ELEANOR ROOSEVELT First Lady, humanitarian 1884 - 1962 Eleanor Roosevelt with Marian Anderson Enter your search terms Submit search form   Web gardenofpraise.com

Eleanor Roosevelt (ROHZ uh velt) was born October 11, 1884 into a wealthy New York family. She was not a pretty child, in fact she was quite homely *, and her mother seemed to be disappointed because she had hoped for an attractive daughter. Hurtful comments were made in front of Eleanor.

Eleanor with her father Elliot Larger view

Her father, Elliot however adored his child. He made her feel loved. There was just one problem; he was an alcoholic and was a constant disappointment to her. He would make promises to her and not fulfill them. Sometimes he would leave her waiting outside a bar while he went in and became drunk. Her mother died of diphtheria * when Eleanor was eight years old, but her father was in a mental institution because of his addictions, so Eleanor and her brothers went to live with Grandmother Hall, their maternal* grandmother. She was very strict with the children, but she loved them. Her father would die two years later.

When she was 15 her grandmother enrolled her in a boarding school called Allenswood which was near London. She blossomed at the school. The emphasis at the school was on intellect and what a person was like inside rather than on outward appearances. For the first time in her life she found a place of acceptance and belonging.

She returned to New York at age 18 and there she met a distant cousin, Franklin Roosevelt. He was impressed with the good works she was doing in the slums among the poor immigrants of the city. They became engaged and married in 1905. They started a family. Anna was born first, then James the next year. Franklin Jr. only lived seven months. Next came Elliot, then another son they named Franklin Jr., and John was their last son.

Eleanor and Franklin with Anna and James Larger view

Family portrait including mother-in-law Sara Roosevelt Larger view

Sara Roosevelt, Eleanor's mother-in-law was always "in the picture". She tried to run their lives. When they married she bought a townhouse for them ... and also furnished it. She bought the house right next to theirs for herself and had connecting doors installed. The family had no privacy. She competed with Eleanor for the love of the children. It was not a happy situation, and her marriage with Franklin was turbulent *.

Her husband Franklin Delano Roosevelt became a lawyer, then a senator, and next the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Eleanor decided she had to make something of her life apart from her husband. She was an organizer and a fund raiser.

Tragedy struck the family. Franklin became ill with the dreaded disease polio *. He became paralyzed and could not walk. He went to live in Warm Springs, Georgia to receive treatment for the effects of the polio.

Louis Howe encouraged Eleanor and helped her. She was adept* at organizing women. She enlisted the press to help further her causes. She became a powerful force in the Democratic Party. She became a teacher three days a week. She and the children moved into a home of her own; Val Kill Cottage in Hyde Park.

Her husband campaigned for governor of New York and won. She was now the governor's wife. Then he ran for President in 1932 and won that office also. His slogan was "Happy days are here again".

As First Lady she now had even more influence even though she didn't cherish the role. She urged FDR to appoint women to positions in the government. She traveled extensively. In a three month period she traveled 40,000 miles.

From 1935 to 1962 she wrote a syndicated * newspaper column six days a week which appeared in many newspapers. It was called My Day.

She worked tirelessly for the advancement of African Americans in America. In 1958 the Ku Klux Klan put a bounty of $25,000 on her head because they didn't want her teaching people how to protest discrimination. "We can't afford to have two kinds of citizens, We must have equal citizenship for anybody in our country." Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor visits a WPA nursery school in Iowa Larger view

In 1936 her husband ran for a second term as President and won by a landslide *. In 1939 the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to let Marian Anderson perform in Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. because of her race. Mrs. Roosevelt resigned her membership in the DAR as a result of the prejudice shown to Marian, and she arranged for the singer to give a performance at the Lincoln Memorial. There were 75,000 people in attendance.

World War 2 started during Roosevelt's third term in office. Eleanor visited the troops and went to the hospitals to encourage the wounded. The soldiers loved her. Her husband was elected to a fourth term as President in 1944. However, his health was declining and he died in April of the following year. Eleanor moved back to her house.

Awarding a Purple Heart in New Caledonia Larger view

UN Declaration of Human Rights in Spanish Larger view

Harry Truman, who was the next President, asked her to be a delegate to the United Nations in London. She was instrumental in the creation of the Human Rights Declaration. She continued to work for human rights the remainder of her life. Her accomplishments were amazing during her latter years. She is one of the most admired women in American history. Eleanor Roosevelt died of bone marrow tuberculosis * on November 7, 1962. She was 78 years old.

The American Experience: Eleanor Roosevelt transcript of PBS program (Students may want to increase the text size.) Eleanor Roosevelt Timeline at PBS Eleanor Roosevelt Timeline at George Washington University Eleanor Roosevelt Timeline at MSNBC News Eleanor Roosevelt Biography - A Public Life Dear Mrs. Roosevelt letters written to her during the Depression Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill Eleanor Roosevelt and Human Rights Eleanor Roosevelt The Time 100 The Wallflower That Blossomed Eleanor Roosevelt at Wikipedia At biography.com search for Eleanor Roosevelt. Scroll the panel for the "Video & Audio Results".

Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery, Hardcover By Freedman / Houghton-mifflin Widely recognized as the most influential woman of her time, Eleanor Roosevelt began life as by her own account and "ugly duckling," the timid and lonely child of unhappy parents. She was serious and reserved, not beautiful and bubbly like other society women. She was expected to devote herself strictly to the traditional roles of wife and mother, and to her husband Franklin's political career. As First Lady, she went beyond the long-established position of White House hostess to act as FDR's eyes and ears, traveling extensively to gather information and represent her husband in places he, wheelchair-bound, could not go. Mrs. Roosevelt became a passionate advocate for the weak an disadvantaged in American society. After her husband's death in 1945, she continued her activities on a global scale, serving as an American delegate to the United Nations, where her work on behalf of human rights earned her the title "First Lady of the World." Recommended for ages 8 to 12. A 1994 Newbery Honor book.

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From Word Central's Student Dictionary
by Merriam - Webster

maternal
muh TERN uhl
Function: adjective
related through a mother as maternal grandparents

turbulent
TURB yoo lunt
Function: adjective
characterized by agitation or tumult

adept
uh DEPT
Function: adjective
thoroughly proficient : expert

syndicate
SIN duh kAt
Function: verb
to sell (as an article) to a syndicate or for publication in many newspapers or periodicals at once

homely
HOME le
Function: adjective
not pretty or handsome as a homely person

diphtheria
dif THIR e uh
Function: noun
a contagious bacterial disease with fever in which the air passages
become coated with a membranous layer that often obstructs breathing

poliomyelitis
PO le OH MY uh lite us
Function: noun
an infectious virus disease marked by inflammation of nerve cells
in the spinal cord accompanied by fever and often paralysis
and wasting of muscles -- called also infantile paralysis

landslide
LAND slId
Function: noun
an overwhelming victory especially in a political contest as in he won by a landslide

tuberculosis
t(y)oo bur kyoo LO sus
Function: noun
a disease of human beings and some other vertebrates caused by a bacterium
and usually marked by wasting, fever, and formation of
cheesy tubercles that in human beings occur mostly in the lungs

Biographies in this Series

Presidents of the United States	George Washington 1st U.S. President	John Adams 2nd U.S. President	Thomas Jefferson 3rd U.S.President
	James Monroe 5th U.S. President	Andrew Jackson 7th U.S. President	Abraham Lincoln 16th U.S.President
	Franklin D. Roosevelt 32nd U.S. President	John F. Kennedy 35th U.S. President	James Madison 4th U.S. President
	Theodore Roosevelt 26th U.S. President
American Patriots	Benjamin Franklin patriot and statesman	Francis Scott Key Star Spangled Banner	Deborah Sampson woman soldier in the Revolutionary War
World Leaders	Constantine Roman Emperor	Alexander the Great conqueror	Winston Churchill British Prime Minister
Inventors	Alexander Graham Bell telephone	Johann Gutenberg printing press	Cyrus McCormick mechanical reaper
	The Wright Brothers first airplane	Henry Ford Automaker	Thomas A. Edison electric light bulb
	Sequoyah Cherokee alphabet	Nikola Tesla 700 patents	.
Explorers	Christopher Columbus explorer	Meriwether Lewis explorer	Robert Peary Arctic explorer
	John Muir Naturalist	Matthew Henson Arctic Explorer	Sir Edmund Hillary Mr.Everest
	Kit Carson Indian agent	"Johnny Appleseed" orchardist	.
Women who made a difference	Clara Barton founder of the Red Cross	Helen Keller overcame blindness & deafness	Florence Nightingale founder of nursing profession
	Joan of Arc religious and military leader	Amelia Earhart Aviator	Annie Oakley sharpshooter
	Susan B. Anthony Suffragette	Elizabeth Keckly Seamstress	Harriet Tubman deliverer of slaves
	Anne Frank Diarist	Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian	.
Scientists	George Washington Carver botanist and educator	Sir Isaac Newton explained gravity and properties of light	Marie Curie scientist, physicist
	Louis Pasteur Biologist	Albert Einstein physicist, genius	Galileo Astronomer, physicist
Educators	Noah Webster writer of dictionary	Booker T. Washington leader and educator	Aristotle Greek philosopher
Physicians	Hippocrates father of medicine	Walter Reed discovered cause of yellow fever	Albert Schweitzer humanitarian
Religious Leaders	Increase Mather Salem witch trials	.
Athletes	Lou Gehrig baseball player	Wilma Rudolph Olympic gold medal winner	Tiger Woods golfer
Civil Rights Leaders	Martin Luther King civil rights leader	Rosa Parks bus desegregation	Sojourner Truth Former slave
	Frederick Douglass Abolitionist	Mary Ann Shadd Cary Civil rights leader	James Forten Inventor, abolitionist
Composers	Beethoven composer
Artists	John James Audubon artist and naturalist	Gutzon Borglum sculptor, Mount Rushmore	Ansel Adams photographer

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