[1C] Collection / Immigration Narrative
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Of the 146 workers who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911, the majority were young Jewish women. The ethnic makeup of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company workers was typical at the time. The shirtwaist industry in New York and the garment industry as a whole was almost entirely staffed by immigrants and first-generation Americans. Most in the shirtwaist industry were Russian Jews, though a significant portion were Italians; the rest were mostly Hungarian or German.
Although many Jewish immigrants claimed to have previous experience in needlework, the relatively uniform ethnic background of the workers is arguably not primarily attributable to a particular predilection amongst Jewish and Italian immigrants to take up needle-work. Rather it was a combination of timing, opportunity, and economic contingency - the same factors, as Nancy L. Green argues, that have consistently led to recent immigrants taking up work in the garment industry across the Western world during the past century. Whether in New York in 1911 or modern San Francisco, Russian Jews or ethnic Chinese, the role of the garment worker has historically been taken up by recent immigrants. They consistently find work in the industry because of the low skill threshold, their desire to rapidly find employment, language barriers, and ties to their ethnic communities. Employment patterns also show that it is rare for their children (second- or third- generation migrants) to remain within the garment industry - it is overwhelmingly the domain of recent arrivals and their children. [Green; Binders/Reimers 114-5.]
The abundance of Jewish workers in the garment industry in 1911 can be correlated to the "New Migrant" wave of the late 1890s and early 1900s. Before 1880, the majority of immigrants to New York came from Great Britain, Germany and Ireland ("Old Migrants"). On arrival the Germans had been considered working class and many had themselves worked in the garment industry. By the 1880s, however, many German families had moved into the middle class. The Italians and Russian Jews were to fill the vacancy left in the garment industry, but eventually they too would follow a similar pattern of upward mobility. [Binder/Reimers, 96-7]
After 1880, and particularly after 1900, the majority of migrants began arriving from southern and eastern Europe, the exodus spurred on by economic and social changes. In 1882, the Russian Czar began passing anti-Semitic decrees and there was a spate of government-sanctioned pogroms, causing many Russian Jews to flee the country. Meanwhile in the Austro-Hungarian empire thousands of peasants were forced to leave their land due to consolidation in the agriculture industry; while rising taxes and unemployment in Italy and Sicily also drove many peasants away. Canada and Latin America were also seen as lands of opportunity, but the majority of migrants fleeing Europe made their way to America. [Binder/Reimers, 96-103]
2 million Jews left Europe for America after 1880 and three-quarters were Russian; a similar proportion of that total settled in New York City, and by 1910, Russian Jews were New York's largest immigrant group. Immmigration figures for 1899-1914 show that 40% of Jews declared previous experience in the clothing industry. By 1900 Jews occuped 3/4 of the 236,000 positions in the New York garment industry; and 60% of Jewish workers were employed in clothing production. [Binders/Reimers 114-5, 122-3]
The failed Russian revolution of 1905 led to an influx of Russian Jews with socialist leanings, and they played upon their ties with the Jewish community to garner support for union and socialist activity. As a result Jewish workers tended to more inclined to join and support unions than other migrant groups. For example, in the 1909-10 "Uprising of the 20,000" - the massive statewide strike of women shirtwaistmakers - union leaders noted that the Jewish girls were often much more committed than their Italian counterparts. [Binders/Reimers 124]
After the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 25 March, 1911, when so many of their own were lost, the Jewish community's support of trade unions only strengthened. By 1914 the United Hebrew Trades represented over 100 unions with a combined membership of over 250,000 workers. [Binders/Reimers 125]