Overview
As a young woman in college, Frances Perkins considered becoming an actress or a teacher. However, women's reform movements of the 1920s fired her imagination. Perkins began working as a social reformer, challenging manufacturers and politicians and championing worker's rights. At the start of the Great Depression, newly elected U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt asked her to join his cabinet as secretary of labor. Together, the president and Perkins developed progressive plans to revive America's economy. Whether caring for her frequently institutionalized husband or bearing the burden of her position as the first woman member of a presidential cabinet, Perkins faced challenges with grace and wit. Frances Perkins: First Woman Cabinet Member recreates the anxiety of America during the Great Depression and details her efforts to bring hope and change during a critical time in American life.Synopsis
As a young woman in college, Frances Perkins considered becoming an actress or a teacher. However, women's reform movements of the 1920s fired her imagination. Perkins began working as a social reformer, challenging manufacturers and politicians and championing worker's rights. At the start of the Great Depression, newly elected U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt asked her to join his cabinet as secretary of labor. Together, the president and Perkins developed progressive plans to revive America's economy. Whether caring for her frequently institutionalized husband or bearing the burden of her position as the first woman member of a presidential cabinet, Perkins faced challenges with grace and wit. Frances Perkins: First Woman Cabinet Member recreates the anxiety of America during the Great Depression and details her efforts to bring hope and change during a critical time in American life.
Children's Literature
Frances Perkins (1889—1965) was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's secretary of labor for the length of his administration. Yes, she was the first woman Cabinet member and responsible for many of the New Deal programs, but before that she had an impressive career as a social worker, then as a member and chairman of the New York State Industrial Commission. Schooled in Jane Addams's Chicago Hull House, Perkins chose to use her formidable energies and talents in addressing the horrendous labor situation of the day. She fought for shorter working hours—and after personally watching the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911—for safer working conditions. She mediated between labor and industry, sometimes gaining the enmity of both; sometimes even thrusting her body between knives, guns, and dynamite to settle a strike. Perkins was an all-around dynamite lady. Keller's biography is to the point and welcome. The library-bound book includes colorized photographs, a time line, source notes, Web sites, bibliography, and an index.
Editorials
Children's Literature -
Frances Perkins (1889—1965) was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's secretary of labor for the length of his administration. Yes, she was the first woman Cabinet member and responsible for many of the New Deal programs, but before that she had an impressive career as a social worker, then as a member and chairman of the New York State Industrial Commission. Schooled in Jane Addams's Chicago Hull House, Perkins chose to use her formidable energies and talents in addressing the horrendous labor situation of the day. She fought for shorter working hours—and after personally watching the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911—for safer working conditions. She mediated between labor and industry, sometimes gaining the enmity of both; sometimes even thrusting her body between knives, guns, and dynamite to settle a strike. Perkins was an all-around dynamite lady. Keller's biography is to the point and welcome. The library-bound book includes colorized photographs, a time line, source notes, Web sites, bibliography, and an index.School Library Journal
Gr 8 & Up - This clearly written title highlights the groundbreaking accomplishments of the woman who served under Franklin D. Roosevelt as the U.S. Secretary of Labor. A tour de force politically, Perkins made a name for herself as a social reformer. Keller not only covers her education and career, but also her personal life, especially her relationship with her husband, who suffered from mental illness, and her daughter. The narrative is well researched and includes numerous quotes that are cited in a source notes section. Good-quality photographs depict many of the individuals mentioned in the text and illustrate the historical period. An appended time line gives readers a full perspective of Perkins's endeavors. The book makes clear that her appointment paved the way for women politically. A strong choice for women's history and political-science collections.-Delia Carruthers, Sunset Ridge Middle School, West Jordan, UT
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