Frances Perkins

Frances Perkins was born on April 10, 1880, in Boston, Massachusetts. Growing up her family believed in the value of education and was enrolled in a nearly all male high school, Worcester Classical High School. She later went on to study at Mount Holyoke College and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry and physics in 1902.

After a brief time back home, Perkins left to start a teaching job in Illinois. During her free time and vacation days, she would often work with the poor and unemployed at the Chicago Commons and Hull House.

In 1907 she joined the Philadelphia Research and Protective Association, working with immigrant girls on ways to avoid prostitution. While there she studied economics and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1909 she began a fellowship at the New York School of Philanthropy, there she investigated childhood malnutrition within the New York City neighborhood Hell's Kitchen. While in New York, she received her Master's degree in sociology from Columbia University. In 1910 Frances became the Executive Secretary of the New York City Consumers league. Here she focused on the necessity of sanitary regulation in bakeries, fire protection in factories, and a legislative limit for the amount of hours women and children could work.

On March 25, 1911, Perkins witnessed the deaths of 146 factory workers in a fire. She saw 47 of those workers jump to their deaths to avoid the flames that had engulfed the top three stories of the building. In response to the fire,  the Committee on Safety was established to try to stop any further tragedies. At the suggestion of Theodore Roosevelt, Perkins was hired to be the executive secretary. The committee's first act was to seek a state commission to investigate and create legislative recommendations. As a result of this, the commission created the most in-depth laws governing workplace health and safety in the nation.

In 1928, Franklin Roosevelt became the Governor of New York. He asked Frances to be the state's industrial commissioner, together she and Roosevelt looked for new ways to combat rising unemployment throughout the state. Upon Roosevelt's Presidential election Perkins believed that her time in public service was over. She was far from right. In February 1933 Roosevelt asked Perkins to serve in his cabinet as the Secretary of Labor. She became the first female cabinet member in United States history. She became the inventor behind all of Roosevelt's New Deal reforms.

Sources:
1. http://www.biography.com/people/frances-perkins-9437840#profile
2. http://francesperkinscenter.org/life-new/