Eleanor Roosevelt First Lady of the World

Childhood  Born Hyde Park, New York  Parents were rich, but her childhood was unhappy  shy  Made fun of for not being beautiful, mother called her “granny”  Mother died when she was 8  Father died when she was 10  Sent to live with her strict grandmother

Education  Eleanor was sent to boarding school in England at 15.  Became a leader  Less shy, more confident  Loved school, made friend, traveled

Back in the U.S.A  Returned at 18  Grandmother wanted her to go to parties  Did as she was asked, but looked for ways to help others  Taught immigrants to read without being paid  Spent time with distant cousin, Franklin.  Franklin wanted to President  Both wanted to help other  Married in 1905

Courage  worked for women’s rights  Made speeches, even though she felt afraid  “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

Don’t Stop!  1921 Franklin gets sick on vacation with Polio  Can’t walk  She won’t let Franklin give up on his dream of being President  She went to meetings, gave speeches and wrote magazine articles to help people remember Franklin  Franklin was elected Governor of New York

First Lady of United States  Eleanor becomes Frist Lady  Most first ladies spent their time planning parties and fancy dinners  Eleanor traveled all over U.S because Franklin could not walk  She visited people who needed help  Told Franklin everything she saw  Some called her the presidents “eyes and ears”

Frist Lady Duties  Met with reporters each week at White House  Invited only women reporters  Wrote a daily newspaper column called “My Day”  Talked to Mary McLeod Bethune about problems African Americans faced  Amelia Earhart came to dinner at White House, she and Eleanor went flying over D. C. in their evening dresses

World War ll  War breaks out  Eleanor visits men and women fighting for U.S. as far away as Austraila  Brought messages back to their families  Went to Canada and England to meet with world leaders  People called her “Eleanor Everywhere”

Human Rights  Franklin dies in 1945  Eleanor continues her work, felt it was important to get to know people in other countries.  **helps start organization called the United Nations, UN  Representative for U.S.A  Led people from other countries in writing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Her Work Lives On  UN started with 50 nations, now 190  Many organizations that are apart of the UN help children, work for better schools, give out food where people are hungry, work to keep peace  Honored with picture on a postage stamp  Remembered as “First Lady of the World”