The Life and Legacy of Frances Perkins

Secretary of Labor under Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1945, Frances Perkins is widely recognized as a driving force behind the New Deal, most notably for the policies that created Social Security, the forty-hour work week, overtime pay, unemployment insurance, workplace safety standards, and a ban on child labor. This course explores her life and work in five classes. Each class will feature a different speaker.

Reading: Kirsten Downey, The Woman Behind the New Deal, ISBN 978-1400078561. 

Emma Wegner is Program and Education Director at the Frances Perkins Center, which manages the Frances Perkins Homestead National Historic Landmark in Newcastle, Maine. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and holds an M.A. in the History of Decorative Arts from the Bard Graduate Center in New York.