Juniors in Ms. McKenna and Mr. Ardito’s Modern United States History classes made history come alive when they re-created working conditions in a sweatshop. Students converted a classroom into the Tri-Angle Shirtwaist Factory, using cardboard to divide the room and create a dirty cramped in atmosphere.  The windows were covered and the lights were dimed to show conditions workers at the turn of the century had to face.

Students assumed the roles of assembly line workers and traced different parts of a shirt. As part of a unit about immigration and labor conditions, students truly learned how specialization of labor and assembly-line production impacted workers at the turn of the twentieth century.  After the activity, students read a primary sources article on the Tri-Angle Shirtwaist factory fire of 1911, and discussed the pros and cons of assembly line work.