🔒New Deal labor pioneer headed to Maine Women’s Hall of Fame
Frances Perkins, a political trailblazer revered as the woman behind FDR's "New Deal," will be inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in March. PHOTO / COURTESY OF FRANCE PERKINS CENTER
Frances Perkins, who served as the country’s first female secretary of labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, will be inducted into the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame next month alongside Dr. Alane O’Connor of MaineHealth Maine Medical Center.
The late Frances Perkins, a Depression-era labor activist and political trailblazer best known as the architect of Social Security, unemployment insurance, the minimum wage and other worker protections, will be inducted into the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame next month.
As U.S. labor secretary under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Perkins was the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet. She had deep ties to Maine, through her family’s 57-acre homestead in Newcastle that gained national monument status in 2024.
Perkins has often been called the woman behind the FDR's New Deal, which provided economic relief, recovery and long-term protections during the Great Depression.
Established in 1990 by the Business and Professional Women/Maine Futurama Foundation, the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame honors individuals whose achievements have expanded opportunities for Maine women and left a lasting impact.
“Frances Perkins’ induction into the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame is a powerful recognition of both her national leadership and her enduring connection to Maine,” said Amanda Hatch, executive director of the nonprofit Frances Perkins Center, which operates a seasonal exhibit about Perkins’ life and legacy in the homestead’s restored 1837 barn.
“While her policy achievements reshaped the country, her values were rooted here. Her legacy continues to touch the lives of Maine people every single day,” Hatch added.
Dr. Alane O'Connor PHOTO / KATE SPRAGUE PHOTOGRAPHY
Perkins will be one of two honorees inducted into the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame in a ceremony on March 21 at the University of Maine at Augusta. The other is Dr. Alane O’Connor, director of perinatal addiction medicine at MaineHealth Maine Medical Center in Portland, who is credited with being at the forefront of addiction medicine in Maine.
How inductees are chosen
Maine Women’s Hall of Fame inductees are selected by an independent panel of judges and honored in a ceremony during Women’s History Month. Their portraits are displayed in a public library at the school’s Bennett D. Katz Library.
The late Margaret Chase Smith, a Republican politician who represented Maine in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, was the first woman inducted into the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame in 1990, five years before her death at age 97.
Other honorees include Gov. Janet Mills, the state’s first female governor; Leigh Saufley, dean of the University of Maine School of Law and the first woman to serve as chief justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court; and Olympic gold medal marathoner Joan Benoit Samuelson.
