Frances perkins was the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, and the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet. She was born in Boston, Massachusettes to susan and frederick perkins. Her original name was Fannie Perkins but she liked frances more so she changed it to that when she was a little older. Perkins attended Worcester's Classical High School and was graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a BA degree in chemistry and physics in 1902, and from Columbia University with a master's degree in political science in 1910. Inbetween the time, she taught young students chemistry at Ferry Hall School, which is now called Lake Forest Academy.
She achieved statewide prominence as head of the New York Consumers League in 1910. During this time Perkins also taught as a professor of sociology at Adelphi College. Frances Perkins married Paul Caldwell Wilson in 1913. She kept her birth name, defending her right to do so in court. The couple had a daughter, Susanna. Studies showed that both Frances’ husband and daughter had symptoms of depression, and her husband had to be institutionalized frequently for mental illness. That left Frances as the sole support for her household. Prior to going to Washington D.C., Perkins held various positions in New York State government. In 1929 the elected governor Franklin Roosevelt named her as the state industrial commisioner. Perkins really helped put New York in the forefront of progressive reform. She expanded factory investigations, reduced the workweek for women to 48 hours, and championed minimum wage and unemployment insurance laws.
In 1933 Roosevelt appointed Perkins as secretary of the department of labor, a position she held for twelve years, longer than any other secretary of labor. She was the first women to hold a place in the cabinet in the United States. She was also the first women to enter the Presidential Line of Succession. President Roosevelt consistantly supported the goals and programs of secretary Perkins. As Secretary of Labor, Perkins played a key role in the cabinet by writing the New Deal legislation, including minimum-wage laws. Her most important contribution, came in 1934 as chairwoman of the President's Committee on Economic Security.
Perkins, being the first women member of the presidential cabinet, had very hard tasks to make sure she could do. She had to be as capable as all the other male polititions in the cabinet. She had to do things to the standard that was needed. She was largely responsible for the U.S. adoption of social security, unemployment insurance, federal laws regulating child labor, and adoption of the federal minimum wage. The Frances Perkins Building that is the headquarters of the United States Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. was named in her honor in 1980.
Comments
This has been plagiarized Nate.