CHAMPION OF EQUAL RIGHTS A death threat from one of the death threat from one of the Roosevelt was the former First Lady and an Roosevelt was the former First Lady and an nation’s most notorious hate groups nation’s most notorious hate groups did not deter Eleanor Roosevelt did not deter Eleanor Roosevelt advocate for women’s human and civil rights advocate for women’s human and civil rights The Ku Klux Klan had discovered Roosevelt The Ku Klux Klan had discovered Roosevelt was planning to visit Highlander Folk School was planning to visit Highlander Folk School in Monteagle Tennessee in June 1958 She in Monteagle Tennessee in June 1958 She would speak on ways to protest racist laws would speak on ways to protest racist laws The Klan put a 25,000 bounty on her head The Klan put a 25,000 bounty on her head But Roosevelt had spent her life helping But Roosevelt had spent her life helping marginalized women Intimidation would not marginalized women Intimidation would not keep her away from Monteagle Another keep her away from Monteagle Another woman picked Roosevelt up at the airport woman picked Roosevelt up at the airport Roosevelt left promoted equal rights in society for Roosevelt left both women and African Americans both women and African Americans
HIGHLANDER FOLK SCHOOL Highlander Folk School was committed to causes including economic justice and an end to racial segregation Courses included literacy leadership and nonviolent desegregation strategies Notable activists including Rosa Parks attended classes there Opponents of its causes tried to close the school They had a pistol in the car They arrived in Monteagle without confronting the Klan In her national newspaper column My Day Roosevelt wrote of her time at Highlander Folk School She had learned about the harsh rules states made for voters of color This included African-American women Women had gained the right to vote in 1920 with the Nineteenth Amendment But state laws in the South made it nearly impossible for African Americans to vote Roosevelt said people of different ethnicities could work together so all Americans could vote
Equal Rights Advocate Roosevelt was born in 1884 American women could not vote then When Roosevelt was a teenager women across the country fought for suffrage The Nineteenth Amendment was just one step toward equal rights for women Roosevelt’s family was wealthy and politically powerful Eleanor’s uncle Theodore PERSPECTIVES AGAINST SUFFRAGE It took decades of fighting for female Americans to earn the right to vote Women’s suffrage was a controversial topic Many men and even some women did not believe women needed to vote In 1910 the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage made a pamphlet The back cover explained why the group thought women did not need the right to vote One reason was because 90 of the women either do not want it or do not care Another was because it means competition of women with men instead of co-operation Roosevelt was US president from 1901 to 1909 The Roosevelts helped Americans of all backgrounds
