The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (We the People: Industrial America)

Sweatshops in the early 1900s were notorious for overworking their employees in poor conditions. Since many of the workers were immigrants in desperate need of a job, employers forced the workers to labor through hours of overtime without any compensation. One such sweatshop, The Triangle Waist Company, disregarded the building’s safety codes, which led to a major fire in 1911. The company, which occupied the top three floors of the 10-story Asch Building, burned quickly, with large amounts of fabric and wood feeding the fire. With the exits blocked, hundreds of workers frantically scrambled to save themselves any way they could. The disaster would prove to be a driving force behind workers’ rights.