Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins: Midwife of Entitlements

Social Security, unemployment insurance, the minimum wage, the 40-hour work week, no child labor, and workers’ compensation are all integral part of our lives today. These are some of the “entitlements” that Labor Secretary Frances Perkins helped to create. The course will review how she became a passionate advocate for workers and entered a long partnership with Franklin Delano Roosevelt to establish and implement laws and regulations to improve workers’ lives. This is also the story of how the federal government expanded its role in pulling together the independent states into a nation.

Class Recordings:

Class 1 - October 12, 2022

Class 2 - October 19, 2022

Class 3 - October 25, 2022

Class 4 - November 3, 2022

Class 5 - November 10, 2022


Group Leader: JOHN HODGMAN
Venue: online
Meets on: Wednesdays 10:00 am to noon
Starting: 10/12/2022
Sessions: 5
Class Size: 20
Teaching Style: Lecture with questions
Weekly Preparation: None
Group Leader Biography:

From 1968 to 1983, John Hodgman was a personnel officer in one of the Big Eight CPA firms, the director of the Massachusetts Employment Security Agency, and president of a computer software company. In 1984, he became president of the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation (MTDC), the Commonwealth’s venture capital firm, until his retirement in 2001. Subsequently, he taught entrepreneurship courses at Tufts University until his second and final retirement in 2015.  This is John’s fourth course for BHS.