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 which took place during the depths of the Great Depression and World War II.
Her most important role came in developing a policy for Social Security in 1935. She also helped form governmental policy for working with labor unions, although the union leaders distrusted her. Her Labor Department helped to alleviate strikes by way of the United States Conciliation Service. –Wikipedia
Like many people at the time, Perkins was moved to work even harder for workers’ rights after the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory fire of 1911. She witnessed the fire herself because she had been at lunch with a friend nearby. She watched in horror as people threw themselve out of windows to die on the pavement to avoid perishing in the fire. After the fire she worked as a workplace inspector for the State of New York. Many of the workplace safety laws of New York became the blueprint for Federal safety laws.
From Wikipedia: “The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history.The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers—123 women and girls and 23 men—who died from the fire, smoke inhalation, or falling or jumping to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent Italian or Jewish immigrant women and girls aged 14 to 23…. Because the doors to the stairwells and exits were locked—a common practice at the time to prevent workers from taking unauthorized breaks and to reduce theft—many of the workers could not escape from the burning building and jumped from the high windows. The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.”
According to the biography by Kirstin Downey, Frances only accepted the post of Labor Secretary once Roosevelt agreed to back her in her goals to enact the Federal initiatives she had sketched out. She brought a list to her meeting with the recently elected President. These were: general relief from the unemployment crisis through a temporary public works program; prohibiting child labor; reduction in working hours; a minimum wage; worker’s compensation for workplace injury; workplace safety regulations; national unemployment insurance; and an old age pension (Social Security). These goals seemed foolishly ambitious at the time, but Frances had plans for how to get nay-sayers to collaborate. She wanted FDR’s agreement that she could at least study how these policies could work while avoiding the worst pitfalls. “Are you sure you want this done, because you don’t want me for Secretary of Labor if you don’t want these things done.” He agreed. Through her amazing social skills and canny understanding of the powerful men around her, she did it. She did those things. FDR had faith in her, amazingly. The misogyny she had to deal with was absolutely monumental, and the pressure made it impossible for FDR to keep supporting her later on, and her authority and power was undermined through countless hurtful things. Still, lifted up by a foundation of Christian faith—a radical love for humanity—she rallied the powerful to her cause and she did those things.
DESIGN NOTE I got some inspiration from 1930s graphic design. The background image is from a newspaper article from the NY Evening Telegram of March 27th, 1911. It recounts the heroism of Fannie Lansner, who was credited with saving many lives before she jumped to her death from the Triangle Factory. This page is overlaid with the circle and triangle logo of the notorious factory. The colors in this design are inspired by paint colors of the houses of New England, because Perkins was from Maine.
This print was published in September 2021.
SOURCES
The photo of Frances Perkins, circa 1938, from the National Archives, found here: https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust/personal-story/frances-perkins
The Woman Behind the New Deal, by Kirstin Downey, 2009.
Hear Perkins’ voice here: http://trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu/primary/lectures/FrancesPerkinsLecture.html
Newspaper image from here: http://open-archive.rememberthetrianglefire.org/heroic-young-forewoman/
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