First Female Cabinet Member Perkins Comes Alive
Photo Provided Trending
MOUNDSVILLE - The Moundsville-Marshall County Public Library will have a special noontime event on Wednesday, Aug. 12, when JoAnn Peterson brings another remarkable woman of history to life in a moving first-person portrayal of Frances Perkins.
This History Alive! performance, bridging entertainment and learning, is free and open to the public. It is aimed at adults and older students.
The First Female Cabinet Member, during Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency, Perkins is often called "The Woman Behind the New Deal" and "The Mother of Social Security."
Perkins championed federal laws on old age pension, minimum wage, unemployment insurance, Worker's Comp, child labor and much more. Perkins' journey from social worker to suffragist to social reformer to politician made her uniquely qualified to be the first female Secretary of Labor during the Great Depression.
Peterson's Chautauqua-style performance will allow the audience to ask questions of the character as well as the researcher/presenter.
Other historical figures Peterson portrays are child star, diplomat and author Shirley Temple Black; Mary Lincoln, wife of Abraham Lincoln; Margaret "The Unsinkable Molly" Brown of Titanic fame; and founding mother Abigail Adams. Her well-researched portrayals have been performed at venues across the country and even abroad, including the U.S. Embassy in Prague, and for the White House Historical Association at their new museum "The People's House" in Washington, D.C.
Besides being a presenter with the West Virginia Humanities Council History Alive! program, Peterson wrote and performs A Mother's Heart Divided, A WV Civil War Story. Her performances in professional musical theater include the role of Mother Abbess in "The Sound of Music" with West Virginia Public Theatre. She also portrayed Julia Pierpont in the WV PBS documentary West Virginia: Road to Statehood, and can be seen in the title role of Astrid in the film A Promise to Astrid. She also was filmed as the Muse of the American Revolution, Mercy Otis Warren, for a PBS documentary film and mini-series, "The American Constitution" which will air in the fall of 2026, and Ruby Wilson in "God with Us" which will be released in 2026.
This Moundsville Library program is made possible through the West Virginia Humanities Council and sponsored by the R. Michael Baker Family. It will be held on the main floor. The library is located at the corner of Fifth Street and Tomlinson in Moundsville, W.Va.
Call 304-845-6911 for more information.