[2C] Bodies / Immigration Analysis
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One of the saddest aspects of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire was the youth of its victims. The women whose bodies lie broken on the street in this photo and this, and whose bodies crashed through the pavement, seen here, comprised a single generation. They were almost exclusively women in their late teens and early twenties, and most were unmarried. Moreover almost all came from just two communities: the Russian Jewish and Italian migrants of New York. In these two recently arrived migrant groups, almost all young women who entered the workforce found employment in the garment 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.