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Overview:
Dramatic change characterized the rapid industrialization of nineteenth-century
America. The economy, politics, society and specifically women were all affected.
In the early stages of this economic revolution, manufacturing was moved to
factories in newly developing urban areas. Young women began working in the
textile industry as early as 1820. Later on as goods were increasingly produced
by machines run by unskilled labor, the number of women in the industrial workforce
grew. Women entered the ranks of industrial workforce as seamstresses who produced
ready-made clothing in the city sweatshops. One event, the Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory fire, helps us to understand the experience of these women.
Using the classroom as an historical laboratory, students can use primary and
secondary sources to research the history of women and the industrialization
of America in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Objectives:
1. Students will create a model to evaluate the validity of historical evidence.
2. Students will examine primary documents and factual references to analyze
the effects of technology on America in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
3. Students will examine how the industrial revolution changed the lives of
women.
4. Students will analyze the causes and effects of the Triangle Factory fire
and consider the historical context of the event.
Activity One:
- Analysis of the documents:
- Have the class read various accounts of the
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Then, as a class,
begin a discussion about a strategy for identifying
information in the documents. As a class, formulate
a list of questions in order to identify relevant
information from the accounts. Questions regarding
the author's relationship to the fire—witness,
survivor, newspaper reported, official--will help
the students to visualize and imagine the event
and its significance to our understanding of factory
work in New York City.
- Critiquing the documents to identify bias. Ask
the students about the author's purpose in order
to clarify the contextual conditions that influence
perceptions.
- The following websites provide information about
the fire from a variety of sources. There are primary
documents that include images, accounts from survivors,
witnesses and diverse interested parties.
- Have the students write a model for analysis that
will help them read the documents with a critical
eye. Students should understand that they will be
using the documents to create their own account of
the event.
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