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Name _______________________________________ Class ____________ Date ____________
25
The New Deal
Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins became the first female cabinet
member when she was appointed U.S. secretary of
labor in 1933. In that post, she played a leading role
in the passage of legislation governing minimum
wage requirements, Social Security, unemployment
compensation, and the establishment of child-labor
laws. Perkins also fought for the rights of women and
shocked many by refusing to take her husband’s
surname after marriage.
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
F
rances Perkins became one of the first
women to serve in city, state, and national
government positions. She was born Fannie
Coiralie Perkins in 1880 in Boston, Massachusetts, but changed her name to Frances so
that people would take her more seriously. As
one of the first women to hold political office,
Perkins was very careful about how she presented herself. She adopted a conservative, nofrills style of dressing that she felt was less
threatening to men. She managed not only to
pave the way for women in politics but also to
accomplish her goal of improving the lives of
male and female workers throughout the
country.
Perkins’s dedication to improving the
lives of others began when she was a student
at Mount Holyoke College. A professor instructed her and her classmates to view the
poor working conditions at textile and paper
mills. Perkins joined the National Consumers
League and lobbied for legislation to improve
working conditions.
After graduating from Mount Holyoke,
Perkins began to teach and do volunteer work
to help factory workers. While teaching in
Lake Forest, Illinois, she met several leaders
of the social reform movement in Chicago.
She stayed in the Midwest for three years,
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BIOGRAPHY READING
working at settlement houses such as Chicago
Commons and Hull House. The settlement
houses provided free social services to poor
people in the city. By the time she left Chicago,
Perkins was committed to a career in social
work.
Perkins spent the next 25 years working
for social reform and learning about the need
for improved working conditions in factories.
She studied at the New York School of Philanthropy and earned a master’s degree from
Columbia University. She also studied economics and sociology at the Wharton School of
Finance and Commerce. As a social worker,
Perkins surveyed the slums of Philadelphia and
New York City. In 1910 she began collecting
statistics about unsafe working conditions for
the New York Consumers’ League. She visited
unsafe bakeries, laundries, and textile sweatshops.
Perkins witnessed the Triangle Shirtwaist
Fire of 1911, which killed 146 factory workers.
She watched women leap from upper-story
windows to escape the blaze and later saw the
remains of workers who were killed. Perkins
began to work with Al Smith, then a New York
assemblyman, to lobby the state legislature on
behalf of workers. While lobbying the legislature to limit women’s workweek to 54 hours,
Perkins became acquainted with Franklin D.
Roosevelt. When Al Smith became governor,
he appointed Perkins to the state labor board.
By 1918 she was widely revered as an expert in
labor legislation and industrial regulation.
Perkins became the first woman to serve
as a state industrial commissioner when
Roosevelt became governor of New York in
1929. She then served as U.S. secretary of labor
for the full 12 years of the Roosevelt administration, three months longer than anyone previously in that post. As secretary of labor,
Perkins helped to bring about passage of the
Chapter 25 149
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Chapter 25, Biography Reading, Continued
Social Security Act and the Fair Labor Standards
Act. The Fair Labor Standards Act protected
workers by mandating a minimum wage and
requiring employers to pay time and a half for
overtime. The Act also limited the employment
of children under 16.
After Roosevelt’s death, Perkins left the Cabinet and went on to serve as a member of the
Civil Service Commission, write books, and
teach college courses. Frances Perkins died in
1965. In 1988, she was inducted into the Labor
Hall of Fame.
UNDERSTANDING WHAT YOU READ After you have finished reading the
selection, answer the following questions in the space provided.
1. Why did Frances Perkins change her name from Fannie Coiralie Perkins?
2. What incident first inspired Perkins to devote her life to helping the working class?
What was her reaction to this incident?
4. In addition to being the first female cabinet member, what else distinguished
Perkins’s career as U.S. secretary of labor?
ACTIVITY
Imagine that you are Frances Perkins, and it is the day after you have first visited the
textile and paper mills. Write a journal entry describing what you saw, how it made
you feel, and what you would like to do to improve working conditions.
150 Chapter 25
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3. Why do you think the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire spurred Perkins’s reform efforts?
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
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committed crimes; and were associated
with “darkness, old houses, speaking in
whispers, and trade unions on strike.”
because she was meeting someone in an
old, unpainted house with no lights
Since the title “sir” often indicates a superior position, Jan might have wanted to
indicate that he considered Bigger his
equal.
Bigger was hesitant to shake hands with
Jan and tried to pull his hand away
immediately. He reacted this way because
he was confused by Jan’s actions and
could not understand Jan’s motivation for
wanting to shake hands.
Bigger felt conscious of his “black skin,”
which white people had taught him to
regard as a “badge of shame,” and which
made him “hate” himself. He questioned
Jan and Mary’s motives, thinking they
might be making fun of him. Their behavior even affected Bigger physically: “He
stiffened;” “Bigger’s entire body tightened
with suspense and dread;” ”He flushed
warm with anger;” “He felt he had no
physical existence at all right then.”
Bigger felt that they were making fun of
him and trying to make him feel self-conscious. He knew that many white people
considered African Americans to be inferior, and their insistence on friendship
made him more aware of prejudice.
ACTIVITY
Students’ scenarios will vary. Possible scenarios include a man opening a door for a
woman, or a young girl giving up her seat on
a crowded train for an older man.
PRIMARY SOURCE
1. His motto implied that every American
could make plenty of money and live
well.
2. He wanted to give every American over
the age of 60 who did not earn at least
$1,000 per year a pension of $30 per
month. He felt that this would allow the
elderly to live decently. At the same time,
it would allow them to leave the workforce, which would in turn mean valuable
238 Answer Key
3.
4.
5.
6.
jobs for younger people in times of economic slowdown.
He believed that applying a limit on work
hours would slow down overproduction
and also give families time for recreation.
war veterans
by placing a legal limit on the number of
work hours
Answers will vary, but many students will
respond that Long had plenty of good
ideas. They may cite old age pensions and
veterans’ benefits as two programs that
are in effect today, via government programs such as Social Security and the
Veterans Administration.
ACTIVITY
Students’ ideas for government programs will
vary.
BIOGRAPHY
1. because she thought it sounded more dignified
2. Perkins was first inspired after viewing
the poor working conditions at textile and
paper mills. Her reaction was that she
joined the National Consumers League
and lobbied for legislation to improve
working conditions.
3. One possible answer might be that the
number of deaths caused by the incident
highlighted the need for better working
conditions and safety standards.
4. She served the longest of any secretary of
labor.
ACTIVITY
Students should describe how unclean and
unsafe the mills were for workers and how the
employees were overworked. They should say,
as Perkins, how it angered her to see these
working conditions and how she felt compelled to do something to improve their situation, such as work to change the laws.
CHAPT E R 2 6
LITERATURE
1. The author is referring to actual wounds
that bullets make. Bullets that enter the
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