WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will sign a proclamation Monday establishing a national monument honoring the late FDR-era Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, the first woman appointed to serve in a presidential Cabinet and a driving force behind the New Deal, according to the White House.
Biden is expected to visit the Labor Department on Monday to make the announcement and sign the proclamation that will establish the monument in Newcastle, Maine, the White House said.
As labor secretary, Perkins helped President Franklin D. Roosevelt formulate policies behind the 1930s New Deal and create safeguards in the national economy following the Great Depression.
During her 12 years as Roosevelt’s labor secretary, she was credited with helping establish the Social Security Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the National Labor Relations Act that established workers’ rights to organize, and collective bargaining.
“Frances Perkins accepted the position as the first female Cabinet member only after President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed to support her goals to improve working conditions for all people,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. “She worked tirelessly to see them to fruition, and she set a standard of excellence that is a beacon for all of us who serve.”
Perkins and her family had deep roots in Newcastle, where she was buried after her death in 1965.. The monument would be established on her family homestead and managed by the National Park Service.
Biden is expected to be joined at the signing by Haaland, acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and other Cabinet members, as well as labor and women’s rights leaders.
The proclamation comes with just over five weeks left in Biden’s presidency and as he seeks to burnish his legacy as a champion of women’s and labor rights.
Haaland toured the Frances Perkins homestead in August and met community leaders to discuss the historic site.
Haaland on Monday also announced five new national historic landmarks recognizing women’s history: the Charleston Cigar Factory in Charleston, South Carolina; the Furies Collective, and Lucy Diggs Slowe and Mary Burrill House, both in Washington, Azurest South in Petersburg, Virginia; and the Peter Hurd and Henriette Wyeth House and Studios in San Patricio, New Mexico.
