The President Joe Biden He will sign a proclamation establishing the Frances Perkins National Monument in Newcastle, Maine, on Monday.
The location will “honor the historic contributions of America’s first female Cabinet secretary, the longest serving Secretary of Labor and the driving force behind the New Deal,” according to the White House.
Perkins served as labor secretary for 12 years under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
During that time, he “helped create Social Security; helped return millions of Americans to work during the Great Depression; fought for the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively; and established minimum wages, overtime pay, bans on child labor, and unemployment insurance,” according to the fact sheet.
Perkins also founded the Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal program that provided conservation and development work to laborers on government-owned rural land, according to the Roosevelt Presidential Library.
Biden has called himself the most pro-unionist in American history. He did it in 2023 historical movement to join the auto workers in the picket.
The Perkins Family Home, built in 1837 and known as the “Brick House,” will be the centerpiece of the new monument, according to the White House.
“Designated a National Historic Landmark in 2014, the Perkins Homestead is a 57-acre property along the Damariscotta River that has been in the family for generations,” the White House said. “Visitors experience the same landscapes, garden paths and forest trails that were a source of inspiration and rejuvenation for Perkins.”
In addition to that monument, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will also announce five more monuments nationwide that will “increase the representation of women’s history at historic sites across America,” according to the White House.
