Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt

Although shy and awkward as a child, Eleanor Roosevelt grew into a woman with great sensitivity to the underprivileged of all creeds, races, and nations. Born on October 11, 1884 to Anna Hall and Elliott Roosevelt, Eleanor suffered great loss early in life with t he death of both parents. After being raised by her grandmother, she met a distant cousin, falling in love and married Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1905. She bore 6 children, with one son dying during infancy due to influenza.

Mrs. Roosevelt served many types of council and learned the ropes of politics very quickly. With her husband and uncle, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, both very much involved in politics, she took an interest in civil rights. Eleanor has been voted most admired woman in America because of her compassion and many acts of good deeds. Some of her many accomplishments, including defying segregation laws by sitting between the whites and blacks at a Southern Conference for Human Welfare in Birmingham, truly showed America that she was passionate for her thoughts and beliefs, never being afraid to stand up and let people hear her voice. Eleanor also influenced the Army Nurse Corps to open its membership to black women and then joined the NAACP board of directors.

The content of Eleanor’s speech is to reach out and get books for rural areas across the United States.