Candid and intimate accounts of the factory-worker tragedy that shaped American labor rights On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out on the eighth floor of the Asch Building in Greenwich Village, New York. The top three floors housed the Triangle Waist Company, a factory where approximately 500 workers, mostly young immigrant women and girls, labored to produce fashionable cotton blouses, known as "waists." The fire killed 146 workers in a mere 15 minutes but pierced the perpetual conscience of citizens everywhere. The Asch Building had been considered a modern fireproof structure, but inadequate fire safety regulations left the workers inside unprotected. The tragedy of the fire, and the resulting movements for change, were pivotal in shaping workers' rights and unions. A powerful collection of diverse voices, Talking to the Girls: Intimate and Political Essays on the Triangle Fire brings together stories from writers, artists, activists, scholars, and family members of the Triangle workers. Nineteen contributors from across the globe speak of a singular event with remarkable impact. One hundred and eleven years after the tragic incident, Talking to the Girls articulates a story of contemporary global relevance and stands as an act of collective testimony: a written memorial to the Triangle victims.
Edvige Giunta (Editor) Edvige Giunta is a professor of English at New Jersey City University. She is the author of Writing with an Accent: Contemporary Italian American Women Authors and co-editor of five anthologies, including The Milk of Almonds and Embroidered Stories. Born in Sicily, she first became interested in the Triangle fire as a young activist. She has trained scores of students in the art of memoir and created the first course devoted to the Triangle fire. Mary Anne Trasciatti (Editor) Mary Anne Trasciatti is President of the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition. The daughter and granddaughter of garment workers, she has devoted the past twelve years of her life to ensuring the creation of a Triangle Fire Memorial. She is a professor of Rhetoric and Director of Labor Studies program at Hofstra University in Long Island. She is co-editor of the forthcoming Where are the Workers? Labor's Stories at Museums and Historic Sites.
This work brings labor's history to life with stories and voices that have echoed down through generations. Apropos in these times as we are reminded of the horror of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire that fueled union organizing and union demands for enforceable occupational safety standards. As we learned then and painfully know now, workplace safety doesn't just happen. The essays create a rich, unique view of our past while calling us to stand in solidarity today. -- Sara Nelson, International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO This deeply moving and poignant anthology reminds us that the past is not over. By feeling the truth of the Triangle Fire-the trauma, the loss, and the fury-each essay invites us to remember the beauty of workers and organizers then and today who fight for a world where the wellbeing of workers is not sacrificed for capitalist greed. -- Jennifer Guglielmo, Associate Professor of History, Smith College, author of Living the Revolution, and co-director, "Putting History in Domestic Workers' Hands" Talking to the Girls: Intimate and Political Essays on the Triangle Fire, is the first anthology of personal essays about this landmark tragedy-and spur for change-in American life. As such, these stories by survivors, family members, descendants, scholars, and activists are as sharp and sad and enraging and resolute as the fire itself was in galvanizing us to justice. Editors Edvige Giunta and Mary Anne Trasciatti do more than edit here, they know how to listen, and let these many varied voices bear witness. -- Kevin Baker, author of Dreamland As co-editors Edvige Giunta and Mary Anne Trasciatti explain in the introduction, one of the collection's goals is to "explore the combination of intimate and political that permeates Triangle activism" by allowing the authors to interrogate their own relationships with the tragedy and contribute to the ongoing conversation about what is owed to those who came before... provide[s] valuable insight into what it takes to change the world - or the workplace - when the odds are stacked against you. -- Kim Kelly * Teen Vogue *
