This publication "Fundamental Freedoms: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights" is surveying Eleanor Roosevelt’s early years and then concentrating on her life-long commitment as an activist.

It tells of Eleanor’s pivotal role in creating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust.

In 1945 after the death of her husband, President Franklin Roosevelt, she participated in the birth of the United Nations and embraced a new role, advocating across the globe for the rights she fought for at home.

This resource examines Eleanor’s development into a diplomat and renowned human rights leader of the twentieth century, and shows the challenges and determination required to realize the UDHR.

Table of Contents:

Part I: Who Was Eleanor Roosevelt?
Document 1: Becoming Eleanor
Document 2: Refusing to be “Frozen Out”
Document 3: “The Basic Thing We Must Do Is to Stop Generalizing About People”
Document 4: Marian Anderson and the Daughters of the American Revolution
Document 5: Eleanor and the Jewish Refugee Crisis (1939)

Part II: World War II and the Birth of the United Nations
Document 1: “How Much Democracy Do We Want?”
Document 2: The “Four Freedoms” Speech
Document 3: Eleanor and Wartime Race Riots
Document 4: The Atlantic Charter
Document 5: The United Nations Charter
Document 6: “Naturally They Want to Go to Palestine”
Document 7: Eleanor’s Visits to the Displaced Persons Camps

Part III: Negotiating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Document 1: Documents Reviewed by the Drafting Committee
Document 2: The Individual or Society: The Human Rights Commission Debates
Document 3: Statement on Human Rights by the American Anthropological Association
Document 4: The Human Rights Commission and Blacks in America
Document 5: Social and Economic Rights: Eleanor’s Speech at the Sorbonne
Document 6: Magna Carta for Mankind

Part IV: The UDHR and Its Legacy
Document 1: Drafting the Preamble
Document 2: Reflections on Human Rights
Document 3: Making History

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To accompany this resource, the NGO "Facing History and Ourselves"  has developed lesson ideas to provide ways to deepen students’ understanding of human rights, while helping them wrestle with questions such as What is a human right?, Who is responsible for protecting and nurturing human rights? and What happens when human rights are violated?

View list of lesson ideas