The Triumph of the People

Image courtesy of The Kheel Center, 1911.

triumph of the people

Though the news reports were tragic, they showed the American people how dangerous factories were. Society saw for the first time what could and would happen if conditions persisted.

Clip from personal Skype interview with Dr. Jeanne Stellman, Professor Emerita and Special Lecturer, Department of Health Policy & Management, School of Public Health, Columbia University.

Some newspapers reporting on the fire. (Click to enlarge)

The New York Times reporting on the fire, 1911. Courtesy of The New York Times Archives.

The New York Evening Post reporting on the fire, 1911. Courtesy of New York Daily Mail.

The New York Tribune reporting on the fire, 1911. Courtesy of Chronicling America.

The newspaper in Oklahoma had reports of the fire as well, 1911. Courtesy of The Jewish Women's Archive.

A newspaper from Ohio reporting on the fire, 1911. Courtesy of The Library of Congress.

The Logan Republic from Utah reporting on the fire, 1911. Courtesy of The Library of Congress.

The funeral took place several days after the tragedy... All New York came to the funeral.

- Mary Domsky-Abrams, a survivor, in an interview with Leon Stein. Courtesy of Ludmila wordpress.

The American public felt they needed to mourn the victims. Garment unions organized an official day of mourning including a funeral procession for the public. 120,000 people came to the procession, in the rain.

A flyer used to notify factory workers of the funeral proceedings, 1911. Courtesy of The Kheel Center

The funeral proceeding, 1911. Courtesy of Spokane.

New Yorkers gathered in the rain to watch the funeral, 1911. Courtesy of UNITE archives.

The Women's Trade Union set up relief work for the victim's families, and ended up raising $30,000 ($793,367.37 in today's dollar).

The Women's Trade Union League meeting to discuss the relief fund. Courtesy of The Kheel Center.

So far as I am aware, this was the first time that a trade union in the United States not only collected money for relief but also organized its own relief work and directly administered the funds collected. For this reason, the work accomplished has a special value, since it demonstrates what a union of workers can do along these lines when it approaches the task confidently and energetically.

- William Mailly in the American Federationist. Courtesy of Internet Archive.

Workers and non-workers alike united to protest on the streets and demanded that justice be served.

People protesting unsafe conditions and child labor after the fire. Courtesy of, "Out of The Flames" by Kristen Lewis.

There was a stricken conscience of public guilt and we all felt that we had been wrong, that something was wrong with that building which we had accepted or the tragedy never would have happened. Moved by this sense of stricken guilt, we banded ourselves together to find a way by law to prevent this kind of disaster.

- Frances Perkins, a witness and future Secretary of Labor, on the reaction of the public. Courtesy of "Flesh and Blood so Cheap" by Albert Marrin.