A Woman Unafraid: The Achievements of Frances Perkins

by Penny Colman

A biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt's secretary of labor, who became the first woman cabinet member and a pioneer in labor reform, establishing unemployment insurance, minimum wages, maximum hours, safety regulations, and social security.

Genres: Nonfiction, Womens, History, Biography

129 pages, Library Binding

First published October 1, 1993

About the author

Penny Colman is the author of award-winning biographies and social histories. Her intriguing topics range from Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II to Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts: A History of Burial. A popular speaker, Penny has appeared on television and radio, including National Public Radio, and on Book TV, C-Span2.
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She has been honored by the New Jersey State Legislature for her books and public appearances that have “contributed to the advancement of women.” The New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs presented her with the New Jersey Women of Achievement Award.

A graduate of The University of Michigan and The Johns Hopkins University, Penny has taught nonfiction literature and creative writing at various colleges and universities, including Teachers College, Columbia University and Queens College, The City University of New York, where she was a Distinguished Lecturer.

Reviews

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cannot remember what got me curious about Frances Perkins but I certainly am glad I put in a hold on this title! I suspect my hero, Bernie Sanders, would have liked and gotten along with Frances very well. Frances was responsible for many of the most important successes of the Roosevelt administration. She helped establish unemployment insurance, Social Security, 40 hour working week, the elimination of child labor, slowed down discrimination against women, kept her maiden name when married, invented "Rosie the Riveter". This was just the beginning. She advocated for worker safety. She wrote a highly praised biography of FDR after his death. She tried to get Medicare done but that took a President far in the future, Johnson. She got her awakening witnessing the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. When she protected a labor leader from being deported unfairly, she was impeached. The Congress person who led the efforts was later sentenced to jail for padding his congressional payrolls. Funny how these things seem to happen. Ken Starr, the leader of the impeachment effort against Clinton was just fired from being President of Baylor College for not dealing appropriately with rape assaults by football team members. This was a well done biography of Frances Perkins. It held my attention with ease. There is extensive after matter from an excellent afterword, to a chronology, to bibliography to places to visit. It is an excellent introduction to someone I had heard of but that was about it. This title is another example of my belief that often the best place to start learning about something is with a children's title. If you know nothing about Perkins, I do highly recommend it! Now to go see if any local system has her biography of FDR....how reading evolves from one subject to another!

[David Hollingsworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is basically exactly what it promises to be: a short introduction to Frances Perkins. It also does a cool thing where it periodically explains what else was happening in the world at the time during certain years to give readers a sense of the world Perkins found herself in. If you're interested in learning more about Perkins, but aren't quite trying to read the almost-500 page book by Kirstin Downey, this is a great resource.

[Tamhack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Francis Perkins is an unsung hero.

Summary from the back cover:
"President Franklin Roosevelt appointed Frances Perkins Secretary of Labor in 1933 during the greatest economic crisis in American history--the Great Depression. At that time, women weren't supposed to have careers, or be outspoken, or be powerful. But that did not stop Frances Perkins. With her familiar tricorn hat planted firmly on her head, Perkins, prodded, pressured and persuaded businessmen, labor leaders, and politicians to respond to the needs of the American people and end child labor, establish safer working conditions, fairer wages, reasonable working hours, unemployment insurance, and Social Security."
"Dedicated, disciplined, often controversial, Frances Perkins exerted a far-ranging influence on twentieth-centrury America. To accomplish things, she said, "you just can't be afraid."

This is a brief book about all her accomplishments but it opened my eyes and made me search out and read more about her.

"A pioneer in labor reform, Frances Perkins served an extraordinary twelve years as secretary of labor, the second longest term of any cabinet member in history. Harold Ickes, Roosevelt's secretary of the interior, served only seven and a half months longer than Perkins."

"Perkins also never forgot her father teaching her about how to treat people: "How you must never overlook anyone... and how you must have a way, an approach to people whom you talk, while not subservient, not arrogant," Perkins recalled."

I like the book because it not only tells Frances' story but it also gives a picture of the changes, history happening during her lifetime. The book was written to give a picture of the world through Frances' eyes.

Frances' was very insightful about human nature. She observed and studied a problem and then went forward trying to solve it!!

"Ironically, although Frances Perkins was immersed in politics and legislation, as a woman she couldn't vote."

"In order to help workers, Wilson proposed a new cabinet office, the United States Department of Labor, which Congress created in 1913."

Frances was ahead of her time:
"The Department of Labor was supposed "to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment." But with the exception of the Children's Bureau, headed by Grace Abbott, and the Women's Bureau, headed by Mary Anderson, the Department of Labor was not carrying out its mission. "The offices were dirty, files and papers were missing, there was no program or plan of work, there was an internal spy system, and everyone was scared of everyone else and trying to get into my good graces," Perkins wrote later"
"Without delay, Perkins got to work to get the department fully functioning. For starters, she abolished the tow different lunchrooms, one for black and one for white workers. Although segregated facilities were the norm in Washington and the rest of the country, Perkins was not going to allow them."

"Perkins spent a lot of time educating people about the need for social legislation and labor reform. Firmly believing that if people fully understood a situation they would do "the right thing,"..

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love her! We need to remember this era and how much they accomplished amid so much conflict.

[Jacquie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful story of a woman who did what needed to be done regardless of public opinion. The title is very fitting. I was very interested in all that she did and all that she accomplished during the Depression and New Deal Era.

[Lisa Muller · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction to Perkins, especially for younger readers, but it seems rushed and does not go deeply onto Perkins or her incredible influence on America, that continues today. Poorly annotated.

[Aimeé Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read about Perkins with a great overview and f her professional accomplishments. A good place to start to learn about Perkins, a too forgotten American that had affected each of our lives in a positive way.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple look at Frances Perkins, the first female cabinet member as secretary of Labor under FDR. She is an incredible example of a woman with purpose and determination. In large part she was successful because she cared for people and worked hard to remedy some of the problems of the times.