Anna Eleanor Roosevelt's Struggle For Equality

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These powerful and memorable words were taken from The Declaration of Independence - the document written by the founding fathers that molded American tradition. The purpose of government according to them was to secure the unalienable rights of the people, protect the people from violence and fraud, and provide justice for all. Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was a warmhearted, courageous woman full of youth and integrity who believed in such ideals. From her inherited wealth and higher education, her family’s status in high New York society,

The prevailing view that women should not be involved public affairs contrived her actions as meddlesome or unreserved. In the aristocratic world Eleanor grew up in, she was taught that her only ambitions were to find a husband and preside over a household with a family. Despite this, she wanted more than just being a housewife and a mother - she wanted to live a full life. She sought progress and independence, and she held a strong sense of social responsibility for the rest of her life. After her marriage to Franklin D. Roosevelt, women’s suffrage recently guaranteed through the 19th Amendment, and few female figures were involved in politics. Undeterred by this impediment, she continued to enter distinguished positions that slowly gained her recognition. From her roles as director of the Bureau of Women’s Activities for the Democratic Party, writer of the syndicated newspaper column My Day to discuss controversial issues, and later the organizer of successful “Getting Out The Vote” campaigns, she proved that women were capable of working and bear the same responsibilities as men. (3) Under the same notion that “All men were created equal,” what she only desired was for men and women to stand on a equal basis. Thus, when FDR became president, she broke the mold of being simply a presidential wife, as she would later be noted as “The First Lady of the World.” For 12 years, Franklin and

She was an advocate for the natural rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and when these natural rights were infringed, she took action. To secure these freedoms, she supported civil rights such as the freedom to vote or the freedom of speech which were denied to people, thus their natural rights of liberty and citizenship. She would describe her ideals as, “…four basic rights which I believe every citizen in a democracy must enjoy. These are the right for equal education, the right to work for equal pay according to ability, the right to justice under the law, the right to participate in the making of the laws by use of the ballot.” (5) Her frankness and determination allowed people to see the failings of discrimination, racism, and inequality. She changed human rights in our history, and her sentiments reflected the principles of the Founding Fathers. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “There is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us” Eleanor Roosevelt did just