Education and networks of reform
Born in New York, Eleanor lost both parents during childhood and later attended Allenswood School in England. Headmistress Marie Souvestre encouraged independent thought and attention to social questions. Back in New York, she taught at a settlement house and encountered immigrant and working-class life. She married Franklin Roosevelt in 1905.
Wartime volunteering in the Red Cross and naval hospitals was followed by work with the League of Women Voters, the Women's Trade Union League and Democratic women's organizations. Teaching and a furniture-production venture at Hyde Park formed additional parts of her public life.
Investigation, writing and civil rights as first lady
As first lady from 1933, Eleanor visited relief projects, workplaces and communities, bringing observations into policy discussions. Press conferences for women reporters, her My Day newspaper column, broadcasts and speeches gave her additional channels of influence.
In 1939 she resigned from the Daughters of the American Revolution after its concert hall refused the Black singer Marian Anderson. Anderson's subsequent Lincoln Memorial concert involved organizers including the NAACP, manager Sol Hurok and Interior Secretary Harold Ickes. Her resignation drew further public attention to the venue's racial exclusion.
United Nations negotiations and the declaration
President Truman appointed Eleanor to the US delegation to the United Nations after Franklin's death. She chaired the preliminary and permanent human-rights commissions, coordinating discussion among delegates with differing political and cultural perspectives. John Humphrey, Rene Cassin, P. C. Chang and Charles Malik were among the other major participants.
The General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration on 10 December 1948. Work on a declaration was distinguished from negotiations over a binding covenant and implementation. Eleanor pressed for language ordinary readers could understand. She continued writing, speaking and work on women's status until her death in 1962.