Perkins admitted to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Frances Perkins, Mount Holyoke College class of 1902, has been posthumously elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences under its Legacy Recognition Program.
One of the oldest learned societies in the United States has admitted its first cohort of Legacy Recognition honorees, and Frances Perkins, Mount Holyoke College class of 1902, is on the list.
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded in 1780 to honor excellence. It convenes leaders from every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and work together to “cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.”
The Legacy Recognition Program seeks to recognize individuals whose accomplishments were overlooked or undervalued due to their race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. Launched in 2023, the program seeks to undo those wrongs and move the Academy forward.
The first cohort of honorees, which was announced in September 2024, includes Perkins, the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet and the longest-serving cabinet secretary in that position. Perkins played a key role writing New Deal legislation, including Social Security, unemployment insurance, the federal minimum wage and federal laws regulating child labor and labor unions.
Other Legacy Recognition Program honorees include James Baldwin, Rachel Carson, Scott Joplin, Thurgood Marshall and Ida B. Wells-Barnett.
