Eleanor Roosevelt addresses the United Nations

28 Sep 1948

Eleanor Roosevelt was born In New York in 1884 and educated at Allenswood Academy, outside London. She married the future President Franklin D Roosevelt in 1905, moving to Albany, New York, in 1911 when Franklin was elected to the Senate. Eleanor became more prominent in public life after Franklin was paralysed from the waist down in 1921. She began making public appearances on behalf of her husband, and started to become more influential in the New York State Democratic Party.

Roosevelt became First Lady in 1933 when Franklin was elected to the presidency. During her time as First Lady, Roosevelt worked to promote awareness of women’s rights, and was an advocate of equal rights for African-Americans. After the Second World War, Roosevelt was appointed as a delegate of the United Nations General Assembly, and was instrumental in drafting the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which lays out universal, fundamental human rights. Roosevelt was also the first chairperson of the United Nations Human Rights commission. In this video, she explains the significance of the UDHR, three months before it was approved.