Esthers and Vashtis in the Labor Movement
- Review the basic history of the Triangle Fire and working conditions at the time.
- Review the characters of Esther and Vashti in the Purim Story.
- Set up four stations around the room where students will be asked to read, view or listen to primary sources from various Jewish activists in the labor movement.
- Station 1. The students view pictures of Clara Lemlich Shavelson, strikers at the Uprising of the 20,000 and the 1915 Amalgamated Clothing Workers. Students read highlighted portions of Lemlich’s biography.
- Discuss. Was Clara Lemlich Shavelson’s activism more like that of Esther or Vashti?
- Station 2. The students view a picture of Pauline Newman and three other women attending a labor conference. Students read highlighted portions of Pauline Newman's biography and the typescript of the original letter she wrote regarding working at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory a few years before the fire.
- Discuss. Was Pauline Newmans’s activism more like that of Esther or Vashti?
- Station 3. The students view a picture of Rose Schneiderman. Students read highlighted portions of Schneiderman's biography and the transcript of a speech she gave to protest the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.
- Discuss. Was Pauline Rose Schneiderman’s activism more like that of Esther or Vashti?
- Station 4: The students are provided with squares of felt, scissors, sewing needles already threaded. The students sew on a button, then cut and blanket stitch a buttonhole. Students are treated as if they are workers doing piecework. They are paid with an orange slice for acceptable work.
- Explain. Piecework was usually done at home for a penny a piece. Often, all members of the family had to contribute pieces so that they could earn enough to live. This type of work arrangement prevented the formation of labor unions powerful enough to make demands. The rise of the labor movement came after workers moved into factories and could organize in the early 20th Century.
- Station 1. The students view pictures of Clara Lemlich Shavelson, strikers at the Uprising of the 20,000 and the 1915 Amalgamated Clothing Workers. Students read highlighted portions of Lemlich’s biography.
- Conclude with the students seated in a circle. Discuss their answers to the questions regarding the characters of the women they learned about regarding whether they are more like Esther or Vashti.
- May show material at this time to elicit more discussion on the factory fire and need for change in working conditions (optional)
- Explain. Tell the students about more recent events in sweatshops throughout the world using material from "It Never Ends".
- Ask. “Who are you—Esther, Vashti or someone else?”
