Frances Perkins left Washington after serving twelve years, the longest serving Secretary of Labor in U.S. history. However, she did not stop working. She spent the last twenty years of her life as author of the best-selling biography The Roosevelt I Knew (1946) and was a member of the U.S. Civil Service Commission (1945-1952).
During her seven years as a commissioner, the principle guiding all her work was that the Commission “is concerned only with the question as to whether the applicant is a suitable person for the post for which he applies.” She opposed any questions on applications which pried into a person’s private life. A lifetime of experience had convinced her that the right to privacy was a basic human right, the basis of liberty in a democratic society.
Frances Perkins passed away May 14, 1965 at the age of eighty-five. She was buried next to her husband and near her parents and grandmother, but her legacy fighting for the working class and the betterment of society remains entrenched in all the social safety net legislation she helped pass.
Her legacy of fighting for the working class lives on. Although many of her personal letters were destroyed, Columbia University, the Kheel Center, New York Department of Labor, National Archives, and the Frances Perkins Center have scattered records documenting her life’s achievements. In 1980, the Department of Labor Headquarters was renamed the Frances Perkins Building in her honor. The Triangle Fire memorial in NYC, a building recently given landmark preservation status, has a quote from Perkins from an ILR lecture to students in 1964, reading “Every one of them was killed, everybody who jumped was killed.”
In August of 2024, renowned sculptor Meredith Bergmann will install a statue of Perkins in downtown Ithaca to honor her connection to the city. Bergmann has created statues of Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, FDR, Rosa Parks, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Sitting on a bench with her trademark tricorn hat and matronly attire, the inscription reads, “I had to do something about unnecessary hazards to life, unnecessary poverty. It was sort of up to me.”
The statues honoring local women, to be installed August 17th, 2024 in the City of Ithaca, celebrate local iconic women, Frances Perkins and Lucy Brown, both of whom pioneered to bring about change and empowered women’s rights and social justice movements locally and nationally.
About the Statues:
Each woman is seated on a bench, consisting of life-sized bronze figures. Frances Perkins is located on North Cayuga Street in front of Breckenridge Place and Lucy Brown at the corner of the historic Henry St. John building (S. Geneva and W Clinton Streets). The statues commemorate each woman’s passion for social justice and the actions they took to pave the way for future generations. Sponsored by a local anonymous donor, the works of art are a gift to the people of Ithaca.
The artist, world-renowned sculptor Meredith Bergmann, depicts the women’s determination, with Frances Perkins holding a list highlighting the programs she took to President Roosevelt, while Lucy Brown is with her pencil and pad on which she wrote reminders to herself of things that needed to be done. Both women welcome community members to sit and listen to their statements available through a QR code that narrates their impact and commitment to meddle that they sought solutions to social and economic problems.
"The window was too crowded and they would jump and they hit the sidewalk. Every one of them was killed, everybody who jumped was killed." Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor.
Quote from the Triangle Fire Memorial, in lower Manhattan, on the very building that housed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, at the corner of Greene Street and Washington Place in Greenwich Village (23 Washington Place).
"Frances Perkins and the New Deal"
Exhibition on display beginning June 7th, 2024 through December 31, 2024.
The exhibit highlights items from across her impressive career, including her time as a guest lecturer at the ILR School.
Frances Perkins Center: Self Guided Exhibit - Frances Perkins: The Woman Behind the New Deal
Explore the place that Frances Perkins considered home, which presents an overview of her life, accomplishments, and includes historic photographs, text documents, and personal memorabilia.
The Life and Legacy of Frances Perkins
Traveling exhibit through the Frances Perkins Center that can be booked for your space!
Frances Perkins: The Woman Behind the New Deal
This exhibit features correspondence, manuscripts, notes, drafts of speeches, photographs, and memorabilia from Columbia Universities Frances Perkins Papers.