It is very widely known that Eleanor Roosevelt is best known as a former First Lady of the United States and the wife of one of the most prominent presidents in the 20th century. But aside from her duties as First Lady, she was also a very fierce activist who advocated for human rights, women’s equality, and racial equality. She was also the first chair of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Being the longest serving First Lady meant that she had 12 years to promote her activism agenda and help as many people as possible.Â
In order to show who she was as a person, I think it is important to start from the beginning. She was born Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (yes she was born a Roosevelt), on October 11th, 1884. Her parents were Elliot Roosevelt, former President Teddy Roosevelt’s younger brother, and Anna Hall. On both sides of her family politics were very present in their lives. Her mother came from the Livingston family who were a very wealthy political family and her fathers family were the Roosevelts. Unfortunately when Eleanor was very young both her parents passed away. She went on to live with her maternal grandmother. During her childhood she was taught by private tutors until she reached 15, and she then went to an all girls school until she graduated at 18.
After she finished her education she moved back to the states and started working in social work. At nineteen she married Franklin Delano Roosevelt (aka her fifth cousin) in 1905. They went on to have 6 kids between the years of 1906-1916. As time went on, she got further into her involvement in activism and her husband got further into his political career. During World War I she got very involved working with the American Red Cross in Navy hospitals. She continued her activism post war working with the League of Women Voters, the Women’s Division of the New York State Democratic Committee, the Women’s Trade Union League, taught at a private girls school in New York called the Todhunter School, and helped establish a non-profit furniture factory.Â
During her time as First Lady she was the opposite of the perceived image of what a First Lady should be. She flat out told the media that she would not be the “symbol of evidence” and she said she would be “plain, ordinary Mrs. Roosevelt” which I would not describe her as plain or ordinary in any sense of the meaning. During her time as First Lady she became the first First Lady to hold a press conference on her own and at this press conference she only allowed female reporters to attend in order to promote women in journalism, which was historically only for men. She was a member of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) but when they refused to allow African American singer Marian Anderson to sing at their auditorium space she resigned her DAR membership, not wanting to be a part of something that would discriminate against someone based on their race. She also became an advocate for the poor during World War II, as well as becoming the Assistant Director of Civilian Defense for a couple years.Â
After her husband’s death she continued her activism work until her death in 1962. She was appointed to the United Nations General Assembly by President Truman, she was the chair for the Human Rights Commission where she helped to draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a representative for the World Federation of U.N. Associations, the United States Delegation to the U.N., and the National Advisory Committee of the Peace Corps.
At the time, it could have been better for her and her husband to take a backseat on her political interests in the best interest of her husband’s career because it generally was not the ideal for First Ladies and other political wives to advocate for their own interests. Instead, she made her opinions known and advocated fiercely for the people she advocated for and did not let the fear of affecting her husband’s career stop her from fighting for what she believed in.