THE LEGAL LEGACY OF THE TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE
First Prize $1,500
Second Prize $1,000
All students enrolled in SUNY/CUNY two-year colleges from all academic disciplines are invited to submit an essay. Prior winners have come from colleges all across the State: Hudson Valley Community College, Queensboro Community College, Schenectady Community College, Genesee Community College and Onondaga Community College.
Click here to watch video clips. View the winner of the first Garfinkel essay competition, Elijah Fagan-Solis, read from his essay. See Professor Christine Mooney and her Queensboro Community College students prepare for the 2010 competition.
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Article >>
Essay Competition Resources >>
Contest Guidelines:
The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York 2011 David A. Garfinkel Essay Prize
"THE LEGAL LEGACY OF THE TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE"
The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York is pleased to announce the 2011 David A. Garfinkel Essay Prize. March 25, 2011 marks the centennial of the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory, a terrible tragedy that took the lives of 146 young people. Public outrage at the callous disregard the factory owners exhibited toward the dangerous conditions in their factory led to a movement that culminated in the groundbreaking New York State worker protection legislation of the second decade of the twentieth century. This, in turn, influenced much of the New Deal legislation enacted in the 1930s.
The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York has created a website of resources for the essay competition. There you will find an article that includes information on the efforts to bring the Triangle Shirtwaist factory owners to justice, the legislation that resulted from the New York Factory Investigating Commission reports, the role that women played in bringing about legislative change (although, at that time, they had did not even have the right to vote), and the role that New Yorkers played in enacting the New Deal legislation.
The website also contains links to the digital collections of several renowned New York cultural and educational institutions that contain very moving photographs of these events, as well as the court documents and reports that paint a vivid picture of the hard lives and terrible working conditions that people endured just one hundred years ago.
Prizes
The winners will:
- Receive a prize of $1,500 (First Prize) or $1,000 (Second Prize).
- Be honored at the Law Day ceremony at Court of Appeals Hall—an event at which the Chief Judge of the State of New York presides and the Governor, the Attorney General, and the Bench and Bar of New York attend.
- Be a guest at the New York Court of Appeals luncheon honoring Law Day award recipients.
- Be eligible to have the first place essay published in Judicial Notice: A Periodical of New York Court History and on the website of The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York.
Honorable Mention Award:
The names of the students receiving Honorable Mention Awards in the essay competition will be included in an Honor Role that will be read during the 2011 Law Day ceremony. Because the ceremony is webcast, students and their families will be able to see the event live via a computer link. Students receiving Honorable Mention Awards will also receive an award certificate attesting to their success.
The Community College
The President(s) and the students’ mentoring professor(s) at the college(s) attended by the David A. Garfinkel essay prize winners will be invited to attend the Law Day program and the Court of Appeals luncheon.
Essay Competition Instructions
Listed below are five questions related to the legal developments that occurred as a result of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire tragedy. Pick one of these as the focus of your essay.
In 2010, news reports suggested that risky techniques and inadequate safety precautions contributed to the explosion and fire of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Look at the legislation enacted in the wake of the Triangle Factory fire to ensure safer workplaces. Are these laws strong enough to allow the courts to redress the harm suffered by Gulf Coast workers and residents? Will additional legislative and executive action be necessary to deal with this new type of industrial danger?
Select a person who played an important role in the State and federal reforms following the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire and discuss that person's influence on the labor movement.
Not all wrongs are crimes and this is clearly demonstrated in the Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory Fire cases. Discuss the problems that the courts faced in bringing Harris and
Blanck, the factory owners, to justice.
At the time of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, women did not have the right to vote or run for public office. Nonetheless, they played a pivotal part in enacting the reform legislation. Discuss this important aspect of the Women’s Rights movement.
Judicial activism and judicial restraint are terms applied to judges who seek to expand or curtail common law legal principles. In People v Harris, we find examples of both activism (Judge O'Sullivan's decision disallowing challenges to the Grand Jury indictments) and restraint (Judge Crain's instructions to the jury preserving the traditional common law employer's defenses). Discuss the tensions produced by the need to expand the common law to cover new situations while at the same time retaining stability in the law.
Requirements
- The writer must be a student registered at a Community College within the SUNY or
- CUNY systems.
- The essay must be an original work of scholarship.
- The essay must be at least 1,500 words in length, in English, double spaced, and
- formatted for 8-1/2" by 11" paper. Neither the essay nor the title page may contain any
- identifying information (i.e. do not include your name, the name of your professor, the
- name of your school or the class in which you are enrolled).
- The essay must be sent by e-mail attachment (PDF, Word or WordPerfect) to:
- The_Historical_Society@courts.state.ny.us and the body of the e-mail must contain (1)
- your name, (2) home address, (3) the name of the college you attend and (4) the name of
- your professor.
- All entries must be submitted to The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New
- York by April 4, 2011.
Judging the Competition
A panel of members of the New York Bench and Bar will select the winning essays. Essays will be judged.
More information here.
