In 1905, her family decided to move to The United States of America, specifically New York City. Lemlich decided she would be a passionate and fiery socialist with many opinions. Once in the states, Lemlich followed in the path of many other immigrants in need of work and joined a shirt and dress factory. Lemlich was very appalled by the horrid conditions of that factory and wrote about how the conditions for Men and Women were completely different, and the women were always given the worse option. She wrote about how the wage gap was insanely unfair, how the better work stations were given to men, and how the hours she worked and the amount she got paid were completely unfair. Lemlich decided to lead a strike, called The Uprising of 20,000 (or The New York shirtwaist strike of 1909) to strike against unbelievable unfair situations in the workplace. 