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Frances Perkins: The Woman Behind the New Deal

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Frances Perkins: The Woman Behind the New Deal

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(Image-Frances Perkins, 2018).

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Frances Perkins was born Fannie Coralie Perkins in Boston, 1880. Frances Perkins' family moved from Boston to Worcester wherein her father started a paper business which is still operational to this day. Perkins spent her summers in her grandmother Cynthia Otis Perkins' Brick House in Newcastle.  She attributes her life principles to her grandmother who was "worldly wise as well as spiritually wise" (Frances Perkins, 2018).

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Frances Perkins first saw poverty when she attended school.  She asked her parents, who restricted her and her sister to church and school, "why nice people could be poor." Her parents reasoned that people who were poor drank alcohol and were lazy, which was the belief of the day (Frances Perkins, 2018).
Through Frances Perkins' History professor Anna May Soule in Mount Holyoke, Frances saw the unacceptable working conditions of women and children at the mills along the Connecticut River.
This experience was a turning point in Frances Perkins' life. Perkins was inspired "with the idea of reforming, or at least doing what I could, to help change those abuses" (Frances Perkins, 2018).  Furthermore, Perkins stated that a speech from the executive secretary of the National Consumers League Florence Kelley, in February 1902, "first opened my mind to the necessity for and the possibility of the work which became my vocation" (Frances Perkins, 2018).
(Image-Frances Perkins, 2018)

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After graduating from Mount Holyoke, Frances Perkins tried to seek employment in the field of Social Work.  Turning away from her parents' wishes to live at their home and teach while waiting for a prospective husband, she started reading Social Work material such as Jacob Riis' "How the Other Half Lives," which was about 1890's life in New York slums  (Frances Perkins, 2018).
Perkins eventually moved out of Worcester and taught at Ferry Hall, in Lake Forest Illinois. In June 1905, Perkins changed her religion from the Congregational Church to the Episcopal faith and set forth with the a belief that there is a "need to make the Kingdom of God in this world" (Frances Perkins, 2018).

Perkins used her free time and vacations to work at Chicago Commons and Hull House.  Her experience with the unemployed led her to an epiphany: "I had to do something about unnecessary hazards to life, unnecessary poverty.  It was sort up to me.  This feeling... sprang out of a period of great philosophical confusion which overtakes all young people" (Frances Perkins, 2018).
(Image- Frances Perkins, 2018)

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1907- Became general secretary of the Philadelphia research and Protective Association, an association that fights against diversion of immigrants girls and black women from the South to prostitution
1909-Began fellowship with the School of Philanthropy, investigated school children's malnutrition in New York's Hell's Kitchen
1910-Became Executive Secretary of the New York City Consumers League, working with Florence Kelley whose speech inspired her eight years prior; Perkins focused "on the need for sanitary regulations for bakeries, fire protection for factories, and legislation to limit the working hours for women and children in factories to 54 hours per week" (Frances Perkins, 2018).  Perkins was mentored by Assemblyman Al Smith, Senator Robert Wagner, and Tammany Hall allies in Albany, to be an effective lobbyist for labor and social reforms (Frances Perkins, 2018).

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“The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim
to give all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life.”

“I am extraordinarily the product of my grandmother.”

“Being a woman has only bothered me in climbing trees.”

“I had to do something about unnecessary hazards to life, unnecessary poverty. It was sort of up to me.”

“I promise to use what brains I have to meet problems with intelligence and courage.”

“I came to Washington to work for God, FDR,
and the millions of forgotten, plain common workingmen.”

“There is always a large horizon…. There is much to be done …. I am not going to be doing it! It is up to you to contribute some small part to a program of human betterment for all time.”

-Frances Perkins
1808-1965
(Frances Perkins, 2018)
(Image-History.com Editors, n.d.)

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Pivotal Accomplishments Leading to the New Deal

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Pivotal Accomplishments Leading to the New Deal

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March 25, 1911- Frances Perkins stated that this was "the day the New Deal was born" due to hazardous working conditions that caused the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire that killed 146 women.  A citizens Committee on Safety was initiated to prevent future workplace tragedies (Frances Perkins, 2018).
Theodore Roosevelt recommended Frances Perkins to become the executive secretary.  Perkins not only focused on fire safety conditions but also on other factors that affect the workers' health and their families.  Perkins' expertise led the inspections of factories that resulted in the "most comprehensive set of laws governing workplace health and safety in the nation" (Frances Perkins, 2018).
Perkins considered this achievement in New York as a turning point in "American political attitudes and policies toward social responsibility" (Frances Perkins, 2018).
1918- First woman to be appointed to the New York State Industrial Commission by Governor Al Smith who won during the first year that women in New York were able to vote.  She had a salary of $8000, the highest in the country for a woman at the time.  Governor Al Smith appointed Frances Perkins as chair to the Industrial Commission during his last term (Frances Perkins, 2018).

