Tammany Braves and Fiery Girls: The Legacy of the Uprising of Twenty-thousand and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

As part of independent historical research, I examined the events surrounding the garment workers’ strike of winter 1909-1910, known as the Uprising of Twenty-thousand, as well as the tragedy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. These events, while little known in public consciousness, had a profound effect on the development of American history, from the fall of Tammany Hall to the notorious People vs. Max Blanck. I consulted various primary sources available to me through Cornell University, including newspaper articles from The New York Times, Joseph Pullitzer’s New York World, and socialist newspaper the New York Call. In addition I reviewed Triangle fire survivor testimony and striker testimony, including that of Clara Lemlich. Invaluable to my research was the partial trial transcript of People vs. Max Blanck, made available by Cornell University. While there are few secondary sources on the subject, Leon Stein’s classic The Triangle Fire was a starting point, with David von Drehle’s updated tome Triangle: The Fire that Changed America an especially helpful resource in chronicling the rise and fall of Tammany during the strike. Through my research I found that these events fundamentally shaped American history, and set the pace for the New Deal that would culminate in the 1930s