Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Warren Cites Lessons Of Triangle Shirtwaist Fire In Her Largest Rally Ever

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire lives on — in the political rhetoric of Elizabeth Warren.

On Monday evening, Warren held a 20,000-strong rally — her largest of the campaign — in New York City’s Washington Square Park, just two blocks from where the fire occurred 108 years ago. It remains one of the deadliest industrial disasters in U.S. history: Women sewing garments in the factory were trapped in the fire because the exit door had been locked by factory management. Some 146 people died from suffocation, from burns or after throwing themselves out of the factory windows.

The story of the fire, and of the people whose careers in public service it inspired, framed one of Warren’s most compelling — and widely reported on — speeches yet. She spoke about Frances Perkins, a witness of the fire, who became the first woman secretary in a presidential cabinet, and how Perkins partnered with activists to bring herself into a historic role and make sweeping changes to the labor code.

“We’re not here because of famous arches or famous men. In fact, we’re not here because of men at all,” she said. “We’re here because of some hard-working women.”

Warren put a fine point on the story by bringing it up to present day, and comparing Perkins’ fight with her own fight to limit the amount of corporate influence in politics, especially in the areas of climate change, health care and gun laws.

“On the face of it, these three are totally different issues,” she said. “But despite our being the strongest and wealthiest country in the history of the world, our democracy is paralyzed. And why? Because giant corporations have bought off our government.”

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire has remained a focal point of labor history and Jewish history: Many of the seamstresses in the factory who died were Jewish recent immigrants. Forward reporters were on the scene on the day in 1911 that the fire occurred. The Forward also covered the aftermath of the fire extensively as well.

Last year, the composer Julia Wolfe premiered a work inspired by the fire, as part of a commemoration which included an exhibit of archival materials from the Forward.

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.