Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Research Paper

Words: 1200
Pages: 5

There are many examples of uses and abuses of power in the past and present United States. One good example is slavery in the Mid 1800’s, not only did rich whites discriminate against African Americans, it enhanced the discrimination in the US. Another example from the past is the Labor Union. Women are overworked, underpaid, and dying from their work environments. No laws were in place to protect them, so they fought until there were laws and regulations that protected women all around the US. My last example is from the present day, which we are currently fighting, abortion rights. Congress and lawmakers think they have the right to decide what happens to a women’s body that is out of their control. The following paragraphs will discuss in …show more content…
In order to fight against these challenges, they created labor unions. One significant event that contributes to societal impacts is the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire which took place on March 25, 1911 in New York City. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was a garment factory and its employees consisted of young immigrant women working long hours in harsh conditions for minimum wages. Unfortunately, a fire broke out on the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors, killing 146 workers. The fire was able to spread quickly due to the locked doors and not functioning fire escapes. This was not an uncommon occurrence and happened multiple times before people began to speak up. This leads us into political impacts such as how the laws changed which led to more rights for women, safer workplaces, better work times, and equal pay. After so many fires and horror stories came out about these working conditions, people decided to strike. “The largest women's union was the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, which represented women in clothing factories. In 1909, thousands of New York City garment workers walked off their jobs to protest poor working conditions and low pay.” Sourced from TCI lesson 25, section …show more content…
Many other companies who weren’t burned down closed because of lack of employment or because they didn’t want to comply with the new labor laws. Labor unions were very useful in providing safer working environments for many women and are very important to this day in keeping people safe. There are countless examples of uses and abuses of power in present day America, such as abortion rights. Abortion laws have been a large issue in the last few years here in the US. Many people believe that women should have the rights over their bodies and the government should stay out of it, however some people believe that abortion should be illegal because it kills a child. Currently, fourteen states have made abortion illegal. Women have no control over their bodies, and some struggle to get abortions when they truly need them. Many women are put in a situation where they can not afford a child, their child will not live after being born, it is a health issue for the mother and her life is put at risk and more. Many women have had to drive or fly hours to get an abortion because they fear being punished in their home state or getting their doctor in trouble or