Summary

In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire occurred near Washington Square Park in New York City. This incident was a tragedy starting with a cigarette in a shirtwaist factory, up on the eighth floor. The fire spread quickly, and soon the conflagration took over most of the building. 47 of the factory workers ended up jumping, many of them from the ninth floor. People pushed and shoved their way into the elevators to try to save their lives, in a sea of terror and confusion.

All of New York City heard about the fire, and the city grieved together. Rather than simply grieving, one New Yorker who witnessed the incident, Frances Perkins, let herself feel moral indignation that drove her to lobby for workers’ rights more intensely than ever before. Rather than compromising with general opinion or focusing on her upper-class upbringing, she dedicated...