Eleanor Roosevelt Reading Comprehension Lesson

A Difficult Childhood, A Determined Life

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born on October 11, 1884, in New York City. Her childhood was marked by loss and loneliness. Her mother died when Eleanor was eight years old, and her father, whom she adored, died less than two years later. Eleanor and her younger brother were sent to live with their strict grandmother. Eleanor was a shy, awkward child who felt unloved and out of place in the privileged New York society of her time.

At 15, Eleanor was sent to Allenswood Academy, a progressive girls’ school near London. The school’s headmistress, Marie Souvestre, recognized Eleanor’s intelligence and helped her develop confidence. For the first time, Eleanor thrived. She traveled across Europe with Souvestre, learned to speak French fluently, and began to form opinions about politics and social justice. When she returned to New York at 18, she was a different person — still reserved, but far more self-assured.

In 1905, Eleanor married her distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They had six children together. Eleanor became deeply involved in social causes — working with the poor in New York’s tenements, advocating for better conditions for factory workers, and supporting women’s suffrage. When Franklin contracted polio in 1921, Eleanor helped keep his political career alive, traveling and speaking on his behalf while he recovered. She became his legs, his voice, and ultimately his most trusted political partner.

First Lady and Human Rights Champion

When Franklin Roosevelt was elected president in 1932, Eleanor transformed the role of First Lady. Unlike previous First Ladies, she held her own press conferences, wrote a daily newspaper column called “My Day,” and traveled the country to report to the president on the lives of ordinary Americans during the Great Depression. She pushed her husband to take stronger stands on civil rights, racial equality, and the treatment of workers. When the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to let Black opera singer Marian Anderson perform in their hall, Eleanor resigned her membership in protest and helped arrange for Anderson to perform at the Lincoln Memorial before 75,000 people.

After Franklin Roosevelt died in 1945, Eleanor did not retreat from public life. President Harry Truman appointed her as a delegate to the newly formed United Nations. She chaired the UN Commission on Human Rights and was the driving force behind the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN in 1948. The Declaration, which affirms the fundamental rights of all people regardless of nationality, race, religion, or sex, is one of the most important documents in the history of human civilization.

Eleanor Roosevelt continued to advocate for civil rights, women’s equality, and the poor until the end of her life. President John F. Kennedy appointed her to chair the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women in 1961. She died on November 7, 1962, at the age of 78. Harry Truman called her “the First Lady of the World.” She is remembered as a model of courage, compassion, and public service who turned personal suffering into a lifetime of purpose.

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