On this day in Labor History the year was 1933.
This was the day President Franklin Roosevelt named Frances Perkins Secretary of Labor. Secretary Perkins was the first woman to hold a cabinet position in the US Government. Perkins brought to her position years of experience advocating for working people.
Born in Boston, Perkins attended Mount Holyoke College. She moved to Illinois to become a teacher.
She began spending time at the renowned Hull House settlement house. At Hull House Perkins encountered some of the leading fighters for women’s rights, and workers safety, while learning from many of the leading labor reformers of her day.
From Illinois, Perkins returned east to study economics and sociology, earning her Master’s Degree from Columbia University in New York City.
Soon Perkins became the head of National Consumers League. While in New York, Perkins witnessed firsthand the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire tragedy.
She watched as 146 young girls and women jumped to their deaths to escape the deadly flames because doors of the factory were chained shut.
The experience profoundly affected Perkins. She would later say, ““The New Deal began on March 25th, 1911. The day that the Triangle factory burned.”
She spent the rest of her career working to ensure the conditions that had led to the Triangle fire would not be repeated.
Perkins played a key role in crafting many parts of Roosevelt’s New Deal Legislation, including the passage of the Social Security Act.
She also worked to pass the National Labor Relations Act, which allowed millions of workers to earn collective bargaining rights for the first time.
During her twelve years as Labor Secretary, Perkins forged new ground for the role of women in government as a staunch ally for working people.
Labor History in 2:00 brought to you by the Illinois Labor History Society and The Rick Smith Show