The UDHR is a hugely important document in the history of human rights. In the last chapter we learned that Eleanor Roosevelt played an important role in its creation. Read this extract from RightsInfo and answer the questions that follow.
Meet Eleanor Roosevelt, First
Lady of the World Karina Weller, 11 October 2017
The pioneering First Lady was an incredible force for human rights and progress for women.
The First Lady
Anna Roosevelt, who preferred her middle name Eleanor, was born on 11 October 1884. The wife of President Franklin Roosevelt, she redefined the position of First Lady at a time when not many married women worked. Eleanor Roosevelt held press conferences, wrote for magazines, hosted a radio show and gave lectures. She even donated most of her income to charity.
Roosevelt was also the eyes and ears of the New Deal, a series of federal programs in response to the Great Depression. She worked to help women get better wages and was active in the civil rights movement during segregation. After Pearl Harbor, she warned against the ‘great hysteria against minority groups’ and opposed her husband’s executive order establishing internment camps for Japanese-Americans. Her other wartime work concerned the immigration of European refugee children and those persecuted by the Nazis.
