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Emotions were raw while stories were shared at the Roosevelt House event that recalled the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire from 1911 and the art that has been created around it.<\/p>\nEmotions were raw while stories were shared at the Roosevelt House event that recalled the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire from 1911 and the art that has been created around it.<\/p>\n
In \u201cRemembering the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: Art as Activism\u201d held last week at Roosevelt House, nine women presented stories and artwork inspired by the fire, including poetry, songs and quilts. When a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company on the Lower East Side in 1911, 145 workers were trapped and killed, largely because all the fire escapes were locked or chained shut. The fire brought attention to the dangerous working conditions in sweatshops and triggered changes in the law to protect workers.<\/p>\n
Most of these women at the recent event here are members of the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition, a group formed by activists to keep the history of women\u2019s and workers\u2019 rights alive and to educate others on this piece of history.<\/p>\n
Robin Berson, a historian and author, has been making protest quilts throughout her career to show the lives lost in warehouse fires all over the world. She sews portraits of those lost with their names together on one big quilt.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t want to show corpses, there\u2019s plenty of that,\u201d Berson said. \u201cYou want to show human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bracha N. Bomze read her poem to the crowd from her book \u201cLove Justice.\u201d The audience teared up as she told a story about her wife\u2019s grandmother who was denied a job at the Triangle factory just weeks before it burned down. She cried when referencing that if she had gotten the job, she would not have met her wife. Her book is for sale at Roosevelt House for those who are interested in political poetry.<\/p>\n
Emma Raynes spoke about Taslima Akhter, who is an activist in Bangladesh fighting to end the inhumane working conditions for garment workers there. She spoke about the Rana Plaza collapse that killed over 1,000 workers and sparked her activism career.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey think of them [garment workers] like a number, not a human being,\u201d said Akhter in an interview with Raynes.<\/p>\n
Annie Lanzillotto and Rose Imperato, performers and activists, sang songs and excerpts from \u201cThe Ballad of Joe Zito,\u201d \u201cTriangle Fire Songbook\u201d and \u201cSchistsong.\u201d<\/p>\n
The presentations sparked interest in the audience, especially for Sarah Turk, 37, a Hunter student who attended the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really found the protest quilt idea, what\u2019s actually been done, very interesting,\u201d said Turk. \u201cIt\u2019s something I want to learn more about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others felt inspired by these women for their dedication and commitment to their cause and for fighting for those in these terrible working conditions and remembering those who have been lost already.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\u201cI found it inspiring that whoever you are can do something to make a change and remember those who were lost,\u201d said Allie Slomko, 30.<\/p>\n
Other performances included LuLu LoLo, who gave a dramatic performance from \u201cSoliloquy for a Seamstress;\u201d Pamela Koehler, who gave a presentation about fiber arts; and Ruth Segel, who is the founder of Chalk. This event was run by professors in the women and gender studies program, Deborah Tolman and Carmelina Carteri.<\/p>\n
Red Washburn, an English and women and gender studies professor at Hunter, brought her students so they could learn about the importance of women\u2019s and labor rights and the ways in which art and activism bear witness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese women\u2019s lives should never be forgotten, and we must continue to find ways to center their lives and work, especially in this political moment of rampant inequality,\u201d said Washburn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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