Blackard(2), Costa(3), Triay(3)

Process Paper
For Our project, we chose the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the Rights of Garment Workers for our topic. We chose this topic because we felt that it relates to the theme well. We found this topic in a sample topic list and researched it; finding it intriguing because it was one of the most deadliest industrial accidents in New York and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life in the United States, and worthy of use in our History Day project. On March 25, 1911 a fire broke out in a ten story building known as the Asch Building of New York city. The fire took place in the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors which were occupied by garment workers. Because of the working conditions at that time, there were many safety hazards, therefore resulting in this tragic event. Most of the workers resorted to jumping out the windows as an escape route, which most of the time led to death. We used a variety of resources to research this topic: websites, books, newspaper articles, letters, and videos. We researched at the libraries at Cal Poly Pomona and Azusa Pacific University. There have been many sources that have provided us with a lot of accurate information. For example, a newspaper article by The New York Times, Crowd At Police Station; Mercer Street is Turned Into an Emergency Hospital, gave us much information. Also a page from New Jersey On-Line has also provided accurate information. These sources, as well as many others, will be extremely helpful in our project. We have decided to present this topic as a website. We feel that a website is the best way to present this topic because a website can display information about the fire and rights of the workers in a more modern way. The fire occurred in 1911, so the information about it before was all in print resources. Because of this, we could add media elements, such as videos and pictures to the project; which would not be possible if we did our project as an essay.

Blackard(2), Costa(3), Triay(3) The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the Rights of Garment Workers relates to the theme Rights and Responsibilities in History because after the fire, rights of garment workers were looked over, and as a result, they were given better working conditions in factories. Although some factory workers today are still deprived of rights and good working conditions, the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire made the United States Government and factory owners realize that workers need more rights so incidents like that do not happen in the future.