Striking shirtwaist makers selling copies of The Call, the New York socialist newspaper, are depicted in Triangle Fire, a documentary film, part of the PBS American Experience series, which airs Feb. 28 on TPT-2. The film, directed by Jamila Wignot, highlights a period when Jewish immigrants flooded into America seeking better lives for themselves and their families, but were quickly disillusioned by the harsh conditions of sweatshop labor. Spurred on by tragic events, such as the March 25, 1911, fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City, Jews became active in the forefront of the American labor movment. — M.S.
(Photo: Courtesy of International Ladies Garment Workers Union Archives, Kheel Center, Cornell University)
(Photo: Courtesy of International Ladies Garment Workers Union Archives, Kheel Center, Cornell University)
