Frances Perkins

Frances Perkins

1932

Official portrait

Frances Caroline Perkins was the United States Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945. A tireless advocate for the country's working class, she helped Franklin Delano Roosevelt bring the labor movement into the New Deal coalition. John Steelman invited Perkins to speak at Alabama College in 1934. Remarkably, the country’s first female cabinet member accepted the invitation. Like Steelman, she had also studied economics and sociology. Once in Montevallo Perkins learned of Steelman’s politics, his extraordinary people skills, and talent for deal making. Before leaving town she asked him to come work for her in Washington.

1933-1945

Public

Wikimedia Commons

John Bawden