04/30/2022
On March 26, W46th Street between ninth and 10th Avenue was named “Frances Perkins Place” by the City of New York. The street is dedicated to Frances Perkins, a Mount Holyoke alum, widely recognized working-class advocate, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet.
The street naming took place one day after the 111th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, an industrial workplace disaster that killed 146 workers, mostly comprised of immigrant women, as New York City Council member Erik Bottcher detailed in his remarks.
Perkins, who was an eyewitness to the fire, resolved to take concrete action in favor of workers’ rights and the prevention of unjust working conditions, Bottcher explained. The fire catalyzed her involvement in social justice and activism. Perkins later helped draft the New Deal to rectify some of the conditions that led to the catastrophe.
To read the full story by Lenox Johnson ’24 on page two of our latest issue, click the link in our bio.
Susan Bateson '76 (left) and Clarissa Soma Goncalves Cordeiro FP'21 (right).
