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8th grade · Social Studies · Unit 4 of 15

Workers & Progressives

The Triangle fire, unions and reform

What your child practices

Working conditions, unions and strikes, the Triangle Shirtwaist fire and the reforms it brought, muckrakers, Progressive amendments, women's suffrage in New York and the nation, and the founding of the NAACP.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 8.2d; 8.2e · how workers organized and how Progressive reformers addressed problems at the local, state and federal levels

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (1911) killed 146 workers, leading to new safety laws.
  2. Workers formed unions; a strike is when workers stop working until their demands are met.
  3. Progressives pushed reform: Lewis Hine photographed child labor, and Frances Perkins became the first woman US Secretary of Labor.

Example: What is a strike? Workers want better pay or conditions. They stop working together. They return when demands are met. Answer: when workers stop working until their demands are met

Workers & Progressives in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 4 of 15 in 8th grade Social Studies, after Immigrants & the Growing City and before Expansion & Empire.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Many workers died in the Triangle fire because…

    • the building was one floor
    • it happened at night with no one inside
    • there were too many fire escapes
    • doors were locked and there were too few exits

  2. Question 2

    The 19th Amendment (1920)…

    • banned alcohol
    • ended slavery
    • guaranteed women the right to vote
    • created the income tax

  3. Question 3

    Muckrakers were…

    • Civil War generals
    • journalists who exposed corruption and unsafe conditions
    • farmers who cleaned stables
    • factory owners

  4. Question 4

    W. E. B. Du Bois called for…

    • full civil and political rights for African Americans right away
    • the end of all schools
    • separate countries
    • a return to slavery

  5. Question 5

    A labor union is…

    • a railroad company
    • a group of factory owners
    • a group of workers who join together to seek better pay and conditions
    • a kind of bank

  6. Question 6

    Why did the Triangle fire become a turning point for labor reform?

    • factories closed forever
    • no one heard about it
    • public outrage pushed lawmakers to pass workplace safety laws
    • it ended immigration

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