Heroes of American Labor

Paper Summary:

This paper studies some of the real unknown heroes of the American labor movement who contributed to the boom in manufacturing in the beginning of the last century. It details Pauline Newman's work in the New York Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and its known violations to women workers.
In the factory's terrible fire, 146 women were killed, mostly Jewish. It reports how William Shepherd, a journalist, covered the incident and how Upton Sinclair, the famous writer helped end this slave labor by writing about it. This paper gives an historical overview of this time in American history and concludes that these three people did a great deal in order to end the suffering of the workers.

From the Paper:

"In the beginning years of the last century, working conditions were grave, and life was a struggle for American workers coming from all walks of life. Many of these workers were immigrants, trapped in miserable and dangerous working conditions, struggling for a small livelihood in their new country. The jobs the immigrants performed were vital to America's booming manufacturing, yet most Americans barely knew these people existed and treated them like outsiders. Who was really fighting for them, then? As we look back upon a time when humans were used freely as slaves and kept in unsafe conditions, we are thankful to a few people who gave voice to all those hurt. As we look back to some of these heroes, such as Pauline Newman, William Shepherd, Upton Sinclair we are better able to understand a story that we can only read about. "

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• Book Review # 119362 : "Review of Acuna's Work on Occupied America"
• Comparison Essay # 83898 : "American Labor Legislation"
• Analytical Essay # 144029 : "American Labor Unions Prior to World War II"

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