Madam Secretary Frances Perkins

Frances Perkins (1880-1965) attended Mount Holyoke College, majoring in physics. In her final semester, she visited mills along the Connecticut River to see working conditions as part of a class in American economic history. She was horrified. Instead of teaching until she married, she earned a masters degree in social work from Columbia University. In 1910, Perkins became Executive Secretary of the New York City Consumers League. She campaigned for sanitary regulations for bakeries, fire p...