On March 25, 1911, Frances Perkins was visiting with a friend who lived near Washington Square in New York City when they heard fire engines and screams. They rushed out to the street to see what the trouble was. A fire had broken out in a garment factory on the upper floors of a building on Washington Square, and the blaze ripped through the lint in the air. The only way out was down the elevator, which had been abandoned at the base of its shaft, or through an exit to the roof. But the factory owner had locked the roof exit that day because, he later testified, he was worried some of his workers might steal some of the blouses they were making.
An amazing force. It was a sad day when Perkins Grants ended. They provided funds to train non-traditional and older adults. I hope another Frances Perkins rises up from this new generation, we desperately need a person with such fortitude and moral grounding.
The social safety net that Democrats created and keep trying to widen remains under constant attack from Republicans. And it’s Republicans who want to weaken protections for workers and bring back child labor. The struggle never ends.
Thank you very much, Heather, for your tribute to this towering force of a woman. Democrats might find a way to make "Democrats are for betterment" part of their Insistent, persistent, omnipresent talking points as we enter (already!) another election cycle.
Thank God for the determination of Frances Perkins and thank you for reminding us of all that she and her associates accomplished. Enjoy your early evening!
One word stuck out of the letter for me today, I wonder if it will for others on the forum as well?
DECENT
"It was a human, decent, natural thing to do,” Perkins said"
Good grief, I am so tired of politicians who wish to be outrageous, who call themselves "Christian" and behave like...........I don't know what. Words fail me.
"Decent" seems to be to me in this modern world almost a negative. "How was the movie?" "Decent." Not a "on the edge of your seats don't miss blockbuster" just 'decent."
I was once told that you have the ups and downs in life because if you don't have the downs you can't truly appreciate the ups.
Working in the hospital lab, the administration put a "STAT charge" on tests ordered "STAT"--if everyone demanded results immediately, it slowed down EVERY test. It tried to emphasize what was truly "stat" so to speak. Wish I could better explain this, but I think you astute readers understand.
I'd be quite happy to live in a world where most everything is "decent" including our elected officials.
When I was 16 years old in the immigrant part of NY’s Lower East Side, I worked after school in my underwear in a small very hot factory at a machine for 50 cents an hour!And my mother insisted that I better not open the little pay envelope containing coins.That was a short distance from where the factory burned about 40 years earlier. Progress was slow when money was involved and immigrants needed any job.Perkins was extraordinarily devoted to reform, while Al Smith,Roosevelt and Dems were believed to be our salvation!There are still millions of American workers who make less than $10 an hour, particularly Black, Latino and in the South.When we win it all in 24, as we must to save our democracy from the rule of the likes of MTG and the crazies, we have to really strengthen the labor laws even in blue states as Gov Whitmer is now doing with a Dem legislature in Michigan.Folks are working but barely surviving!
An amazing woman, Frances Perkins. Thank you for this moving tribute to both Perkins and FDR who had the good sense to appoint her and back her proposals. She was the kind of practical, action oriented visionary who can transform the arc of history. We have all benefited -- and now need to take up the fight to preserve AND RESTORE her legacy. Repugnant (far too weak a term) that Gov Sanders of Arkansas is allowing more child labor not less. So much for Repub. being in favor of Life.
A friend now an elder, worked for the maine Dept of Labor until she retired. We met as volunteers with the Southern Maine Workers Center. She told me her own mother worked at that factory but had stayed home from work that day feeling unwell. In Maine the Frances Perkins center is very special and as you may know, Laura Fortman, it’s former director, is now Maine secretary of labor. Ironic we Cumberland county dems had arranged to present her with a Frances Perkins award when Covid hit. we had to cancel, so instead of attending our cancelled party she was answering the phones at the DOL ! Trying to help people in panic gain access to their hard earned unemployment benefits. The legacy of Frances Perkins lives!
I consider Frances Perkins the most effective advocate of the working class, especially women, since she was galvanized by the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory disaster [in which the owners were never penalized].
Her perseverance and effectiveness were acknowledged in governor Al Smith’s and Franklin Roosevelt’s NY governments. She was involved in creating and implementing major worker-related programs in response to the devastating affects of the Great Depression in NY state.
Under President Roosevelt, she was the first woman even appointed to the cabinet, where she served for 12 years. In enacting progressive labor laws and, especially the first Social Security legislation, she was critical and, in a sense, was the social conscience (with Eleanor) for President Roosevelt.
Frances Perkins should be beatified for her service to America’s workers in beginning to level the playing field against big industry.
(Ms. Perkins accomplished all of this while dealing with a husband and daughter with severe mental illness.)
