[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 125, 112th Congress, 1st Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

 
Proclamation 8639 of March 24, 2011

100th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

On March 25, 1911, a fire spread through the cramped floors of the
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in lower Manhattan. Flames spread quickly
through the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors--overcrowded, littered with cloth
scraps, and containing few buckets of water to douse the flames--giving
the factory workers there little time to escape. When the panicked
workers tried to flee, they encountered locked doors and broken fire
escapes, and were trapped by long tables and bulky machines. As
bystanders watched in horror, young workers began jumping out of the
windows to escape the inferno, falling helplessly to their deaths on the
street below.
By the time the fire was extinguished, nearly 150 individuals had
perished in an avoidable tragedy. The exploited workers killed that day
were mostly young women, recent immigrants of Jewish and Italian
descent. The catastrophe sent shockwaves through New York City and the
immigrant communities of Manhattan's Lower East Side, where families
struggled to recognize the charred remains of their loved ones in
makeshift morgues. The last victims were officially identified just this
year.
A century later, we reflect not only on the tragic loss of these young
lives, but also on the movement they inspired. The Triangle factory fire
was a galvanizing moment, calling American leaders to reexamine their
approach to workplace conditions and the purpose of unions. The fire
awakened the conscience of our Nation, inspiring sweeping improvements
to safety regulations both in New York and across the United States. The
tragedy strengthened the potency of organized labor, which

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gave voice to previously powerless workers. A witness to the fire,
Frances Perkins carried the gruesome images of that day through a
lifetime of advocacy for American workers and into her role as the
Secretary of Labor and our country's first female Cabinet Secretary.
Despite the enormous progress made since the Triangle factory fire, we
are still fighting to provide adequate working conditions for all women
and men on the job, ensure no person within our borders is exploited for
their labor, and uphold collective bargaining as a tool to give workers
a seat at the tables of power. Working Americans are the backbone of our
communities and power the engine of our economy. As we mark the
anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, let us resolve to
renew the urgency that tragedy inspired and recommit to our shared
responsibility to provide a safe environment for all American workers.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 25, 2011, as the
100th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. I call upon
all Americans to participate in ceremonies and activities in memory of
those who have been killed due to unsafe working conditions.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth day
of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
fifth.
BARACK OBAMA