This late 19th century image was taken in a Chicago slaughterhouse. Stephen Crane fictionalized the plight of immigrants in the Lower East Side of New York in Maggie, Girl of the Streets, Jacob Riis through his photos and his sociological study in How the Other Half Lived exposed the degradations associated with poverty and Upton Sinclair wrote of the exploitation of immigrants in the meat industry in Chicago. While industrialization had provided opportunities for economic growth, this was constructed on the backs of the voiceless and unimpowered. They were at the mercy of a laissez-faire economic policy and Wasp beliefs in their moral superiority. The Triangle Shirt Waist Factory fire of March 11, 1911 exemplified the callous attitude that those who held the reins of power had towards their employees. Workers were fodder. This world was heading towards a clash that continues to reverberate. The twentieth century would see unimaginable social, political, economic and moral upheavals that would force the reevaluuation of centuries of tradition- and even the very meaning of life and man's role in the universe. And as always, the literature would serve as record.
In class today: collecting Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology. Begin perusing.
Finish the last two prezis
Discussion- connect The Shirt Waist Fire to Maggie and Other Half
FOR MONDAY- subject / verb agreement assessment
Spoon River
Tuesday- reading check on Maggie, Other Half and Triange
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