US II: The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911
(N.Y Times Obituaries: Bessie Cohen and Rose Freedman 1998/ 2000)
Name _______________________________ (15 Points)
Questions 1-14 Mrs. Cohen
1. How many women died in the fire?
2. What was the date of the fire?
3. How many women worked at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory?
4. What was the uniform of modern womanhood according to the illustrations of Charles Dana Gibson?
5. The employees worked how many hours a week?
6. How much money did Bessie make for a week’s labor?
7. What percentage of women died within a period of fifteen minutes?
8. How was Dora killed?
9. Fire truck ladders reached only to what floor?
10. The civil suit that followed the tragedy netted each family how much money?
11. How many shirtwaist workers were involved in a three month strike in 1909?
12. What bureau was established in the aftermath of the tragedy by the city of New York?
13. How old was Bessie when muggers broke her jaw and robbed her of sixty cents?
14. How did her Hispanic neighbors honor her when she left her apartment for a nursing home?
Questions 15-29 Mrs. Freedman
15. How old was Rose Freedman when she died?
16. The fire gave a “powerful impetus to” what “fledgling movement?”
17. What illness struck two of Mrs. Freedman’s three children?
18. In what nation did Rose celebrate her centennial birthday?
19. An owner of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company offered her money to lie about something. Lie about
what?
20. Where did the executives go to escape the flames?
21. Rather than go back to work, Rose went where?
22. What is the “biggest mistake” according to Mrs. Freedman?
23. How many languages did Rose learn to speak?
24. Where did Rose hide a spy during World War I?
25. A doctor told her that two of her children would be crippled for how many years?
26. What sports team was Rose obsessed with?
27. Mrs. Freedman attributes her longevity to two things: her genes and her ?
28. What “takes years from you” according to Mrs. Freedman?
29. Who described Mrs. Freedman as the “last voice of an event?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/17/nyregion/rose-freedman-last-survivor-of-triangle-fire-dies-at-107.html
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/24/nyregion/bessie-cohen-107-survivor-of-1911-shirtwaist-fire-dies.html