Author Rebecca Graham is coming to Milwaukee to discuss her new book about the life and work of Frances Perkins, the first woman to serve in a U.S. presidential cabinet.
In partnership with the Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center, Graham will give a presentation on her book, published in January, “Dear Miss Perkins: A Story of Frances Perkins’s Efforts to Aid Refugees from Nazi Germany,” at Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee. The event will take place on Sunday, April 6 at 4 p.m.
Perkins was secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945. She helped enact laws that limited child labor and gave workers benefits like minimum wage and Social Security. She also advocated for Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis before the Holocaust, using her influence to help Jews gain admission into the U.S. Yet, many Americans today do not know her name.
“People don’t know Frances Perkins for a variety of reasons,” Graham said. “Some of them were her doing because she didn’t like attention, and she had good reason not to like attention, because it often went badly for her.”
Perkins’ advocacy for Jewish immigrants came with its share of challenges. During her tenure as secretary of labor, antisemitism was on the rise in Europe and in the U.S., and some Americans were reluctant to provide Jewish people refuge. Still, despite receiving backlash from some Americans, she continued to use her position to help European Jews immigrate to the U.S., and she convinced FDR to extend temporary visas to German Jews already in the States.
Graham refers to Perkins as the “ideal tour guide” of American history because she witnessed significant events in American history. She exposed some of the more bigoted forces in American society and confronted xenophobes and antisemites through her work.
“She tended to make decisions based on what she thought was right and not based on what she thought was politically expedient,” Graham said.
Graham follows the chronology of the book during her presentations, taking listeners through the story of “Dear Miss Perkins” and highlighting Perkins’ efforts to help Jewish immigrants and refugees. As a postdoctoral research associate at Brown University, she also draws on contemporary relevance relating to each speaking location and finds out what the local audience wants to know about the history of Frances Perkins.
“I cater to my audiences,” Perkins said. “I tend to feel out what the audience or the participants are looking for.”
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