Frances Perkins: How a Woman from Boston Made the United States a Better Place ... And Cream Pie for Dessert

It would be easy enough to just regurgitate historical facts for this blog about great women, from Wikipedia, other websites and the occasional book. But I have set myself a challenge to also link my posts to the foods they enjoyed or might have enjoyed. In no way am I trivializing the historic impacts of these women. I just consider this a fun way to make history a little less dry. And to humanize important people who have too often faded into the past.


A challenge, by definition, is not something easy. Today’s great lady, the late Frances Perkins, is one example. She was an American – but the food an American enjoys varies widely from, say, Alaska to Alabama. Americans have always tended to be mobile. And she certainly was. Her parents were born in Maine and their homestead, now a National Historic Monument in her name, is there. She is buried in that state. But she was born in Boston, on April 10, 1880, and grew up in Worchester, Massachusetts. She moved around in her adult life between Chicago; Pennsylvania; New York; and Washington, D.C.


So if I could ask her what was her favorite food, what might she say?


If you collect a Social Security check, you largely have Frances to thank. She was the first woman to serve in a Presidential Cabinet, that of the late Franklin D. Roosevelt, as Secretary of Labor. In that position, she developed the policy that became the Social Security program.


She accomplished a number of other things that I wish I had time to write about as well. Early on, she advocated for women’s suffrage. Having witnessed the horrific Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, she became the executive secretary of the Committee on Safety of the City of New York where she worked to help prevent another such tragedy. Later, as New York’s first industrial commissioner, she championed minimum wage and unemployment insurance laws.


It is written of her that “she had a cool personality that held her aloof from the crowd,” and that in order to succeed in her Cabinet role, and open the door for more women to serve in government, she had to be “capable, fearless and politically astute.” That doesn’t always equate to charm or the press asking about your favorite vacation spot or dinner option.


The incredible demands upon her, as well as her conservative upbringing, ensured that she could not be a glad-hander, a crowd favorite, an easy giver of affection. And so in spite of her monumental achievements, she never “caught the public’s eye.” She did write a book about her service in the Cabinet – have you heard of it, have you read it?


So if I could have sat down with her for an hour some long ago evening, at her table, it might have been an awkward conversation, unless I could get her talking about her love for the working class. And what would we have had on our plates? Something from her parents’ Maine heritage? Her Boston and Worchester childhood? Some favorite dish from Chicago or New York? 

Hard to know.


But I like to think that after a hard day in the offices and halls of government, making history and pushing back hard against greed, corruption and inertia, Frances might have found some comfort in a slice of pie, a taste of her home city --- Boston Cream Pie. 

Here's a recipe for it from Jillian Wade's blog, "Food, Folks and Fun." According to her, "growing up in New England, it was a staple in every bakery." 


Best Ever Boston Cream Cake Recipe • Food Folks and Fun


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