Eleanor Roosevelt was an advocate for equality in women’s movements and many other forms of social equality, as well as the namesake of Roosevelt Hall at the University of Rhode Island.
The building was completed in 1937 as a women’s dormitory, and dedicated to Roosevelt in 1938. During this visit for the dedication she was invited to light a fire in the fireplace to symbolize the warmth of family. She returned in 1953, where she gave a speech on world issues and received an honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law, according to URI Magazine. It served as a dormitory until the 1950s, and now houses the Gender and Women’s Studies and African American Studies departments, as well as student staples such as the Writing Center and the Career Center.
Roosevelt is especially known for her work in women’s rights during the early 1900s. She was a member of many organizations, such as Women Voters, Women’s Trade Union League, the Daughters of Revolution and the Women’s Division of the New York State Democratic Committee. She was made the chair of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women in 1961, according to Britannica.
She was also the first First Lady to hold a press conference in 1933, which led to her only admitting female reporters for this conference, according to The White House Historical Association and National Women’s History Museum. This became the first of multiple women-only press conferences she held. During her term, she traveled the country for relief projects and survey issues such as housing and working conditions. She is the longest serving First Lady, having served for 12 years at The White House.
Roosevelt also participated in many other forms of political activism. She worked within relief efforts such as the Red Cross, becoming the first First Lady to visit an active war zone and was the assistant director of civilian defense within the federal government for one year, according to The White House Historical Association.
She co-founded Val-Kill with a few other women in the 1910s, which was an organization that encouraged local artisans by selling local colonial style furniture. In 1938, when a public meeting in Alabama insisted on being racially segregated, she set a folding chair in the center of the segregated isles to show her support for racial equality. She resigned from the Daughters of Revolution when they refused to admit a woman of color in 1939. She was also passionate about child welfare, having done community service work before her marriage, according to National Park Services.
She also had many roles within the United Nations over the years, such as serving on the General Assembly and the American representative to the World Federation, among others. She was the chair of the Human Rights Commission and worked specifically on the draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which passed in 1948.
This led to her being known as “The First Lady of the World” for her outspoken work toward human rights internationally, according to Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Museum and Library. She is one of five women who are honored by the American Women Quarter Program, according to the National Women’s History Museum.
She resigned from her roles in the UN when a Republican candidate was appointed in 1953, but was re-appointed when another Democratic candidate came into power in 1961, according to the White House Historical Society.
In 1935, Roosevelt started a newspaper column titled “My Day,” where she wrote about her days and her political ideals. She was known for being outspoken on racial and gender equality, and general human rights concerning internal and international issues within “My Day.” Roosevelt raised her and her husband’s six children, one of which died in infancy. Her husband, Franklin D. Roosevelt was also her fifth cousin once removed, according to The White House Historical Association.
There are also rumors of affairs she had, with hers with both men and women, specifically a younger man and a woman reporter, according to the National Park Service’s website. While this was more debated during her life, many historians take these affairs as historical fact now, causing certain queer people to idolize her. She initially did not want her husband to go into politics as a president, but found her place within politics, National Parks Service said.
She is still known for her feminism, and advocacy for equality. She changed the idea of what a First Lady is through her work, and inspired the following First Ladies.
“We make our own history,” Roosevelt said, and that she did.