Perkins, Frances 1882-1965

SECRETARY OF LABOR (1933-1945)

First Woman Cabinet Member.

Frances Perkins was the first American woman appointed to a cabinet post. As secretary of labor under Franklin D. Roosevelt, she was a leading force in New Deal labor policy.

Background.

Born in Boston, Frances Perkins was a vigorous advocate for social justice. After graduating from Mount Holyoke College in 1902, she became a teacher. In 1904, when she took a job at a school in Lake Forest, Illinois, she began volunteer work in Chicago settlement houses, learning firsthand the problems of the poor. In 1907 she moved to Philadelphia, where she became general secretary of the Research and Protective Association. After moving to New York in 1909 and earning an A.M. in economics and sociology at Columbia University in 1910, she became secretary of the New York Consumers' League (1910-1912). She worked to address the problems of working conditions and...

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