Frances Perkins



4th United States Secretary of Labor

In office: March 4, 1933 – June 30, 1945
Presidents: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman
Preceded by: William Doak
Succeeded by: Lewis Schwellenbach

Personal details
Born: Fannie Coralie Perkins, April 10, 1880; Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died: May 14, 1965 (aged 85); New York City, New York, U.S.

Education: Mount Holyoke College (BA), Columbia University (MA), University of Pennsylvania

Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. She made history as the first woman to serve in any presidential U.S. Cabinet. As a loyal supporter of her longtime friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped make labor issues important in the emerging New Deal coalition. She was one of two Roosevelt cabinet members to remain in office for his entire presidency.

Her most important role came in developing a policy for social security in 1935. She also helped form government policy for working with labor unions, although the union leaders distrusted her. Her Labor Department helped to mediate strikes by way of the United States Conciliation Service. Perkins dealt with many labor questions during World War II, when skilled labor was vital to the economy and women were moving into jobs formerly held by men. She became the subject of the documentary film Summoned (2020).

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Early career and continuing education

After college, Perkins held a variety of teaching positions, including one from 1904 to 1906 where she taught chemistry at Ferry Hall School (now Lake Forest Academy), an all-girls school in Lake Forest, Illinois. In Chicago, she volunteered at settlement houses, including Hull House, where she worked with Jane Addams. She changed her name from Fannie to Frances when she joined the Episcopal church in 1905. In 1907, she moved to Philadelphia and enrolled at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School to learn economics and spent two years in the city working as a social worker. Shortly after, she moved to Greenwich Village, New York, where she attended Columbia University and became active in the suffrage movement. In support of the movement, Perkins attended protests and meetings, and advocated for the cause on street corners. She earned a master's degree in economics and sociology from Columbia in 1910.

In 1910 Perkins achieved statewide prominence as head of the New York office of the National Consumers League and lobbied with vigor for better working hours and conditions. She also taught as a professor of sociology at Adelphi College. The next year, she witnessed the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, a pivotal event in her life. The factory employed hundreds of workers, mostly young women, but lacked fire escapes. When the building caught fire, many workers tried unsuccessfully to escape through the windows. Just a year before, these same women and girls had fought for and won the 54-hour work week and other benefits that Perkins had championed. One hundred and forty-six workers died. Perkins blamed lax legislation for the loss.

As a consequence of this fire, Perkins left her position at the New York office of the National Consumers League and, on the recommendation of Theodore Roosevelt, became the executive secretary for the Committee on Safety of the City of New York, formed to improve fire safety. As part of the Committee on Safety, Perkins investigated another significant fire at the Freeman plant in Binghamton, New York, in which 63 people died. In 1913, she was instrumental in getting the New York legislature to pass a "54-hour" bill that capped the number of hours women and children could work. Perkins pressed for votes for the legislation, encouraging proponents including Franklin D. Roosevelt to filibuster, while Perkins called state senators to make sure they could be present for the final vote.

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Legacy



The Frances Perkins Building is the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the United States Department of Labor and is located at 200 Constitution Avenue NW and runs alongside Interstate 395



The Frances Perkins House, a U.S. National Historic Landmark since 1991, in Washington, D.C.

Perkins is famous for being the first woman cabinet member, as well as from her policy accomplishments. She was heavily involved with many issues associated with the social safety net including, the creation of social security, unemployment insurance in the United States, the federal minimum wage, and federal laws regulating child labor.

In 1967, the Telluride House and Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations established the Frances Perkins Memorial Fellowship. In 1982, Perkins was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. In 2015, Perkins was named by Equality Forum as one of their 31 Icons of the 2015 LGBT History Month. In 2019, she was announced as among the members of the inaugural class of the Government Hall of Fame. Also that year, Elizabeth Warren used a podium built with wood salvaged from the Perkins homestead.

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Pieces of History

A Factory Fire and Frances Perkins

March 25, 2011 By Hparkins, Posted In - Great Depression, - Women's Rights, News And Events, Rare Photos

Today marks 100 years since the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire—a blaze that lasted 18 minutes and left 146 workers dead.

Among the many in New York City who witnessed the tragedy was Frances Perkins, who would later become FDR’s Secretary of Labor, making her the first woman to serve in a Presidential cabinet.

As Secretary of Labor, Perkins was instrumental in creating and implementing the Social Security Act—but she was also intensely interested in the safety and rights of workers. “I came to Washington to work for God, FDR, and the millions of forgotten, plain common workingmen,” she said.

Perkins had a degree from Mount Holyoke College, where her coursework included touring factories. She later earned a master’s degree in in social economics from Columbia University. She had been working as factory inspector in New York at the time of the fire.

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After the fire, Perkins was the secretary for the Committee on Safety. This committee led the way to 36 new labor laws, which included restrictions on child labor and working hours, and also providing compensations to workers injured on the job.

Her commitment to the safety of workers continued when she became Secretary of Labor. According to this website, “child labor was abolished, minimum wage and maximum-hour laws were enacted, and, through the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, workers were guaranteed the right to organize and bargain collectively.”

When she died in 1965, Perkins’ legacy was a long lifetime of labor reform inspired by the 146 workers whose lives were cut short on a terrible afternoon in 1911.



Photograph of Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins in an automobile, apparently at the White House shortly after President Roosevelt's death, 04/12/1945 (Harry S. Truman Library; 199065)