Social Reform Through Time: Tenement Life & Unsafe Working Conditions

1. Warm-UpThursday 5/3 • Pick up a sheet from the center desk and wait for instructions from Mr. Marley.

2. Social Reform #3 Tenement Life • The Over- Crowding of the Cities • Poor Living Conditions • Unsanitary Conditions

6. Airshaft of a dumbbell tenement, New York City, taken from the roof, c. 1900.

9. Two officials of the New York City Tenement House Department inspect a cluttered basement living room, ca. 1900. 196-GS-32.

10. Social Reform #4 Unsafe Working Conditions/Child Labor • Fewer Hours • Higher Wages • Safer Factories • Unions

11. Mar. 25, 1911 • The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory operated on the top 3 floors of the 10 story Asche Building in New York City

12. In 1911, Unsafe working conditions lead to a deadly fire • Notice that the tallest ladders owned by the fire dept. only reach the 6th floor

13. Rather than burn alive in the swift moving fire, many women jump from windows

15. This is actually a photo of the building after the fire! Note how there is very little damage on the outside of the building

17. Eight months after the fire, a jury acquitted the factory owners, of any wrong doing. • Twenty-three individual civil suits were brought against the owners of the Asch building. On March 11, 1913, three years after the fire, the owners settled. They paid 75 dollars per life lost. • This tragedy led to a push for comprehensive safety and workers compensation laws.

18. Child labor photos