Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, photographer unknown, March 25, 1911. Courtesy of the Kheel Center, Cornell University.
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, photographer unknown, March 25, 1911. Courtesy of the Kheel Center, Cornell University.
Franklin D. Roosevelt's future Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins, witnessed New York's Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in 1911. She was horrified to watch young women pray as they jumped to their deaths to escape the flames. When the fire broke out, the factory's doors were locked and fire escapes inoperable, resulting in the deaths of 146 young women, children, and men in eighteen minutes. Witnessing this tragedy intensified Perkins's resolve to reform industrial regulations. Soon after, Theodore Roosevelt recommended her to be the executive secretary of the Committee on Safety of the City of New York. In this role, Perkins visited workplaces and exposed hazardous work conditions.