Speech #960165780

Columbia University offered her a fellowship and she received her masters degree from the university in Shortly afterward she became executive secretary of the New York Consumers League which investigated industrial conditions and fought for protective legislation. especially for women and children. It was in 1911 that Frances Perkins witnessed the Triangle Shirtwaist Co.. fire in which 146 girls died. She never forgot it and for the next 6 years devoted much of her time to safety legislation. In 1912 she became executive secretary of the New York Committee on Safety. a position she held until 1917. In 1921 she became director of the Council on Immigrant Education. In 1922 she became a member of the New York State Industrial Board and was appointed chairman in 1929 by Gov. Franklin Delano Roosevelt.