The Kennesaw State University Department of Museums, Archives and Rare Books (MARB) presents exhibitions, public programs, collections, and educational services supporting KSU’s mission and encouraging dialogue about the past and its significance today. The Museum of History and Holocaust Education, as a unit of MARB, has developed a series of online modules, including this one, for university students to explore pivotal moments from the history of World War II and the Holocaust.
This online unit focuses on the development of Eleanor Roosevelt and her achievements as a human rights advocate. As the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, she advocated for women's rights and civil rights for African Americans. She utilized her background in journalism to speak up for others, and she wasn't afraid to spark controversy. She later became the first delegate for the United States to the United Nations where she oversaw the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Her work as an activist, politician, and diplomat established her legacy as one of the most important figures of the 20th century.
Title Image: Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962. Courtesy Library of Congress
Image: Exhibit entrance at the Museum of History and Holocaust Education. Courtesy Museum of History and Holocaust Education
Essential Questions
Using the primary source material and content in this online unit, respond to the three essential questions found below. In your responses, include evidence from the content in this online unit. Please refer to the directions provided by your instructor on submitting your responses to these essential questions as well as to the questions posed throughout this unit.
- How did Eleanor Roosevelt establish her independence and continue her career, while also supporting her husband as First Lady?
- Why was Eleanor Roosevelt perceived as such a controversial figure during her time as First Lady, and how did she shift towards public acceptance and becoming widely respected?
- What work did Eleanor Roosevelt do following her husband’s death in 1945 with the United Nations and John F. Kennedy’s administration to advance the rights of women and minorities?
Image: Portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt in her later years by Yousuf Karsh. Courtesy ARTstor
Early Childhood
Despite the wealth of her family, Eleanor did not have an easy childhood. Her father, Elliott Roosevelt, was a sportsman who was fond of big game hunting. Anna Rebecca Hall, her mother, was a beloved debutante among the New York City elite. She was also a skilled horsewoman. Known for her beauty, Hall mocked her daughter’s features, giving Eleanor the nickname “Granny.”
Addiction plagued Elliott Roosevelt’s life, and he was committed to an asylum and treatment center for his alcoholism and narcotic addiction. There is some evidence that he may have suffered from epilepsy as a young adult due to a vaguely documented “nervous sickness.”
Anna Hall died suddenly after losing a battle with diphtheria. Not long after, her father and her brother died. Eleanor and brother Hall were uprooted from their childhood home, and they went to live with their maternal grandmother in the Hudson River Valley.
Image: Eleanor as a young girl. Courtesy TIME
Her uncle, the president
Her uncle Theodore Roosevelt became president after the assassination of President McKinley in 1901. Eleanor has one of the closest family connections to a President besides her husband. Her family’s connections to the presidency enhanced their status among the social elites as more respect was placed upon the Roosevelt name.
Education
Eleanor was privately tutored until the age of 15 when her Grandmother Hall sent her to Allenswood Academy, a finishing school near London. Eleanor thrived at Allenswood under the tutelage of Marie Souvestre, a woman who sparked Eleanor’s progressive ideas about the rights of the working-class.
Eleanor said of her time at Allenswood that it was the “happiest of my life.” Marie Souvestre was such a significant influence on Eleanor that she kept a portrait of Souvestre upon her desk throughout her life.
"For three years, I basked in her generous presence, and I think those three years did much to form my character and give me the confidence to go through some of the trials that awaited me …” -Eleanor Roosevelt, describing Marie Souvestre’s influence on her, The Seven People Who Shaped My Life, 1951
Image: Girls gather on the grounds of Allenswood Academy. Courtesy Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library
Her Lifetime of Advocacy Begins
Eleanor granted her grandmother’s wishes and returned to the United States. As a young debutante in New York, she met other upper class young women interested in bettering the lives of others, and she became active in the reforms of the Progressive Era. These women founded the Junior League and executed a variety of projects intended to improve the lives of working class citizens.
Eleanor also volunteered for the National Consumer’s League, investigating the working conditions in sweatshops. She wrote open letters to newspapers and other media outlets advocating for better working conditions as part of the Consumer League’s “White Label” campaign.
The wedding
Eleanor and Franklin Delano Roosevelt were fifth cousins, once removed. They had met briefly as teenagers, but they reconnected years later at a horse show. At the time he was 22, and she was 19. People worried that they were too young, and that he was unworthy of her.
