Justice Served

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The Triangle Fire and it's Legacy

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 was the most lethal workplace tragedy in American history until the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The lower Manhattan blaze killed 146 workers, most of them young, female immigrants of Jewish and Italian descent. Author Albert Marrin traces the history of the garment industry, exploring the immigrant experience of the early 1900s, including the sweatshop conditions many new arrivals to America were forced to endure. The Triangle fire prompted activists to lobby for reforms, resulting in improved safety standards and working conditions that we now take for granted.

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Cesar Chavez

Cesar Chavez was a Mexican-American activist who dedicated his life to promoting non-violent approaches to labor reform. He drew on his experiences as a migrant worker to found the National Farm Workers Association with fellow activist, Dolores Huerta in 1962. Through boycotts, hunger strikes, and marches, Chavez and his supporters successfully improved the lives of farmers around the country, and his speeches about justice, community, and education still resonate with community activists and politicians today. President Barack Obama adopted Chavez’s most famous motto, “Si, se puede,” as his 2008 campaign slogan.

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Harriet Tubman

The years prior to the Civil War were especially perilous for escaped slaves, but Harriet Tubman returned again and again to the South to help fugitive slaves gain freedom. Where did her physical and moral courage come from?

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Shirley Chisholm: Equal Rights for Women Speech

From 1954-1980 many women went from housewives, to entering the workforce. However, gender discrimination still remained prevalent throughout the time period. Women were not being hired for work that was considered “males work.” This caused labor unions, and many other organizations to fight for women equality in the workforce. Shirley Chisholm, the first African American congresswoman to be elected in the House of Representatives, comments on the issue of gender discrimination in the workforce. She gives a speech called “Equal Rights for Women,” in Washington D.C. on May 21, 1969 to the House of Representatives.

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The New Colossus

Emma Lazarus was a 19th-century American poet best known for her work “The New Colossus,” a poetic tribute to the Statue of Liberty. Originally written for a Liberty fundraiser, the poem lay forgotten for almost twenty years before revived interest led to its engraving, in 1903, on a brass plaque at the base of the statue. The title of the poem refers to the Colossus of Rhodes, a towering bronze statue of the sun god Helios that was erected in the ancient Greek city of Rhodes to celebrate a military victory over Cyprus. Almost one hundred feet high, the Colossus of Rhodes was one of the tallest statues of its time and is now considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

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Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi was born in India in 1869. At that time, India had been ruled by Great Britain for centuries. Although colonial India benefited from mass transportation and communication systems, British rule in India was harsh. Indians endured limited rights and became economically dependent on the British colonizers. Gandhi believed that India should be free, and he worked to unite all Indians to protest British rule without using violence. Thousands of people followed Gandhi’s example, and he became one of India’s foremost leaders. India achieved independence in 1947, but Gandhi was assassinated the following year.

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Nelson Mandela

From prisoner to president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela was one of the political stories of the twentieth century. In 1944, Mandela became a leader in the African National Congress, a political party that opposed South Africa’s policy of racial segregation. In 1962, Mandela was jailed for his political activities, and after a widely publicized trial, was sentenced to life in prison. Over the years, Mandela became the world’s best-known political prisoner, gaining international support for his fight against apartheid. He was released from captivity in 1990, and went on to become South Africa’s first black president.

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