Eleanor Roosevelt’s legacy lights the way, an invitation for us to step forward with conviction and courage.

A few weeks ago, I was invited to speak about Eleanor Roosevelt’s legacy in FOUR minutes! Although it was a formidable challenge, I am grateful for the opportunity. I spent weeks reading, synthesizing, and prioritizing. Because her words and actions are so incredibly important and relevant for us today, I am sharing my remarks here. I hope you will be as inspired as I am to follow the path she forged.

Of all my heroes from the past, I especially look to Eleanor for inspiration during this time of deep disruption, and I wonder: What would Eleanor do if she were here today?

It might be risky to speculate on what someone from the past might do or say, but Eleanor Roosevelt’s moral compass was crystal clear, and she was articulate and prolific. She wrote over 8,000 print columns and delivered 1,400 speeches and radio addresses.

While I suspect she would have a lot to say about what is happening in our country right now, I am going to briefly focus on two topics that seem especially relevant.

I anticipate that Eleanor Roosevelt would be outraged by the unlawful and inhumane immigration enforcement and incarceration occurring today, which is unfortunately reminiscent of the internment of people of Japanese descent during World War II.  Remember that in February 1942, ten weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, FDR signed Executive Order 9066, despite Eleanor’s vehement argument against it. One historian claimed that to Eleanor’s mind, the guarantees of the Bill of Rights must never be surrendered, even in the face of national disaster.”  Within four months, over 110,000 men, women, and children were considered threats to national security based only on their country of origin. They were involuntarily relocated from the West Coast to fourteen internment camps built in remote unhospitable locations. Shortly after the camps opened, Eleanor showed up. She first toured the Gila River Camp in Arizona. And she spoke up. She reported her findings on the radio and in her newspaper column. She described the difficult, humiliating conditions, and she called out the racism and economic greed that was at the root of the anti-Japanese sentiment.

Eleanor hadn’t been able to prevent the internments, but she quickly turned to advocating for humane conditions, and she called on the War Relocation Authority to expediate plans to release people so they could resume independent and productive lives. Within a year, the camp population had been reduced significantly.

Scroll forward: After FDR’s death and the war ended, Eleanor’s advocacy for human rights rose to an international platform when President Truman included her in the first US delegation to the United Nations. She was appointed to the Commission on Human Rights and promptly elected the chair. She was an extraordinary diplomat, integrating diverse opinions and incorporating her own ideas. And she encountered resistance. One of few women at that first assembly, she was treated by some with indifference and misogyny. But she did not let that stop her. She persisted for 3,000 hours of deliberations.

Her vision and diplomacy led the commission in the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). It was the first time an international body recognized the interconnectedness of economic, civil, political, and social policy. In December 1948, the UN General Assembly approved the UDHR and the session ended with an unprecedented standing ovation for Eleanor. It remains an inspirational and aspirational document, relevant not only at an international level but for each of our communities here and now. I encourage you to review it as we find our way forward during this difficult time.

Eleanor showed up, spoke up, and took action. In her own words she said, “I could not, at any age, be content to take my place in a corner by the fireside and simply look on.” Eleanor Roosevelt paved a path for us, and her legacy lights the way, an invitation to step forward with conviction and courage.