival rate and only a 24% survival rate in third class” (Wilson, p4).
“ 'The poor people suffered so much more [than the rich],” he told me. “While children in third class drowned, first-class passengers escaped with their… Pekinese [dogs]… and two fur coats' ” (Wilson, p7).
By: HOWSTUFFWORKS.COM Contributors
Researcher: Jocelyn Pascual
Revised by: Everyone
This drawing depicts the Titanic sinking, and its lifeboats moving away.
Text: Contributors, HowStuffWorks.com. “How the Titanic Worked.” HowStuffWorks, HowStuffWorks, 13 Oct. 2008, adventure.howstuffworks.com/titanic.htm/printable.
Image: “How Did the Titanic Sink? Timeline of Events - CBBC Newsround.” BBC, BBC, www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/1766597
In this section, it tells you how the Titanic’s passengers were saved. It states that first class and second class passengers were moved from their cabins to the top deck of the ship, and that the third class passengers were to only be escorted to the top deck after them. This is an example of classism on the Titanic. Furthermore, the beginning of the entire article also says that about 125 first class passengers died while about 530 third class passengers died. In addition to there being classism, there was also some sexism. During the loading of passengers onto lifeboats, one of the officers in charge of the task only allowed women and children to board the lifeboats.
"As ocean water rose higher and higher in the ship, first- and second-class passengers were directed in droves to the highest deck. Third-class passengers were detained in the bottom decks and permitted to ascend to the Boat Deck only after the first and second classes were accounted for" (How The Titanic Worked, "The Titanic Disaster" Section, p4).
"But when you factor in the death count (about 1,513), the overt classism in life-saving efforts (123 first-class passengers died while nearly 527 third-class passengers perished)..." (How The Titanic Worked, First Section, Paragraph 3).
“Murdoch ushered as many people as possible into his boats; Lightoller permitted only women and children. By 2:00 a.m., all the lifeboats had been lowered, and half the ship's passengers and crew still remained” (How The Titanic Worked, "The Titanic Disaster" Section, p5).
By: Joe Woolley
Researcher: Allison Arciniega
Revised by: Everyone
A diagram of the Titanic's class separation that restricted the third class from efficiently getting to the lifeboats.
Text: Woolley, Joe. “Class and Gender in Shaping the Memory of the Titanic Disaster Since 1912.” Encyclopedia Titanica, Encyclopedia Titanica, 26 Nov. 2018, www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/class-gender-titanic-disaster-1912~chapter-2~part-2.html
Image: Woolley, Joe. “Class and Gender in Shaping the Memory of the Titanic Disaster Since 1912.” Encyclopedia Titanica, Encyclopedia Titanica, 26 Nov. 2018, www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/class-gender-titanic-disaster-1912~chapter-6~part-6.html
In the second chapter of this encyclopedia, the author thoroughly provides insight on possible classism on the Titanic. The author writes about the chance that the design of the Titanic could be proof of classism since it shows how bringing third class passengers to the Boat Deck, where the lifeboats were positioned, would be a difficult hassle. Now it’s important to also go over the chapter, chapter 3, that explores the influence of gender on the Titanic. In chapter 3 of the encyclopedia, the author explains how women (and children, though less significant) were prioritized when putting people on lifeboats. This can possibly be viewed as sexism, but, in an unbiased fashion, the author indepthly talks about how society’s view of man having to sacrifice themselves for women to prove their masculinity was the main reason for having women and children board the lifeboats.
"First and Second Class, are the only means of access to the Boat-Deck, while the two Third Class staircases give access to C-Deck only, a full three decks below the Boat-Deck. Here we find proof, it would seem, of a deliberate attempt in design to prevent Third Class passengers from reaching the boats in an emergency" (Woolley, Chapter 2, p5).
"This is a highly significant source in portraying a deep rooted gender conflict arising out of the Titanic disaster suggesting that if traditional gender roles are abandoned through universal suffrage then so should male compassion towards the plight of women" (Woolley, Chapter 3, p5).
By: David Aaronovitch
Researchers: Aida Martinez, Aliana Argota, Vanessa Macias, Reilly Brousseau, and Nadezhda Brennan
Revised by: Everyone
Females with hard lives, in the 1900's.
Text: Aaronovitch, David. “Did the Third Class Passengers on the Titanic Have a Fair Chance?” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 23 Oct. 2011, www.independent.co.uk/voices/did-the-third-class-passengers-on-the-titanic-have-a-fair-chance-1155678.html.
Image: “Brutal Facts About Life In The Early 1900s That Make Us Grateful To Be Alive Today.” Boredom Therapy, 17 Sept. 2018, boredomtherapy.com/facts-about-1900s-america/
This source, when summarized, is about how the third class passengers were mistreated to the point that many third class passengers died because of it. First class passengers had many luxurities, one of which was a higher chance of living through the sinking of the Titanic, yet of course not all first class passengers survived. Unlike the first class passengers, the third class passengers had far less freedom and comfort. At the time of evacuation on the Titanic, this classism that had accumulated overtime, and went as far as to the mostly well known fact that more first class men survived than third class women and children.
Interrogating the figures shows that - despite the strict "women and children first" policy - a greater proportion of first class men survived, than of third class children. (Aaronovitch, p6)
And other evidence states that there were many barriers between steerage and the rest of the ship, and that most of them stayed up. In addition some third-class passengers were denied initial access to the boats by sailors who forbade them to enter the first-class area. (Aaronovitch, p8)
If you have any questions regarding sexism, classism, and racism on the Titanic, contact:
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