Frances Perkins Goes To Washington
5/19/202616 min
This week, we explore the life of the first woman Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins, and how in the midst of the Great Depression she helped reshape the nation by fighting for minimum wage, Social Security, and unemployment insurance.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
New shows, new music, new movies. Keeping up with pop culture sometimes feels like a full-time job. Thankfully, over at Pop Culture Happy Hour, it's literally our job. We break down what's actually worth watching, listening to and pretending you already knew about. So the next time someone says, "Did you see that?" You can say, "Yeah, obviously." Follow NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour wherever you get your podcasts.
Rund Abdelfatah· Host0:23
[upbeat music] This is America in Pursuit, a limited run series from NPR and Throughline. I'm Rund Abdelfatah. Each week, we bring you stories about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the US that began 250 years ago. In 1911, a deadly fire broke out in a factory in Manhattan, where hundreds of workers, mostly young immigrant women, were employed. On the night the fire broke out, the building's exit doors were locked.
Kirsten Downey· Guest0:58
The owners of the company had closed some of the other doors to prevent people from stealing.
Rund Abdelfatah· Host1:05
And the building became a trap for the workers inside. Bystanders started to gather in the streets.
Kirsten Downey· Guest1:12
And witnessed the first of the women jumping out of the windows to escape the flames.
Rund Abdelfatah· Host1:18
On that night, 146 workers died. 62 of them jumped to their death. It was the worst industrial accident in New York City up until