Frances Perkins, depicted on the left, was Secretary of Labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and was the first female cabinet member in US history. She worked to ensure that the work of previous labor reformers took root in the policies of Roosevelt’s New Deal. Perkins, whose family had deep Maine roots, had held various advocacy positions in the 1910s and 1920s. She worked in Chicago's Hull House, an organization providing social and educational opportunities for immigrants and other working people, and was secretary of the National Consumers’ League in New York City. In 1933, President-elect Roosevelt asked Perkins to be his Secretary of Labor. She agreed with the stipulation that she could pursue the policies on which she had long advocated, including a minimum wage, unemployment pay, an end to child labor, and establishing pensions. She led the development of many other New Deal initiatives, including the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the Social Security Act, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the National Labor Relations Act.
