Adelphi University Commemorates 100th Anniversary of Triangle Factory Fire

Feb. 3, 2011 - PRLog -- Adelphi University is pleased to announce a program to commemorate the
centennial of the New York City Triangle Factory Fire. The program will include original music compositions inspired by the event and a special preview screening of the HBO documentary “Triangle: Remembering the Fire.” The program will take place on Thursday, March 3, 2011in the Adelphi University Performing Arts Center (AUPAC), 1 South Avenue, Garden City NY.

The evening will include an opportunity to meet the authors and filmmakers involved in this production from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The preview screening will take place between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m., with a panel discussion featuring Director Daphne Pinkerson, Co-producer Michael Hirsch, President of the Workers United garment union Bruce Raynor, and victims’ relatives who appear in the film. Adelphi musicians will perform their original compositions, and theater students will present an original performance. There will also be an author’s reception for the newly released The New York City Triangle Factory Fire, co-authored by Adelphi faculty.

“Triangle: Remembering the Fire,” will debut on HBO on March 21, 2011 at 9:00 p.m. The program is in commemoration of the centennial of an event that drastically changed worker’s rights in the 20th century. On March 25, 1911, overcrowded and unregulated working conditions led to the deaths of 146 workers when a fire broke out in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in Lower Manhattan. Most of the victims were young immigrant women, locked inside the garment factory with no chance of escape.

Adelphi has a number of ties to this tragic event, in a historical context as well as the current one. Frances Perkins, a worker’s rights advocate and sociology professor at Adelphi College, witnessed the tragedy and rededicated her life to change. Later, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s secretary of labor, Ms. Perkins had a hand in many New Deal reforms that improved the lives of Americans.

Adelphi University’s class of 2014 also read, The Triangle Fire, by Leon Stein, and engaged in discussion about the contemporary re-emergence of sweatshops in the United States and other parts of the world in their Freshman Seminar class. Mr. Stein brings to life the tragedy that occurred, and students are able to compare such atrocities to those being committed in today’s society behind closed doors. This movie screening is just one more example of Adelphi’s ongoing commitment to keeping this piece of history alive to prevent it from recurring in the future.

To learn more about Adelphi’s commitment to preserving the memory of the Triangle Factory Fire’s victims, please visit http://events.adelphi.edu/trianglefire/index.php. For a complete listing of upcoming AUPAC events and performances, visit http://aupac.adelphi.edu/. Reserve space for this event by calling the box office at (516) 877-4000.

About Adelphi University: Adelphi is a world class, modern university with excellent and highly relevant programs where students prepare for lives of active citizenship and professional careers. Through its schools and programs—The College of Arts and Sciences, Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Honors College, Ruth S. Ammon School of Education, University College, and the Schools of Business, Nursing, and Social Work—the co-educational university offers undergraduate and graduate degrees as well as professional and educational programs for adults. Adelphi University currently enrolls nearly 8,000 students from 41 states and 60 foreign countries. With its main campus in Garden City and centers in Manhattan, Hauppauge, and Poughkeepsie, the University, chartered in 1896, maintains a commitment to liberal studies in tandem with rigorous professional preparation and active citizenship.

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Adelphi University, chartered in 1896, was the first institution of higher education for the liberal arts and sciences on Long Island.