The couple wed in March of 1905. President Theodore Roosevelt walked Eleanor down the aisle. The wedding was scheduled to accommodate the President’s own personal schedule.
Immediately after the wedding, the couple spent a week together in Hyde Park. They later went on a honeymoon trip through Europe that lasted three months. They visited France, Britain, Italy, and Germany. Trips of this extravagant nature were common for people of their status.
Image: Eleanor in her wedding dress. Courtesy The New York Times
Life as newlyweds
Eleanor’s mother-in-law, Sara Roosevelt, controlled the early years of their marriage. She made many important decisions for them such selecting where they lived, their staff, and their interior decorations. The couple even had a second home right next to her residence. The couple eventually sold this residence after Sara Roosevelt’s death in 1941.
In 1906, Franklin Roosevelt graduated from Harvard University. He then studied at Columbia Law School for two years and became an attorney on Wall Street. Soon afterwards, he made his political debut when he was elected to the New York State Senate.
Image: The newlyweds in Newburgh, New York, a couple months after their wedding. Courtesy The New York Times
children
Eleanor and Franklin had one daughter and five sons. They had two children named Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. since their first son of the same name lived for less than a year.
Image: Eleanor and her children Anna, James, and Franklin. Courtesy National First Ladies' Library
The great war
Franklin Roosevelt served as Assistant Navy Secretary from 1913 to 1920 under the Wilson Administration. During World War I (1914 to 1918), Eleanor took on multiple volunteer jobs to aid servicemen. She worked with the Navy Relief Society and the American Red Cross.
Eleanor also investigated the conditions for sailors returning from war and the mental health issues they faced. Her work led to improved hospital conditions at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital.
Image: President Woodrow Wilson. Courtesy Library of Congress
A troubled Relationship
Franklin Roosevelt had an affair with a woman named Lucy Mercer. He and Eleanor discussed divorce, however, family and political advisors encouraged Franklin to end the affair and keep his family together. Decades later, Franklin Roosevelt and Mercer regained contact. There is no evidence that they were physically engaged at this time.
Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt encountered another rough patch soon afterwards when Franklin ran for Vice President on a failed Democratic ticket in the 1920 election. The Republican ticket won instead, and Franklin and Eleanor returned to New York for him to resume his law career.
her husband's illness
Franklin Roosevelt was diagnosed with infantile paralysis, also referred to as polio, in 1921. There was no cure for the disease at the time. Polio inhibits motion, making it difficult to walk, as it impacts one’s motor skills.
Franklin Roosevelt began swimming and exercising as part of his treatment plan. He spent time in Warm Springs, Georgia at a rehabilitation center, accompanied by his secretary Marguerite “Missy” LeHand. LeHand granted Eleanor newfound freedoms, as she took on the responsibilities of a politician’s wife.
Eleanor channeled her energies into a variety of organizations, including The Women’s Club of New York, The Women’s Trade Union League, Women’s Division of the New York State Democratic Committee, The League of Women Voters, and the Bok Peace Prize Committee. She also co-founded a furniture company, Val-Kill Industries, and the Todhunter School for Girls. In addition, she worked as a journalist, radio show commentator, and lecturer.
Image: Franklin Roosevelt in a pool in Warm Springs, Georgia in October, 1925. Courtesy FDR Library and Museum
First Lady of New York State
Franklin Roosevelt made a strong return to the political arena as the Governor of New York, serving from 1929 to 1933. Eleanor continued her own pursuits with the Todhunter School and Val-Kill Industries.
Eleanor also broadcasted her own political opinions on the NBC radio show "Women in Politics" for the Women's City Club and edited the Women's Democratic News. On behalf of the Women's Trade Union League, she advocated for legislation in support of the five-day work week. And, of course, she channeled her political interests into support for her husband.
"It is essential to develop her own interests, to carry on a stimulating life of her own..." -Eleanor Roosevelt writing for Good Housekeeping on women's roles
First Lady
With her husband's election as President, Eleanor Roosevelt became First Lady of the United States, serving from March 1933 to April 1945. In those 12 years, she was a pillar of strength through events such as the Great Depression and World War II. She helped her husband hide his illness, while also working with his Administration as an unofficial representative on different policy issues.
