Frances Perkins was one of the most highly valued social workers from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Like many other social workers, people and the community were her passion. Perkins knew when she was in grade school that what she would be doing later in life involved work in helping members of society. Primarily, she focused on the poor. There were several obstacles in Perkins’ way as she climbed her way up the ladder of social work, and these obstacles helped develop her into the great social worker she became.
Frances Perkins was named Fannie Coralie Perkins when she was born on April 10th in 1880. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Although Perkins was born in Massachusetts, her family roots were in Maine. Her mother, Susan …show more content…
Here, Fannie grew up into the middle class. As she grew up, Fannie’s relationship with her mother diminished. She felt a lot closer to her father because she felt he appreciated the same things she did. Her father really saw Fannie as a gifted child, and encouraged her to become a refine, educated woman. Her father began to prepare her for college and even taught her to read Greek when she was just eight years old (Downey, chapter 1, para. 18). When she was old enough, she attended Worcester Classical High School. Fannie was very lucky she was able to attend school because a lot of children her age did not have this privilege due to poverty. As she grew up, Fannie began to take an interest in people. Eventually, that interest developed into a passion. According to Downey, author of The Woman Behind the New Deal, “Fannie felt other people’s pain acutely and lamented their suffering” (chapter 1, para. 23). Throughout the course of her childhood, the gap between the social classes grew more and more every year. Fannie began to take an interest in the poor, and wondered why they were poor and why they continued to be poor. She wanted to learn how to help them pull themselves out of poverty. Her family did not support Fannie’s