Eleanor Roosevelt's Impact On African Americans

Eleanor Roosevelt made some major and very significant steps towards changing the racism that the African-Americans constantly faced for generations. The New Deal aimed to secure equal rights for black people and these facts already show her significant role in bringing about the social changes for the African-Americans. Because of her involvement, the issue of racism towards African-Americans finally got recognized as a problem that needs to be solved, which made them feel more secure and like they had some support and hope that changes would finally come at some point. Eleanor Roosevelt had an influence on that, slightly increasing the feeling of security throughout the USA, by the impact she had on the New Deal and the will to bring about

Arthurdale was a part of the New Deal that meant moving laborers to newly built communities for them to become less economically dependent. Due to the failure she had experienced, Eleanor had to go further and find other solutions to solve racial issues. She had met Walter White the Executive Secretary of the NAACP becoming more informed on how bad the situation was. She then started constantly reminding different government officials that action had to take place, especially after she started frequently receiving letters that would describe racial violence and the appalling conditions that African-Americans lived in only because they have a different skin colour. From Eleanor’s actions, it can be assumed that she turned it into her priority to help them, even thought it might have been harder than any of the other social policies she tried to bring about. She has faced a lot of opposition from the whites, including FDR, leading to numerous proposals that she has black blood, which is quite ironic, since if that would have been the truth, than the two of the presidents that the American people have chosen, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt would also have black blood, due to the fact that they were all related,

Marion Anderson was one of the greatest contralto singers of the 20th century and the first African-American to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in 1955. However, years before she was able to perform at the MET, Marion has faced challenges and oppositions from people who were against her performances, because of the colour of her skin, with Eleanor Roosevelt being one of the few people, expressing her disgrace with a certain ban put on Marion’s performance. Eleanor Roosevelt and Marion Anderson met in 1935 when she was invited to perform at the White House, by that time Anderson was already very popular in Europe and focused on performances in the United States. From 1936, she would annually perform at different venues with the aim of benefiting the Howard University School of Music in Washington, DC and the extent of its success meant that larger venues had to be found. There was no issue until in 1939 when a request to the Constitution Hall, headed by the Daughters of American Revolution(DAR), was made. The Constitutional Hall was the largest in Washington DC and could seat up to 4000 people, and DAR is an association devoted to extreme American patriotism that was not particularly in favour of racial equality. Eleanor Roosevelt, a passive member of the association was not satisfied with such