Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York City on October 11, 1884. She was a shy, awkward child, starved for recognition and love, Eleanor grew into a woman with great sensitivity to the underprivileged of all creeds, races, and nations. Her constant work to improve their lot made her one of the most loved--and for some years one of the most reviled--women of her generation.

She joined the Red Cross during World War I and visited wounded veterans in the hospital, a morale-boosting practice she continued throughout her life. In 1926, she purchased a school for girls, named Todhunter, where she taught history and government.

On March 6, 1933, Eleanor became the first wife of a president to hold a press conference. Throughout Franklin’s four-term tenure as president, Eleanor arranged numerous meetings between him and various activists, spotlighting many issues on the nation’s political agenda. Among these issues were expanding the role of women in politics, denouncing anti-segregation policy in the South (she once violated segregation laws in Birmingham by sitting defiantly in the center aisle at the Southern Conference for Human Welfare), and creating anti-lynching legislature in cooperation with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Eleanor Roosevelt tremendous participation in twentieth century politics impacted widespread issues, including feminism and civil rights, public policy and social work, and international peace relationships with the United States.She remained devoted to improving awareness and international policies towards civil and human rights issues. Throughout most of her adult life, she was known as one of the most admired and courageous women in the world

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face… You must do the thing you think you cannot do” Eleanor Roosevelt