On the southeast corner of Greene Street and Waverly
On the east side of Washington Square
The street is still troubled, the sidewalk unsettled
Young voices still cry through the afternoon air
March 25th, 1911
This is the way she told it to me
A factory of immigrants, Jews and Italians
Are hard at their work when the fire breaks free
At the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
Women fall through the bitter spring air
Their young faces turn to question me
I still hear their voices as I walk in Washington Square
They rush to the doors, but the bosses have locked them
Lest someone step out for a breath of fresh air
Trapped in this wreckage they run to the windows
Stare ten stories down to the street lying there
They stand on the ledges, the fire behind them
The wide air before them, they jump holding hands
They cry out in Yiddish, cry out in Italian
And plunge to the street where my own mother stands
Thirty years later, she still can't believe it
She cries through her story, I sit at her feet
One hundred twenty three immigrant women
Twenty three men lie dead on the street
This is our history, this moment that shapes us
My mother falls silent, tears frame her cheeks
She could never forget, I will always remember
It could have been her, it still could be me
At the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
Women fall through the bitter spring air
Their young faces turn to question me
I still hear their voices as I walk in Washington Square
On the east side of Washington Square
The street is still troubled, the sidewalk unsettled
Young voices still cry through the afternoon air
March 25th, 1911
This is the way she told it to me
A factory of immigrants, Jews and Italians
Are hard at their work when the fire breaks free
At the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
Women fall through the bitter spring air
Their young faces turn to question me
I still hear their voices as I walk in Washington Square
They rush to the doors, but the bosses have locked them
Lest someone step out for a breath of fresh air
Trapped in this wreckage they run to the windows
Stare ten stories down to the street lying there
They stand on the ledges, the fire behind them
The wide air before them, they jump holding hands
They cry out in Yiddish, cry out in Italian
And plunge to the street where my own mother stands
Thirty years later, she still can't believe it
She cries through her story, I sit at her feet
One hundred twenty three immigrant women
Twenty three men lie dead on the street
This is our history, this moment that shapes us
My mother falls silent, tears frame her cheeks
She could never forget, I will always remember
It could have been her, it still could be me
At the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
Women fall through the bitter spring air
Their young faces turn to question me
I still hear their voices as I walk in Washington Square
Contributed by Dead End - 2012/9/6 - 12:26
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Album “Courage”
Cent’anni fa, il 25 marzo 1911, 146 operaie della fabbrica di abbigliamento Triangle Shirtwaist Factory di New York City morirono nel corso di uno spaventoso incendio sviluppatosi nello stabilimento. In numero di vittime è la peggiore tragedia che si sia mai verificata a New York prima dell’attentato dell’11 settembre 2001. A lasciarci la pelle furono quasi tutte donne immigrate sfruttate e sottopagate che morirono orrendamente, carbonizzate oppure sfracellate al suolo dopo essersi lanciate dalle finestre dell’alto edificio. Le proporzioni della tragedia furono tali perché i padroni del complesso - Max Blanck e Isaac Harris, che l’anno precedente avevano stroncato un tentativo di sciopero delle operaie - avevano fatto chiudere tutti gli accessi alle scale antincendio per impedire alle lavoratrici di uscire per fumarsi una sigaretta. Sicchè molte fumavano all’interno dello stabilimento, pieno di tessuti e materiali altamente infiammabili, ed una cicca o un fiammifero rimasto acceso furono probabilmente la causa del terribile rogo.
Si sente dire spesso che la festa internazionale della donna dell’8 marzo sia stata istituita in memoria di questo episodio… Non è così. La festa della donna ha origini diverse (lo sciopero delle camiciaie newyorchesi del 1908/1909, negli States; la rivoluzione del 1848, in Germania; la Comune del 1871, in Francia…) e fu in seguito decisa la data comune dell’8 marzo (“Giornata Internazionale dell’Operaia”) per ricordare una grande manifestazione delle donne di San Pietroburgo che l’8 marzo 1917 – 22 febbraio, secondo il calendario giuliano – diede inizio alla Rivoluzione russa.
Sull’episodio si veda anche Ballad Of The Triangle Fire