The Garment Industry
70% of all women’s clothing in America was fabricated on the Lower East Side in 1900.
Many Jews, especially young women, worked in the ever-growing garment industry of New York City.
Why did so many Jewish women and men go into the garment industry when they immigrated?
- Followed the German Jews
- Some (the men) had experience in tailoring
- Many jobs available in the industry
- Minimal English required
- Skills could be easily taught
- Mechanization made jobs a bit easier
“The Garment Worker” by Judith Weller
7th Avenue (Between W 39th and W 40th St)
Needle Threading a Button
7th Avenue (Between W 39th and W 40th St)
Jewish Labor History in NYC on Dipity.
- Shops–> bad lighting, dirty, hot, poor ventilation
- Low wages
- Long hours
- No worker’s compensation
- Unions (ILGWU) not recognized
- Employers did not agree to closed shop
- Workers easily replaced
On November 22, 1909, dozens of shirtwaist factory workers, mostly Jewish immigrant women, came together for a meeting called by The International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) at the Great Hall in Cooper Union. There was great unrest in this small yet strong community of women because of the conditions of these shirtwaist factories. Workers from the Leiserson Shirtwaist Factory and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory had been striking outside of the factories since the summer of 1909, but now they gathered to discuss the benefits of having a general strike of all the shirtwaist makers in New York City.
During that late November meeting, a number of union organizers and labor activists, most of which were men, gave speeches about the poor working conditions of these workers, but none of them encouraged the workers to go on a general strike. At this time women were still looked as gentle and highly emotional and most men didn’t believe that these young Jewish girls were capable of leading a successful strike against these powerful companies. However, Clara Lemlich, a twenty-three year old shirtwaist maker, would be the first out of thousands of women who would prove these men wrong. During the meeting, Lemlich interrupted a speaker and said in Yiddish, “I want to say a few words…I am a working girl…on of those who are on strike against intolerable conditions. I am listening to speakers who talk in general terms. What we are here for is to decide whether we shall or shall not strike. I offer a resolution that a general strike be declared—now”. With these words, the shirtwaist makers decided to go on a general strike, which would come to be known as the Uprising of 20,000. It would turn into the first major women’s strike in U.S. history.The Uprising of 20,000
Photo Sources: Jewish Women’s Archive, Lower East Side Tenement Museum, New York Architecture, Period Paper, YIVO, The Kheel Center at Cornell University, Library of Congress, Brown Brothers, New York Public Library Digital Gallery
Map Locations
1. Asch Building (now Brown Building) 23-29 Washington Place The 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of the Asch Building were owned by the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. 2. The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) 11 Waverly Place The ILGWU became one of the strongest unions because of worker dissatisfaction with the garment industry in New York City. 3. Great Hall at Cooper Union 7 East 7th Street On November 22, 1909, hundreds of shirtwaist workers gathered at Cooper Union. Clara Lemlich’s rousing words encouraged the workers to go on a general strike which would eventually come to be known as the Uprising of 20,000. 4. The Forward Building 173 East Broadway The Forward was a socialist newspaper founded by Abraham Cahan. 5. Lower East Side Tenement Museum97 Orchard Street This museum used to be a tenement building and contains models of the sweatshops that existed in NYC at the time. 6. Leiserson Shirtwaist Factory 26 West 17th Street Clara worked in this factory before she went on strike in 1909. 7. Hippodrome Theatre 1120 Avenue of the Americas On December 5, 1909, thousands of people gathered here for a large labor meeting during the Uprising of 20,000. 8. HIAS Building 425 Lafayette Street HIAS was an organization that helped Jewish families find housing and employment. 9. Clinton Hall Lafayette Street (between Astor Place and E. 8th St.) The shirtwaist workers set up headquarters in this building during the New York Shirtwaist Strike of 1909. 10. “The Garment Worker” and Needle Threading a Button 7th Avenue (between W. 39th St. and W. 40th St.) “The Garment Worker” and Needle Threading a Button were placed in the Garment District to pay homage to the time when the area was filled with garment factories. 11. Metropolitan Opera House 64 Columbus Avenue On April 2, 1909, Rose Schneiderman, a labor activist, spoke about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and she called for all workers to stand up for their rights. 12. Blackwells Island (now Roosevelt’s Island) East River Some strikers were sent to prison on Blackwells Island. *Note: All video clips about the Triangle Fire are from a CUNY TV special commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Triangle fire.
Reenactment of Clara Lemlich’s Speech at the Cooper Union on November 22, 1909
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out on the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of the Asch Building. These floors were owned by the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, the factory owners, had not agreed to union recognition despite the Uprising of 20,000.
Map of Where the 146 Victims Lived
Source: Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition
Statistics from Kheel Center at Cornell University
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
Brian Jones reading from an account of the fire given by a United Press reporter:
Metropolitan Klezmer performing Di Fayer Korbunes at the commemoration:
Di Fayer Korbunes (The Fire’s Sacrifices)
“Dortn iz mayn rue platz” (There is My Resting Place)
Lyrics by Morris Rosenfeld, 1911
Rosenfeld wrote this song for the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.
English Translation:
Don’t look for me where myrtles are green.
You will not find me there, my beloved.
Where lives wither at the machines,
There is my resting place.
Don’t look for me where birds sing.
You will not find me there, my beloved.
I am a slave where chains ring,
There is my resting place.
Don’t look for me where fountains spray.
You will not find me there, my beloved.
Where tears flow and teeth gnash,
There is my resting place.
And if you love me with true love,
So come to me, my good beloved,
And cheer my gloomy heart
And make sweet my resting place.
Reenactment of the speech made by Rose Schneiderman in response to the Triangle Fire at the Metropolitan Opera House on April 2, 1911:
“This is not the first time girls have been burned alive in the city. Every week I must learn of the untimely death of one of my sister workers. Every year thousands of us are maimed. The life of men and women is so cheap and property is so sacred. There are so many of us for one job it matters little if 146 of us are burned to death.
I can’t talk fellowship to you who are gathered here. Too much blood has been spilled. I know from my experience it is up to the working people to save themselves. The only way they can save themselves is by a strong working-class movement.”
