Eleanor Roosevelt

“Although born to a life of privilege and married to the President of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt was a staunch and lifelong advocate for workers and a proud member of the AFL-CIO's Newspaper Guild for more than twenty-five years." She Was One of Us" tells the story of her deep and lasting ties to the American labor movement. Today, union membership has declined to levels not seen since the Great Depression, and the silencing of American workers has contributed to rising inequality. In "She Was One of Us", Eleanor Roosevelt's voice can once again be heard by those working for social justice and human rights.”- www.bofarrell.net

Today’s sessions closed with a lecture by Brigid O’Farrell, whose new book “She Was One of Us” charts the here-to-date unrecognized contribution of Eleanor Roosevelt to the union movement in the U.S. Eleanor wrote a syndicated newspaper column called “My Day” six days a week every week from 1935 to 1962. She was the first, probably the only First Lady to be a card-carrying union member who proudly carried her card in her purse until the day she died. But the best part of this truly inspiring story charted Eleanor’s work in the years after her husband’s death. Among her many achievements perhaps the most impressive is the fact that she spearheaded the drive for the ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and inclusion in that seminal document of (Article 23, clause 4) of the following statement, “Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions …” In this time of unremitting attacks on unions, it is heartening to be reminded that in the wake of World War II, the nations of the world came together to affirm that the right to organize in a union is a universal human right. It’s not given to us by a government. It can’t be taken away by a government. And any government that tries to do that is in contempt of us all. My hope is that the young activists of the world will be inspired by Eleanor Roosevelt’s story and heartened by her work.