Eleanor Roosevelt

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was a powerful voice on behalf of a wide range of social causes including youth employment and civil rights for blacks and women. The wife of a popular U.S. president, Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York City on October 11, 1884 was a tireless worker for social causes. A niece of President Theodore Roosevelt, she was raised by her maternal grandmother after the premature death of her parents. In 1905, she married her cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt; they had six children, one of whom died in infancy. Although extremely shy, she became active in politics after her husband was stricken with polio in 1921.

Eleanor Roosevelt - A brief biography, Biographies for kids: 31_1.gif When Franklin became president in 1933, Eleanor Roosevelt transformed herself into a tireless worker for social causes. She conducted press conferences, had her own radio program, and wrote a daily newspaper column, "My Day," which was nationally syndicated. After her husband's death, she continued in public life. She served (1945-52, 1961-62) as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations and helped draft the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Her books include The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt (1961) and This I Remember (1949). She died on November 7, 1962.