Responding Creatively

toFlesh and Blood So Cheap, Uprising,

Rose Schneiderman’s speech, and Brave Girl

Your response to the Triangle Factory Fire texts has two parts, both of which are creative in different ways. First, you will create an essay that examines the causes and effects of the fire. Second, you will make a work of art to represent what you learned about the event.

Creative Project:

Working by yourself or in a group of up to four classmates, please choose one of the following projects to express some of what you have learned from the texts related to the Triangle Factory fire of 1911.

Originality of work:20 pts.

Effectiveness in representing the event40 pts.

Quality of work (evident time and care)20 pts.

Presented on time20 pts.

  1. Dramatic Monologue or Historical Fiction

Research one of the victims of the fire, using primary sources like the death certificates on the Cornell University website ( or the trial testimonies found at Then, using narrative skills like those in Uprising, write a dramatic monologue or a piece of historical fiction in which that victim speaks for herself. What would she want us to know about her life, her dreams, her family, her job, her friends, her death? If you choose a monologue, you will present it either in a small group or to the class, whichever you prefer. If you write a fiction piece, you may read it to the class if you like. For inspiration, you might want to watch this video of highlights from a stage production on the subject: (

  1. Dance of the Triangle Daughters

Selecting music you feel is appropriate for the subject (maybe Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire”?), create and perform a piece of choreography that captures the events of March 25, 1911. Feel free to incorporate red fabric in your performance, as you did with the blue fabric in “Rogue Wave.”

  1. 3-D Model of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory

Using boxes, paper, fabric scraps, and the handout entitled “What Went Wrong?” create a cut-away model of the factory, illustrating the various fire hazards that contributed to the catastrophe. Your model should show at least three floors of the factory, and you should make a numerical key to the problem zones (like the one on the handout). Submit a brief written summary of the event.

  1. Protest Posters

Read the speech made by Rose Schneiderman, a garment worker, a few days after the Triangle fire. Then take a look at the newspaper articles on factory disasters in the last two or three years in Bangladesh, India, and Cambodia, where many of our garments are now made. The same dangerous conditions exist in modern sweatshops and factories as the ones that killed the Triangle factory workers! Make three protest posters a picketer might use to demand safer conditions in garment factories. Be specific about which working conditions you want to change. Illustrate the posters in a way that reinforces your messages. On the back of each poster, describe the specific working condition you are protesting, and explain why a change is necessary for the health and safety of the workers. When you’re designing the posters, use figurative language and verbs that have emotional associations, like those we studied in Flesh & Blood So Cheap. You can use a translator to write your posters in languages the workers themselves would have understood (either in the days of the Triangle disaster or in places where modern garment industries are located.)

Essay:

There are two options for the essay topic:

  1. (Explanatory) Write an essay that explains the causes and effects of the Triangle Factory fire. Examine both the physical causes in the building and the social causes that created the situation. Your essay should explain what happened, why it happened, and what the immediate and long-term effects were.
  2. (Argumentative) Write an essay in which you examine working conditions in garment factories in developing nations like Bangladesh and Cambodia. Compare what goes on today to what went on in the U. S. garment industry in 1911, and create well-supported arguments that explain what we should do about this problem.

Whichever topic you choose, your essay should incorporate supporting research from both primary and secondary sources. You should include research that is integrated into the essay smoothly. Your essay should demonstrate that you know how to craft a compelling opening and an interesting conclusion. You must provide a Works Cited page. The paper should be at least 750 words, and you should have at least three reliable sources. Wikipedia, for purposes of this paper, is NOT a reliable source.

Your essay will be evaluated using the FSA rubric for explanatory and argumentative essays.

Creative Projects due: 2/22-23

Essays due: 2/17-18