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April 1, 2022 • Schneps Media
LOCAL NEWS
Remembering a tragedy
Marking 111th anniversary of deadly Triangle Shirtwaist fire
BY TEQUILA MINSKY
Neither a COVID resurgence
or construction sheds at
the site of the Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory fire — Greene
Street and Washington Place —
stopped committed activists from
marking the anniversary of one of
the deadliest industrial accidents
in U. S. history.
One hundred forty-six garment
workers, mostly young Jewish
and Italian immigrants, died
when locked stairwells and exits
prevented their escape from a fire
at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.
Firetruck ladders reached only
the sixth floor, while fire engulfed
the upper floors.
Workers on the 8th and 9th
floor either burned or jumped to
their death to escape the flames.
The youngest was 14, the oldest
43—123 women and girls
and 23 men.
On the anniversary date March
25, across the street from the
actual building— NYU’s Brown
Building then named the Asch
Building, the names of those who
died were written in chalk on the
sidewalk. Later that afternoon,
carnations appeared, each with
the name of one who perished.
Currently, green construction
sheds wrap around the building.
There are major fortifications of
the building’s foundation, getting
ready for the construction of the
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
Memorial, 10 years in the planning.
It is hoped by next year’s
anniversary, the Memorial will
be completed.
Wreaths attached to a shed
this year mark the date and
its significance.
Labor historian Dan Katz
stopped his walking tour across
the street to give a comprehensive
history of what led up to and followed
the tragic event. He mentioned
how a funeral procession
for the seven unidentified victims,
burned beyond recognition,
took place 11 days after the fire
on April 5, 1911.
Mourners—family members,
friends, union organizers, and
protestors— numbering 150,000
walked from Washington Square
Park up Fifth Avenue with
250,000 onlookers lining the
route. One in 10 New Yorkers
were present for the procession.
The fire led to building codes
and labor laws, improved factory
safety standards and helped spur
the growth of the ILGWU-the
International Ladies’ Garment
Workers’ Union.
This year’s tributes are particularly
poignant as activist friends
remembered veteran labor leader
Ed Vargas who passed away from
cancer last year. For decades, Ed
Vargas coordinated the annual
ceremony honoring the victims of
the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
fire. In the afternoon of Friday,
March 25, those who worked
and loved him met at the Factory
site to toast him.
As it happened at the time of
the fire, Mount Holyoke grad Frances
Perkins, 31, from a New England,
middle-class family, who was
working at the Consumers’ League
of New York lobbying to end child
labor, witnessed the fire and workers
escaping flames by jumping to
their death. A collective outpouring
of outrage swept the city. For
Frances Perkins, the Triangle Factory
fire was a major event that
defined her life.
This past Saturday, the day after
the Triangle Fire commemorations,
New Yorkers gathered to
co-name W. 40th St. between 9th
and 10th Avenues Frances Perkins
Place. It is the block where Perkins
first lived in New York City, in
Hartley House.
Councilman Erik Bottcher welcomed
the assembled, “It is a true
honor unveiling Frances Perkins
Place outside of Hartley House, her
former residence in Hell’s Kitchen!
Few Americans have had more of
a positive impact on our daily lives
than Frances Perkins as Secretary
of Labor under FDR.”
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Senate Majority Leader
Chuck Schumer plans to go
up the chain of command to
stop the Veterans Affairs Department
from closing two VA hospitals
in New York City, with the
senior pol saying he’ll bring the
issue to President Joe Biden.
Schumer announced Sunday
he’s launching a “battle plan” to
drum up opposition to the VA’s
scheme to shutter the two medical
facilities in Midtown Manhattan
and southern Brooklyn.
“Our vets sacrifice so much, and
so that is why, when it comes to
their care, we want to invest in it,
not deplete it or cut it—not on my
watch,” said Schumer in a statement
on March 27. “The battle plan to
ensure vets across New York, from
Brooklyn and beyond, get the care
they fought for has been drawn.”
The VA plans to consolidate the
two city outposts amid shrinking local
veteran populations, the Brooklyn
site being hard to reach by public
transit, and their aging facilities, according
to a report released by the
agency earlier this month.
Schumer said he will launch a
petition drive of people supporting
the move to keep the healthcare facilities
in place, and meet with the
federal agency and the president.
“Amongst many other things, I
am going to deliver the signatures
we collect as part of this effort
straight to the VA folks who penned
this proposal, and I am going to
be meeting with the VA, engaging
the White House and more,”
Schumer said.
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
While remembrances were on-line this year, like peformer activist Lulu Lolo showed up at the site in
tribute to Ed Vargas who for decades coordinated the annual commemoration.
FILE PHOTO
Veterans and politicians rally outside the Brooklyn VA March 13.
Schumer vows to push Biden, feds
against NYC VA hospital closures