Frances Perkins
Homestead, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
U.S. Secretary of Labor, 1933-45. Visited Homestead July 1933 to discuss New Deal policy. Local authorities barred her from meeting with aggrieved steelworkers in nearby Frick Park. Undeterred, she moved the assembly to federal property here, at the former U.S. post office.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
When Frances Perkins came to Homestead in July 1933 as the nation's first female cabinet secretary, local officials tried to silence her — barring her from meeting aggrieved steelworkers in a nearby park. Undaunted, the U.S. Secretary of Labor simply moved the gathering onto federal ground at the local post office, where free speech could not be denied. As the architect of much of the New Deal, including Social Security and wage-and-hour laws, Perkins served longer than any labor secretary in history.
Why it matters
The moment captures both the barriers a pioneering woman faced in public life and the New Deal's promise to give workers a voice, embodied by the most consequential labor secretary the country has known.
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Related people
- · Frances Perkins
Related events
- · New Deal labor policy
Themes & tags
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