Frances Perkins - Champion of Workers

Frances Perkins was the first woman to serve in a U.S. president’s cabinet, becoming Secretary of Labor under Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Frances Perkins was born on April 10, 1880, in Boston, Massachusetts. Her family had lived in America for generations, with roots in Maine going back to colonial times. Frances grew up in a comfortable middle-class home, where she was encouraged to learn and succeed. She didn’t see poverty up close until she was older, and when she asked her father how good people could be poor, he told her that little girls shouldn’t worry about such things. Still, the question stayed with her.

Frances studied at Mount Holyoke College, graduating in 1902 with a degree in chemistry and physics. While she enjoyed science, she also grew interested in history, economics, and the struggles of working people. She was influenced by Jacob Riis, who wrote about poverty in New York, and Florence Kelley, a reformer who fought to protect workers and children. Another professor, Annah May Soule, took students to factories to see conditions firsthand. These experiences shaped Frances’s future.

At Mount Holyoke, Frances became active in women’s suffrage and progressive politics. She was also elected president of her class. After college, she worked as a teacher while volunteering at settlement houses, which served poor and immigrant families. She even worked at Hull House in Chicago, one of the most famous settlement houses in America. Later, she attended Columbia University in New York, earning a master’s degree in economics and sociology while joining protests for women’s rights.

Frances soon became secretary of the New York Consumers’ League, working alongside Florence Kelley. She fought for shorter work hours for women and children and for safer workplaces. In 1911, she witnessed one of the worst workplace disasters in American history, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. The building had no fire escapes, and when a blaze broke out, hundreds of workers, mostly young immigrant women, were trapped. Frances watched as many jumped from windows to escape. In all, 146 people died. She later said the fire was “seared on my mind as well as my heart,” giving her the determination to spend her life improving workers’ safety.

After the fire, Frances became the executive secretary for the Committee on Safety of the City of New York, a job she was offered with the recommendation of former President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1918, she became chairwoman of the New York State Industrial Commission, where she expanded safety inspections, pushed for a shorter workweek, and supported laws for minimum wage and unemployment insurance.

Her career reached new heights in 1933, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed her Secretary of Labor. This made her the first woman to ever serve in a U.S. president’s cabinet. At the time, the nation was in the middle of the Great Depression, and millions were out of work. Frances worked tirelessly to create safety nets for struggling families. She helped establish the Fair Labor Standards Act, which created a minimum wage and maximum workweek, and supported the Wagner Act, which gave workers the right to form unions.

She also played an important role in New Deal relief programs. She helped design the Civilian Conservation Corps, which gave jobs to young men, and the She-She-She Camps, which created opportunities for women. Most importantly, she was a driving force behind the Social Security Act, which provided pensions for the elderly, support for the disabled, and unemployment insurance. Social Security remains one of the most important programs in the United States today.

Frances Perkins served as Secretary of Labor for 12 years, longer than anyone else in history. In 1945, President Harry Truman appointed her to the Civil Service Commission, where she worked until 1953. After that, she became a professor at Cornell University.

Her achievements were widely recognized. She was honored in the National Women’s Hall of Fame, and the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Labor was named after her. In 2009, the Frances Perkins Center opened in Newcastle, Maine. Frances Perkins died in 1965 at the age of 85, but her lifelong fight for workers’ rights continues to benefit millions of people today.

References:
“Frances Perkins.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., www.britannica.com/biography/Frances-Perkins.
“Frances Perkins.” FDR Presidential Library & Museum, www.fdrlibrary.org/perkins.
“Hall of Secretaries: Frances Perkins.” Department of Labor, www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/perkins.
“Her Life.” Frances Perkins Center, francesperkinscenter.org/learn/her-life/.

Keywords:
Justice, Innovation, Courage, Perseverance, Responsibility, Repair the World – Tikkun Olam, Challenge Injustices, Make a Difference

View Discovery Award projects about this Unsung Hero:
Frances Perkins - Discovery Award 2023

Image Citation:
"Frances Perkins arriving in Los Angeles by train 1940.jpg" by Los Angeles Daily News licensed under CC BY 4.0 / Cropped from original