1928- Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Frances Perkins to be New York's Industrial Commissioner.  Perkins was the "most prominent state labor official in the nation."  Perkins said that she and FDR "have awakened with a shock to the frightful injustice of economic conditions which will allow men and women who are willing to work to suffer the distress of hunger and cold and humiliating dependence. We have determined to find out what makes involuntary employment,” (Frances Perkins, 2018).

1930- Challenged Hoover administration's claims about unemployment; was sent to England by FDR to study the British system (Frances Perkins, 2018).

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Pivotal Accomplishments During President Roosevelt's Administration: The New Deal

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Pivotal Accomplishments During President Roosevelt's Administration: The New Deal

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February 1933- Appointed Secretary of Labor by FDR; First woman in the nation on the Presidential Cabinet.
FDR had Perkins implement the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) which placed the "nation's unemployed back to work." Furthermore, Perkins brought in social worker Harry Hopkins to establish the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA).
Frances Perkins who was also a member of the Special Board for Public Works, was able to convince FDR to "allocate $3.3 billion that helped build "schools, roads, highway, housing projects, and post offices" (Frances Perkins, 2018).
(Image-Hautzinger, 2017)

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Pivotal Accomplishments During President Roosevelt's Administration: Social Security Act

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Pivotal Accomplishments During President Roosevelt's Administration: Social Security Act

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1934- Frances Perkins was appointed by FDR to lead a Committee on Economic Security wherein she laid the groundwork for the Social Security Act.  On August 14, 1935, FDR signed into law the Social Security Act that included "a system of old age pensions, unemployment compensation, workers' compensation, and aid to the needy and disabled" (Frances Perkins, 2018).
(Image-Franklin D. Roosevelt, 2016)

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How Frances Perkins Influenced the Development of the Social Work Profession

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How Frances Perkins Influenced the Development of the Social Work Profession

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In an interview with Frances Perkins' grandson Tomlin Perkins Coggeshall, who founded the Frances Perkins Center, and Dr. Christopher N. Breiseth, the Chairman of the Center's Board,
Forenza (n.d.), discussed how Frances Perkins had a huge impact on the Social Work field.
Breiseth stated that Perkins' friendship with Jane Addams led the way to Perkins' realization that "broader social change" is possible and that "it wasn't enough for her (Perkins) to minister to individuals...she saw policy as an opportunity to work systematically" (Forenza, 2014).
These social policies that were established at the macro level namely the Social Security Act,the minimum wage, and the 40-hour week, was authored by Perkins with the mission to "alleviate human suffering through the broadest means possible" (Forenza, 2014). The "Godmother of modern-day social welfare policy" established groundbreaking programs that reflect that the American government is meant to support its citizens to attain the best life possible (Forenza, 2014).

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Frances Perkins: Accomplishing her Mission to Create a Safer Workplace Environment: Fair Labor Standards Act

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Frances Perkins: Accomplishing her Mission to Create a Safer Workplace Environment: Fair Labor Standards Act

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1938-Frances Perkins helped author the Fair Labor Standards Act which established a "minimum wage, maximum work hours, and banning child labor"
(Frances Perkins, 2018)
(Image- Frances Perkins, 2018)

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Forenza, B. (2014). Remembering frances perkins: an interview with dr. christopher n. breiseth and tomlin perkins Coggeshall. The New Social Worker. Retrieved from https://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/practice/remembering-frances-perkins/

Frances Perkins Center. (2018). Frances perkins at mount holyoke. Retrieved from http://francesperkinscenter.org/mount-holyoke-collegefrances-perkins-center-internship/

Frances Perkins Center. (2018). Her life: the woman behind the new deal. Retrieved from http://francesperkinscenter.org/life-new/

Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. (2016). Past special exhibition: “Our plain duty”: fdr and america’s social security. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved from https://www.fdrlibrary.org/our-plain-duty

Hautzinger, D. (2017). The groundbreaking women of hull house. Wttw. Retrieved from https://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2017/03/07/groundbreaking-contributions-women-hull-house

History.com editors. (2019). Franklin d. roosevelt on new deal programs. History. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/franklin-d-roosevelt-on-new-deal-programs-video