Face of alum Perkins may grace US $10 bills.
A Boston.com article noted surging interest in having Mount Holyoke alum Frances Perkins, first woman US cabinet member, become the face on every $10 bill.
The US Treasury Department plans to put a female face on the ten-dollar note, sparking a debate about which woman best fits the bill.
Famous people—including Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and Eleanor Roosevelt—have been proposed to replace Alexander Hamilton. An article in Boston.com noted a surge of support for a less-well-known, but no less important, woman: Frances Perkins.
Perkins, a 1902 graduate of Mount Holyoke College, was the first woman to serve in a US presidential cabinet. As Franklin D. Roosevelt's secretary of labor, she championed programs that form the foundation of our nation's social safety net.
"While Perkins was the head of the Labor Department, the government established a minimum wage, the 40-hour work week, paid overtime, workers’ rights to unionize, unemployment insurance, and—last but not least—Social Security, for which she was particularly passionate," the article noted.