Shirtwaist workers turned to middle and upper class allies, including members of the Women's Trade Union League, for assistance during the strike asking for support on the picket lines, bail for those arrested, and financial support for strikers without resources for daily living. Carola Woerishoffer, a young, wealthy graduate of Bryn Mawr College, bought houses and then, waiting in the Jefferson Market Court, offered the deeds as security for a striker's release. This affiliation was not without ambivalence. Allies were typically wealthy, white Christians who did not necessarily understand Yiddish or Italian, nor did they all hold the cultural and religious practices of the immigrants in high regard.
Photographer: unknown, ca. 1910
Kheel Center image identifier: 5780pb32f26c
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