Author Archives: Malgorzata

Posts: 6 (archived below)
Comments: 3

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

New York City’s Tringle Shirtwaist Factory fire that took 146 lives brought attention to events leading to fire. It inspired hundredths of activists across the country to fight to change workers rights. It highlighted inhumane working conditions and epitomized the extremes of industrialism.

I think Rose Schneiderman was one of the most determined activist who supported changes in worker’s rights regulation, as well as female rights movement. Among others she cooperated with E. Roosevelt, F. Perkins and R. Wagner.

Posted in Final Exam Component | Tagged , | Comments Off on Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

1912 RMS Titanic sunk

RMS Titanic sank in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on the night of 12 of April, 1912, after it crashed into iceberg, even tough, the crew received 6 iceberg warnings on the day of the collision.  Titanic was the largest passenger ship when set off on its first trip. It could have held about 3,000 people, but it had only 20 lifeboats. Titanic set off with 2,223 passengers on board, but only 706 were rescued.

The image shows RMS Titanic leaving the port in Southampton.

Posted in 1900-1916, June 29 assignment, Social History | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina hit the southern coast of the United States on August 28th, 2005. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over 1,800 people lost their lives, and more then $81 billion dollars in damages occurred, nearly the double the cost of the previously most expensive, Hurricane Andrew, when adjusted for inflation. Besides New Orleans, Katrina also devastated the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama.

Posted in 2001-present, June 21 assignment, Midterm Exam Review | Tagged | Comments Off on Hurricane Katrina

The Feminine Mystique

Feminism is a movement that stands for equal rights for women and men. For example: right to  greater access to education,  same pay for female and male, a right to plan a family or to initiate a divorce. It first appeared in 1890s, but when USA entered 1960s there was a lot of places where sexual discrimination was visible. Most of  political offices were held by man, universities still limited number of female students, or in few states woman’s earnings were controlled by their husbands.

Public debate over feminism started in 1963 with publication of Betty Friedan’s manifest The Feminine Mystique. It wasn’t her first attempt to raise a discussion about women’s rights though she wasn’t first to do so.

In 1960s legislative process accelerated a little and few laws were passed. Congress passed the Equal Pay Act in 1963, and The Civil Rights Act in 1964. Both were standing against sexual (and/or racial) discrimination. In 1966 the National Organization for Women (NOW) was created to help women fight against inequalities.

Sometimes I wonder if our great-grandmothers hadn’t been fighting for their rights were would women be now? Could we make our own decision or we would have to ask for men’ permission? There are still a lot of countries were women’ rights aren’t obeyed, but I believe it will change soon.

Posted in 1960-1968, June 14 assignment, Political history, Social History | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

1998 East Africa bomb attacks

In 1998 there were a few truck bomb attacks at US Embassies in major cities of East Africa (Tanzania, Kenya and Nairobi) where hundreds of people were killed.

The 9/11 WTC attack wasn’t the first time  Al Quaeda attacked us. People seem to forget there were few bomb attacks before 9/11/2001.

On youtube, I found a short documentary video on bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi.

Posted in 1989-2000, June 8 assignment | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

2008 Economic breakdown

Recent crisis begun in the USA early fall of 2008, but the first warning we got when Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. In the fall of 2008 most of big financial institution experienced huge financial problems. Many small banks bankrupted, but large institutions like Bank of America, or City Bank needed help in from of bailouts. All these problems were caused by too loose credit policy. Banks were giving credits very easily to people who weren’t able to pay them of.

I’m attaching a link to a website with several articles about crisis where you can also find a short movie which in a interesting way illustrates the reasons of crisis.

http://www.globalissues.org/article/768/global-financial-crisis

Although it’s gotten a little better we still see people struggling with the consequences of the whole economic situation. I hope people take this lesson and we will never have to experience anything like this again.

Posted in 2001-present, Economic History, June 7 assignment, June 8 assignment | Tagged , | 2 Comments