Thank you for the reminder about Frances Perkins and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. The past is generally abominable until civil society wakes up with extreme tragedy. Staying the course becomes more difficult with the passage of time, especially in an era where, yet again, a few wealthy white men own most of the money. This situation then provides new atrocities - exploding derailing trains, laws reverting to the use of firing squads for executions (read some of the supporting comments if you can hold your dinner down) and Sarah Huckabee repealing child labor laws in Arkansas.
This time around, it will take atrocities that exceed this demented population’s sense of self-righteousness and clear the impacted narcissism from their eyes. I am more fearful now than I have been since 2016, exceeding even the sick sense and fear that I felt on January 06, 2021.
Let's hope we can vote together to make positive good things happen. President Biden is correct! There isn't anything we can't do if we work together.
Now we just need to convince those who want to keep the trickle down fantasy going that doing what the President wants to do, build out and up is what the USA did during and after WWII. And the rich still got richer! They didn't suffer when that chicken in every pot turned to a tv in every house and a car in most garages and a substantial number of good paying jobs that lifted most people up. A vibrant middle class is the life's blood of a vibrant democracy!
Thanks, Heather, for this amazing history lesson on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and amazing work of Frances Perkins. It’s amazing to know that such a woman had this much influence on our American history while receiving so little recognition for her work.
Being a veteran firefighter this is a fire that is still talked about in fire classes. One of the worst fires in history. Plus, I can speak from experience of a garment factory fire, it’s nothing to be taken lightly. I had experience with a shirt factory fire in South Carolina in the late 70s. There we’re no deaths in this fire but several firefighters suffered injuries. The fumes, heat, and the smoke was intense. Plus, falling through the roof into the fire didn’t help matters much.
Anyway, thanks to Ms. Perkins for her work to get all of these government programs started. Hopefully the Republicans will not tear everything apart that she started.
One thing is for sure. Her comments you state in your closing paragraph are still true today, more than ever.
“There is always a large horizon…. There is much to be done,” Perkins said. “It is up to you to contribute some small part to a program of human betterment for all time.”
Seeing the good that good government was able to do, reminds us of how far we have gone in the opposite direction! That so many people in our country go hungry; that so many are without homes; that so many are poorly educated; and so many are without health care speaks to the callousness of elected officials at every level of government.
Right now we are facing the threat of Republican House members to destroy the full faith and credit of our country unless Biden agrees to cut programs that aid the middle and lower classes - which he cannot do. I am very worried and everyone else should be as well!
Frances Perkins is one of the least appreciated heroes in our history.
An amazing force. It was a sad day when Perkins Grants ended. They provided funds to train non-traditional and older adults. I hope another Frances Perkins rises up from this new generation, we desperately need a person with such fortitude and moral grounding.
The social safety net that Democrats created and keep trying to widen remains under constant attack from Republicans. And it’s Republicans who want to weaken protections for workers and bring back child labor. The struggle never ends.
Thank you very much, Heather, for your tribute to this towering force of a woman. Democrats might find a way to make "Democrats are for betterment" part of their Insistent, persistent, omnipresent talking points as we enter (already!) another election cycle.
Thank God for the determination of Frances Perkins and thank you for reminding us of all that she and her associates accomplished. Enjoy your early evening!
One word stuck out of the letter for me today, I wonder if it will for others on the forum as well?
DECENT
"It was a human, decent, natural thing to do,” Perkins said"
Good grief, I am so tired of politicians who wish to be outrageous, who call themselves "Christian" and behave like...........I don't know what. Words fail me.
"Decent" seems to be to me in this modern world almost a negative. "How was the movie?" "Decent." Not a "on the edge of your seats don't miss blockbuster" just 'decent."
I was once told that you have the ups and downs in life because if you don't have the downs you can't truly appreciate the ups.
Working in the hospital lab, the administration put a "STAT charge" on tests ordered "STAT"--if everyone demanded results immediately, it slowed down EVERY test. It tried to emphasize what was truly "stat" so to speak. Wish I could better explain this, but I think you astute readers understand.
I'd be quite happy to live in a world where most everything is "decent" including our elected officials.
When I was 16 years old in the immigrant part of NY’s Lower East Side, I worked after school in my underwear in a small very hot factory at a machine for 50 cents an hour!And my mother insisted that I better not open the little pay envelope containing coins.That was a short distance from where the factory burned about 40 years earlier. Progress was slow when money was involved and immigrants needed any job.Perkins was extraordinarily devoted to reform, while Al Smith,Roosevelt and Dems were believed to be our salvation!There are still millions of American workers who make less than $10 an hour, particularly Black, Latino and in the South.When we win it all in 24, as we must to save our democracy from the rule of the likes of MTG and the crazies, we have to really strengthen the labor laws even in blue states as Gov Whitmer is now doing with a Dem legislature in Michigan.Folks are working but barely surviving!
