The Triangle Fire Centennial Commemoration & The Bay Area Connection

THE TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE OF 1911 WAS A PIVOTAL MOMENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY. NOT ONLY DID IT CREATE A PROTOCOL FOR WORKPLACE SAFETY, IT SET A PRECEDENT IN THE LABOR MOVEMENT AS A WHOLE. ONE HUNDRED FORTY-SIX PEOPLE DIED ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO ON MARCH 25...THEY WERE MOSTLY POOR FEMALE IMMIGRANTS, SOME FROM ITALY AND OTHERS FROM THE UKRAINE AND RUSSIA OF JEWISH ANCESTRY. THEY ALL CAME TO AMERICA LOOKING FOR A BETTER LIFE, TO MAKE MONEY TO SEND BACK HOME TO THEIR FAMILIES AND TO ESCAPE RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION.

LITTLE IS KNOWN TO WEST COAST RESIDENTS ABOUT THE CONNECTION OF THE TRIANGLE FIRE AND HOW IT AFFECTED THE WORKING CLASS ON A NATIONAL LEVEL. WE WILL HEAR FROM EILEEN NEVITT WHOSE PATERNAL GRANDMOTHER, ANNIE SPINSTOCK, HAS BEEN LAUDED FOR HER HEROISM IN SAVING KATIE WEINER THE LAST PERSON TO ESCAPE THE INFERNO. WE WILL ALSO HEAR THE STORY OF DORA MILLER MAISLER, THE MATERNAL GRANDMOTHER OF STEVE ROSEN WHO ALSO SURVIVED THE FIRE AND WENT ON TO BECOME A LIFELONG SUPPORTER OF LABOR RIGHTS.
ALL THIS AND MORE ON THIS PACIFICA RADIO - KPFA SPECIAL COMMEMORATING THE CENNTINIAL OF: THE TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE OF 1911 AND THE BAY AREA CONNECTION HERE ON – KPFA. I'M SABRINA JACOBS.