Eleanor faced significant criticism for her progressive ideas. As First Lady, she continued her volunteer and advocacy work. She became an even more prominent writer, lecturer, and public figure. She forever changed the public perspective on what the duties of a “First Lady” should be.
Image: Eleanor Roosevelt testifies before Congress on January 14th, 1942. She served as Assistant Director of Civilian Defense during World War II. Courtesy Politico
My Day Column
From 1935 to 1962, Eleanor published her My Day newspaper column consistently six days a week. She only stopped for a brief period of time when her husband died, but she resumed publishing the column four days later. She dealt with topics pertaining to politics, her personal life, current events, and historical events.
Below is the My Day column Eleanor released announcing her resignation from the Daughters of the American Revolution. She resigned following the organization’s racist decision to not allow the African-American singer Marian Anderson to perform in their auditorium.
Image: Portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt in 1936 by Edward Steichen, one of the most influential photographers of the 20th Century. Courtesy ARTstor
WASHINGTON, FEBRUARY 27, 1939
I am having a peaceful day. I drove my car a short distance out of the city this morning to pilot some friends of mine who are starting off for a vacation in Florida. I think this will be my only excursion out of the White House today, for I have plenty of work to do on an accumulation of mail, and I hope to get through in time to enjoy an evening of uninterrupted reading. I have been debating in my mind for some time, a question which I have had to debate with myself once or twice before in my life. Usually I have decided differently from the way in which I am deciding now. The question is, if you belong to an organization and disapprove of an action which is typical of a policy, should you resign or is it better to work for a changed point of view within the organization? In the past, when I was able to work actively in any organization to which I belonged, I have usually stayed until I had at least made a fight and had been defeated.
Even then, I have, as a rule, accepted my defeat and decided I was wrong or, perhaps, a little too far ahead of the thinking for the majority at that time. I have often found that the thing in which I was interested was done some years later. But in this case, I belong to an organization in which I can do no active work. They have taken an action which has been widely talked of in the press. To remain as a member implies approval of that action, and therefore I am resigning.
Questions to consider:
- What does the column reveal about Eleanor's writing style?
- Was Eleanor's reasoning behind her decision to leave the Daughters of the American Revolution well worded?
- What is the Daughters of the American Revolution, and who was Marian Anderson?
Gender Equality
Eleanor collaborated with the Civil Works Administration and Federal Emergency Fund to create initiatives focused on helping unemployed women. Many American women had lost their jobs at the height of The Great Depression.
She also hosted conferences at the White House about the needs of unemployed women. To help female reporters keep their jobs during the depression, Eleanor invited only female reporters to these conferences. This ban on male reporters made important newspapers hire female reporters, because these newspapers wanted to be able to publish what was happening at these conferences. This decision permanently altered the role of women in journalism, as female reporters had previously been confined to the “style” sections. Now women were publishing stories about politics and social issues.
Image: Eleanor signing an autograph for a young girl. Courtesy ARTstor
Civil Rights
One of Eleanor’s core values was that all races were equal. She was more outspoken about this topic than her husband and expressed her belief that the government needed to have a role in enforcing changes to ensure racial equality for all Americans.
She was vehemently opposed to segregation. At the Southern Conference for Human Welfare in Alabama she deliberately positioned her chair between the “whites-only” and “colored-only” sections.
Eleanor appointed the African-American woman Mary McLeod Bethune to the National Advisory Committee of the National Youth Organization. She also worked with the director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to support an anti-lynching law. She was the first white person in Washington D.C. to join the NAACP and the National Urban League.
The First Lady sought to ensure that African-Americans benefited from the New Deal programs. She pushed for Black workers to be paid fair wages and for more rights for Black sharecroppers. These initiatives, as well as her lifelong friendships with prominent African-Americans, initiated the turning point of African-Americans moving to support the Democratic Party more than the Republican Party of Lincoln.
Image: Eleanor and Marian Anderson. Eleanor resigned from the DAR after they did not allow Anderson to sing in their building. Courtesy ARTstor
OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENtS AS FIRST LADY
Eleanor broadcast radio news shows throughout her time as First Lady. During the war, she called upon citizens to volunteer to serve and to support her husband’s decisions during this crucial time.
