Remember The Triangle Fire Coalition

Triangle Fire Open Archive

People

Leon Stein at NYU

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Contributed by : Tracie Logan

Object # 69

02/8/1960

This photograph of Leon Stein looking out of a window in the Brown Building is one of the more perfect photographs related to the Triangle Fire. This photograph doesn’t have a lot of action in it, but it is emotional and evocative nonetheless. I see it as a moment, a pause in the activism and memorializing to contemplate the weight of the tragedy and to reflect quietly on it in the building where it happened. 

Courtesy of : The Kheel Center

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Commentary

In 1961, David Dubinsky of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union planned a 50th anniversary commemoration of the Triangle Fire. The ceremony began at 10:30 AM and was attended by a wide variety of organizations that felt connected to the fire, including NYU, the New York Fire Department and the Police Department. Dubinsky also felt it necessary to invite garment unions of the time and encouraged them to come to the commemoration in large numbers. The commemoration lasted only an hour, but it had a large impact, not only because of who was in attendance, but because it was used as a platform for continued dedication to the labor cause and the safety of workers.
– Norma Jean Garriton

Related Resources

  • The Master of Seventh Avenue: David Dubinsky and the American Labor Movement (book by Robert Parmet, pub. New York University, 2005)