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Eleanor Roosevelt Biography for Kids
Eleanor Roosevelt
Date: 1884 – 1962 (78 years old)
Who was Eleanor Roosevelt ?
Eleanor Roosevelt was a politician and an activist who was married to the President of the United States, Franklin D Roosevelt.
She was known as the “First Lady of the World” as she was as politically active as her husband and fought for the rights of women and African Americans.
She was a voice for a lot of women around the world who wanted to work and have goals and dreams. Eleanor also worked hard to donate money and help to African Americans to get the right to vote.
Download this biography for kids
Top 5 Facts:
- She was orphaned at very young age.
- She loved field hockey.
- On her wedding day president Teddy Roosevelt walked her down the aisle.
- She organized several, women only white house press conferences.
- She defied Birmingham, Alabama's segregation laws in powerful protest.
- She helped draft the universal declaration of human rights.
Inspirational Quotes from Eleanor Roosevelt:
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
“A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it's in hot water.”
“Do one thing every day that scares you.”
Eleanor’s Childhood
Eleanor was born on October 11, 1882 in New York. Her parents were both very rich but died when Eleanor was very young.
She then moved to London where she attended a school called Allenswood Academy. After the death of both her parents, her headmistress Marie Souvestre became Eleanor’s inspiration. Marie Souvestre believed in equal rights for men and women and she inspired Eleanor in many ways.
When Eleanor moved back to New York she volunteered in poor neighborhoods in New York where she taught and helped other children.
Becoming a Politican
Eleanor married her husband Franklin D Roosevelt on March 17, 1905 and they were both very interested in politics. When her husband went to give speeches she always went with him, and if he could not be there, she would make the speech instead.
She became respected and known for her activism and the work she did to help others.
When Eleanor became First Lady of the United States, she became very depressed as she felt that people expected her to stand aside and not be involved in politics anymore. She wanted to work in politics just like her husband.
Despite criticism from others, Eleanor tried to create her own role as First Lady of the United States.
She was the first wife of a president to have her own press conference and the first to give a speech at a national party convention in 1940.
She wrote columns for newspapers, held lectures and wrote a lot of articles about the rights of women and African Americans, and earned a lot of money from this work. She donated most of the money to charity
Eleanor Roosevelt in 1932
An Important Mission
One of Eleanor’s biggest and most famous projects during her early years as a First Lady was when she helped to give homes and food to homeless young people in Morgantown.
She went to Morgantown to visit and was very upset by the way people were living. She wanted to help the people to get a roof over their head and give them food, so she made a plan. She raised money to build homes and buy food for them.
Her husband was very supportive of this and they both wanted this plan to be something people could learn from and use in the future.
Eleanor the Activist
Eleanor was a very important person to the African Americans and she worked hard to try to get them the same rights as white people.
After her work in Morgantown, she wanted to do the same thing for African Americans, who got much less help and money than white people. Eleanor became one of the only people in the White House to speak out for African American rights.
Even though a lot people disliked Eleanor because she tried to help African Americans, she still invited hundreds of them to the White House.
Eleanor the Role Model
In the 1940’s when the II World War started, Eleanor and her husband helped a lot of children who escaped the war in Europe and came to America.
Eleanor was also a very important voice for women all over America. Eleanor held 348 press conferences and forbid any male journalists to come and only invited female reporters. This was a way to force newspapers to hire more female journalists.
Eleanor helped a lot of women and children through her charity.
In 1945, after her husband had died and she was no longer the First Lady, she became the first chairperson of the UN to work for Human Rights.
On November 7, 1962 Eleanor died at 78 years old. Her funeral was held in Hyde Park in London.
Eleanor helped better the lives for African Americans, women and the poor all over America and was an inspiration to many because of her courage and ambitions.
She did what most women during that time would never dare to do and used her power to change and help people all over the world.