She also gave about 1,400 speeches during her time as First Lady about topics that ranged from her duties as the President’s wife, to social issues, or paid lectures. She wrote all of these speeches. In the beginning of her time as First Lady her voice was tense and high-pitched, with every word marked by an upper-class accent. Her vocal coach, Elizabeth von Hesse, helped her learn to relax and modulate her voice in order to make the delivery of her messages more powerful.
Eleanor also published dozens of books in her lifetime, many of which she wrote and published during her time as First Lady. The book most associated with her time as First Lady, This Is My Story (1937), is the first part of what became her three-volume autobiography.
Image: Eleanor signing copies of This Is My Story. Courtesy HarperCollins
World War II
Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. Later that same day, Eleanor released the radio broadcast in the video below. As news of this tragic event spread across America, people knew that the United States would become involved in another world war. Eleanor Roosevelt was the first national figure to address the public about Pearl Harbor and how life was about to change for men and women across the country.
During the war, the First Lady became an important symbol of America. Her sons served in the war, and she went on the same food and gas rationing system as the rest of America. With her radio show, she encouraged citizens to donate money and blood to the Red Cross. Her criticisms of fascism and Nazism made her a target of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini as both dictators sought to humiliate her in their broadcasts, cartoons, and editorials.
Japanese Internment camps
Eleanor strongly opposed the internment of Japanese-Americans. Japanese-Americans were placed in ten relocation camps in western states out of fears that these individuals were Japanese spies. With the help of the U.S. Attorney General, Eleanor tried to fight the creation of the camps, but the public was vehemently anti-Japanese and her attempts to prevent the camps failed.
Eleanor refocused her efforts to ensure evacuated families were kept together and treated with some semblance of dignity. She also worked with the War Relocation Authority to release some individuals from the camps early.
Image: Japanese-Americans arrive at the Manzanar internment camp in California, 1942. Courtesy The New York Times
Her Husband's death
Eleanor's and Franklin’s daughter Anna took on the role of surrogate First Lady toward the end of her father’s life, as World War II neared its conclusion. Eleanor had taken on other responsibilities as an international ambassador and prominent figure during the war.
Neither Anna nor Eleanor were there when the president died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia, on April 12, 1945. His former mistress Lucy Mercer Rutherford was present. Anna Roosevelt had actually helped to reacquaint the pair, which she later confessed to her mother after Franklin’s death. Eleanor was shocked at this betrayal, and her daughter’s actions created a rift between them.
Image: Newspaper headline after Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death shocked the world. Courtesy Arizona Daily Star
United nations
President Harry Truman appointed Eleanor Roosevelt to serve as one of the first American delegates to the United Nations alongside four other men. In this new role, she advocated for global peace and fought on behalf of oppressed individuals.
Eleanor Roosevelt’s culminating achievement was writing and editing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She later served as the Human Rights Commission chair, presenting the declaration to the U.N. General Assembly on December 10, 1948. The document passed and continues to be a benchmark for how people around the world should be treated.
Image: Eleanor Roosevelt Listens to other delegates of the United Nations. Courtesy United Nations Foundation
The Civil Rights Era
Eleanor continued her efforts to support civil rights. She worked as a board member of the NAACP and helped fundraise for arrested activists like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. Toward the end of her life, Eleanor grew increasingly disappointed in America’s lack of progress toward achieving racial equality.
After her death, Dr. King referred to Eleanor as “perhaps the greatest woman of our time.” In an epitaph, Dr. King praised her for her work with the United Nations, and he noted her advocacy against Jim Crow.
Image: Eleanor presents Dr. King with an award in 1961 from the Americans for Democratic Action. Courtesy Four Freedoms Park Conservancy
End of Life
Eleanor died at the age of 78 on November 7, 1962. She died from aplastic anemia, tuberculosis, and heart failure. She leaves behind a legacy of strength and poise as she fought to establish better lives for Americans and individuals around the world.
Engage
Write a 400-500 word newspaper editorial from Eleanor Roosevelt's perspective, as though it were an article for her My Day column. Consider choosing a topic such as Civil Rights, the United Nations, or World War II.
This digital lesson was curated and designed by Emma Gregg Mcmorran from the University of Georgia in collaboration with staff from the Museum of History and Holocaust Education at Kennesaw State University.