Fading from memory?

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Ninety years ago today 146 seamstresses died when the factory in which they worked caught fire and they found themselves trapped inside, unable to escape. This was the infamous Triangle Fire which became a watershed in the history of the American Labor Movement.

Rose Freedman, who at 107 was the last remaining survivor of the fire, died on February 15 of this year. Freedman's life was both long and eventful. Though she worked throughout most of her life, the lifestyle of her final years was distinctly different than that of the seamstress. Yet though she became comfortably middle class, she never forgot her working class roots, and she continued tell her story, seeing the events of the fire as an important contribution to the ongoing struggles for workers' rights.

Two years ago, Bessie Cohen, the next to last survivor of the fire died. Both Rose Freedman and Bessie Cohen were willing, even eager, to tell their stories. They saw themselves as having a mission - not only to keep the Triangle Fire in our collective memory, but to see to it that it teaches us a lesson. This year, thus, marks a passage. This is the first year in which a participant in the event is not around to tell us about it. It has truly become an event for the history books and for the web sites. It is easily forgotten, and that's reason enough to link to that memory here, from my own almost untrodden corner of cyberspace. This page can do its own very small part in keeping the memory of the Triangle Fire alive.

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