Memorial honors 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire deaths that galvanized US labor movement

abcnews.go.com:

The victims and legacy of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire are being remembered with a new memorial

NEW YORK — If people really looked for history at the New York City building where the Triangle Shirtwaist factory once existed, they could find it. There are plaques pointing out that it was the site of a horrific fire in 1911 that became a catalyst in the American labor movement's fight for workplace safety protections.

But for some, a few words on a wall aren't nearly enough to honor the fire's 146 victims.

So after years of effort, the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition on Wednesday dedicated a new memorial that has no chance of being overlooked, welcoming a crowd that included victims' descendants, union members and elected officials.

A giant steel ribbon with the names of those who died in the disaster, predominantly women and girls, has been installed running horizontally from one corner of the building. Underneath it, a reflective panel shows the stenciled names as well as quotes from people who were there, describing the mayhem.

In the coming weeks, a vertical steel column will be added to the corner to span almost the entire height of the building, a reference to how high up the victims were stuck.

It’s the story of desperate immigrant women, mostly Jewish and Italian, who were trapped by a door that was locked because there were no workplace safety rules that said it couldn’t be. Some jumped to their deaths from the windows to avoid the flames.

“What they will see is a memorial that tries to build into the object itself the history of the fire, a history of working women, a history of Italians and Jews, a history of tragedy, but then also a history of change,” Mary Anne Trasciatti, a Hofstra