What would our society look like today if Frances Perkins hadn’t wrought her miracles?
Thank you for reminding us of what one hopeful, visionary, justice-seeking person can do - as a leader.
An amazing woman, Frances Perkins. Thank you for this moving tribute to both Perkins and FDR who had the good sense to appoint her and back her proposals. She was the kind of practical, action oriented visionary who can transform the arc of history. We have all benefited -- and now need to take up the fight to preserve AND RESTORE her legacy. Repugnant (far too weak a term) that Gov Sanders of Arkansas is allowing more child labor not less. So much for Repub. being in favor of Life.
A friend now an elder, worked for the maine Dept of Labor until she retired. We met as volunteers with the Southern Maine Workers Center. She told me her own mother worked at that factory but had stayed home from work that day feeling unwell. In Maine the Frances Perkins center is very special and as you may know, Laura Fortman, it’s former director, is now Maine secretary of labor. Ironic we Cumberland county dems had arranged to present her with a Frances Perkins award when Covid hit. we had to cancel, so instead of attending our cancelled party she was answering the phones at the DOL ! Trying to help people in panic gain access to their hard earned unemployment benefits. The legacy of Frances Perkins lives!
I consider Frances Perkins the most effective advocate of the working class, especially women, since she was galvanized by the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory disaster [in which the owners were never penalized].
Her perseverance and effectiveness were acknowledged in governor Al Smith’s and Franklin Roosevelt’s NY governments. She was involved in creating and implementing major worker-related programs in response to the devastating affects of the Great Depression in NY state.
Under President Roosevelt, she was the first woman even appointed to the cabinet, where she served for 12 years. In enacting progressive labor laws and, especially the first Social Security legislation, she was critical and, in a sense, was the social conscience (with Eleanor) for President Roosevelt.
Frances Perkins should be beatified for her service to America’s workers in beginning to level the playing field against big industry.
(Ms. Perkins accomplished all of this while dealing with a husband and daughter with severe mental illness.)
Thank you for the reminder about Frances Perkins and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. The past is generally abominable until civil society wakes up with extreme tragedy. Staying the course becomes more difficult with the passage of time, especially in an era where, yet again, a few wealthy white men own most of the money. This situation then provides new atrocities - exploding derailing trains, laws reverting to the use of firing squads for executions (read some of the supporting comments if you can hold your dinner down) and Sarah Huckabee repealing child labor laws in Arkansas.
This time around, it will take atrocities that exceed this demented population’s sense of self-righteousness and clear the impacted narcissism from their eyes. I am more fearful now than I have been since 2016, exceeding even the sick sense and fear that I felt on January 06, 2021.
Let's hope we can vote together to make positive good things happen. President Biden is correct! There isn't anything we can't do if we work together.
Now we just need to convince those who want to keep the trickle down fantasy going that doing what the President wants to do, build out and up is what the USA did during and after WWII. And the rich still got richer! They didn't suffer when that chicken in every pot turned to a tv in every house and a car in most garages and a substantial number of good paying jobs that lifted most people up. A vibrant middle class is the life's blood of a vibrant democracy!
Thanks to those that paved and led the way.
Thanks, Heather, for this amazing history lesson on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and amazing work of Frances Perkins. It’s amazing to know that such a woman had this much influence on our American history while receiving so little recognition for her work.
Being a veteran firefighter this is a fire that is still talked about in fire classes. One of the worst fires in history. Plus, I can speak from experience of a garment factory fire, it’s nothing to be taken lightly. I had experience with a shirt factory fire in South Carolina in the late 70s. There we’re no deaths in this fire but several firefighters suffered injuries. The fumes, heat, and the smoke was intense. Plus, falling through the roof into the fire didn’t help matters much.
Anyway, thanks to Ms. Perkins for her work to get all of these government programs started. Hopefully the Republicans will not tear everything apart that she started.
One thing is for sure. Her comments you state in your closing paragraph are still true today, more than ever.
“There is always a large horizon…. There is much to be done,” Perkins said. “It is up to you to contribute some small part to a program of human betterment for all time.”
Seeing the good that good government was able to do, reminds us of how far we have gone in the opposite direction! That so many people in our country go hungry; that so many are without homes; that so many are poorly educated; and so many are without health care speaks to the callousness of elected officials at every level of government.
Right now we are facing the threat of Republican House members to destroy the full faith and credit of our country unless Biden agrees to cut programs that aid the middle and lower classes - which he cannot do. I am very worried and everyone else should be as well!