They Saw What the United Nations Couldn’t

Summary

HISTORY This Week: "They Saw What the United Nations Couldn’t"

Date: October 20, 2025
Host: Alana Casanova-Burgess
Expert Guest: Professor Keisha Blaine (Brown University, author of Without Black Women and the Making of Human Rights)

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into the overlooked, yet pivotal, roles that Black American women—Mary McLeod Bethune and Marguerite Cartwright—played in shaping both early United Nations history and the broader struggle for civil and human rights. Through rich storytelling, expert commentary, and archival moments, the episode reframes the civil rights battle as a global, not just domestic, movement and explores how these women saw possibility for justice where global institutions fell short.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Founding of the United Nations (UN) and the San Francisco Conference (1945)

• Historical Context: After WWII, 50 countries assembled in San Francisco to draft the UN Charter, aiming to prevent future world wars. The conference was dominated by the "Big Five" nations—Soviet Union, UK, France, China, and the US.
• Representation Gap: Out of 133 American delegates, only three were Black: W.E.B. Du Bois, Walter White, and Mary McLeod Bethune—the latter the only African American woman present (03:40–05:10).
  • Quote (Alana Casanova-Burgess, 05:10):
    “Bethune warns her colleagues that the UN Charter must include some key points... it must deal with colonialism and racism around the world.”

2. Mary McLeod Bethune: Early Life & Activism

• Background: Born to formerly enslaved parents in South Carolina, Bethune was inspired by both exclusion and opportunity in her youth to fight for education and equality (07:31–08:32).
  • Quote (Keisha Blaine, 08:52):
    “Even as Plessy vs. Ferguson establishes the notion of separate but equal... the opportunities for Black children are certainly separate, but they’re by no means equal.”
• Founding Bethune-Cookman University: Turned meager means into a thriving school for Black girls, emphasizing both academic and vocational training (09:22–10:17).

3. Transnational Perspective & Political Influence

• International Advocacy: Bethune built connections with Black communities globally and worked to link the US civil rights struggle to anti-colonial movements worldwide (10:33–11:01).
  • Quote (Bethune, paraphrased, 10:49):
    “Racism here brings forward the color question, belting the world colonial dominions and their attendant evils.”
• White House Connections: Her relationship with Eleanor Roosevelt unlocked high-level influence (11:15–11:56).

4. Bethune’s Road to the UN

• Struggle for a Delegate Seat: After FDR’s death, Bethune lobbied—via public outcry and Eleanor Roosevelt’s advocacy—to secure her place as an official consultant at the UN (13:53–14:34).
• At the Conference: As the sole Black woman delegate, she pressed delegates to move beyond abstract ideals to real action on colonialism and racism (17:46–19:38).
  • Quote (Keisha Blaine, 18:47):
    “She’s essentially moving beyond the buzzwords. It’s not enough to talk about human dignity... if you’re not willing to confront real problems.”

5. Outcomes—and Disappointment—at the UN

• Persistence Amid Setbacks: The final UN Charter sidesteps colonialism and allows segregation to continue (21:16–21:37).
  • Quote (Keisha Blaine, 21:16):
    “By the time Mary McLeod Bethune leaves San Francisco, it’s quite clear that she’s not going to actually accomplish everything she set out to accomplish.”
• Bethune’s Continued Advocacy: Though frustrated, Bethune’s work raised international awareness, inspiring others to leverage the UN platform for racial justice (21:37–22:15).
• The "We Charge Genocide" Petition (1951): Activists like W.E.B. Du Bois and William Patterson used the UN to accuse the US of genocide for its treatment of Black Americans. The UN, influenced by Cold War politics and US pressure, refused to hear the case, deeply disappointing Black leaders (22:15–23:48).
  • Quote (Alana Casanova-Burgess, 22:40):
    “It charges the United States with genocide for its treatment of its own Black citizens.”
  • Quote (Keisha Blaine, 23:39):
    “It amounts to: ‘We can’t help you.’”

6. Marguerite Cartwright: Journalist and UN Commentator

• Background and Education: A child prodigy who earned her master’s at 19, Cartwright struggled for work before entering show business, and later government and academia (25:15–27:39).
• Journalism and UN Coverage: Cartwright attended UN meetings as accredited press, connecting the issues Black Americans faced to global struggles through her columns (28:31–29:55).
  • Quote (Cartwright, 29:55):
    “The UN—where history is made, geography carved out, continents destroyed, where the defenses of peace must be established. This is my beat.”
• Bold, Candid Reporting: She was unafraid to call out inaction and hypocrisy, even among Black delegates, and criticized institutions from within (30:31–31:11).
  • Quote (Cartwright, 31:11):
    “If this were true, it would make... UNESCO the biggest and most useless fraud of all time.”

7. Legacy and Lessons

• Transnational Civil Rights: Both Bethune and Cartwright linked the American civil rights movement to broader anti-colonial and human rights struggles (31:54–33:15).
  • Quote (Keisha Blaine, 33:15):
    “The link between the national and international... is the same belief that Bethune and Cartwright both shared.”
• Hope and Realism on the UN: Despite shortcomings, the UN symbolizes potential—but real change requires persistent pressure, not mere hope or concepts (33:41–34:17).
  • Quote (Keisha Blaine, 33:41):
    “How do we make that real on the ground? ... At some point, we do need to see them materialize within our lifetime, within our lives and in our communities.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Invisible Leaders (06:52, Keisha Blaine):
  “Who is the leader? ...Could it also be the person who is invisible in the story, who might be moving quietly behind the scenes, but they're saying something that could in fact shape the narrative?”

• On Colonialism at the UN (19:17, Keisha Blaine paraphrased):
  “For [Bethune], there was no attempt to call for human rights without directly confronting colonialism... If you don’t actually talk about colonialism, then it’s about human rights for some groups and not for others.”

• On UN Inaction (31:41, Cartwright):
  “The United nations, with all its faults, is the only international organization for the fulfillment of our hopes for collective security, freedom, justice, and peace in the world.”

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• UN Conference Context & Bethune’s Arrival: 02:17–06:45
• Bethune’s Early Life & Activism: 07:31–10:17
• Bethune’s Political Influence/Eleanor Roosevelt: 11:01–12:56
• Struggle to Join U.S. Delegation: 13:53–14:34
• Bethune at the San Francisco Conference: 17:46–21:37
• "We Charge Genocide" Petition: 22:15–23:39
• Introduction to Marguerite Cartwright: 25:15–27:00
• Cartwright’s UN Journalism: 28:31–31:41
• Closing Thoughts on Legacy: 31:54–34:17

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Episode Tone & Takeaways

The episode combines admiration for Bethune and Cartwright’s unheralded leadership with a clear-eyed, sometimes somber appraisal of the obstacles they faced. Listeners are left with the sense that global institutions like the UN hold immense, if often unrealized, promise for human rights. The real story, as shown through these women, is how persistent advocacy—often from society’s margins—can expand the meaning of justice for everyone.

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For further details and to subscribe, visit historythisweekpodcast.com.

Transcript

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History this week, October 24, 1945 I'm Alana Casanova Burgess. On this day, at the State Department building in Washington, D.C. the charter of the United nations finally becomes official. But four months earlier, its fate was much less certain. The world has gathered in San Francisco. Delegates remark that the city is dazzling, filled with golden sunshine and fresh and invigorating air from the Pacific. This is in contrast to the cities in ruin that many of the delegates are coming from. World War II has just ended in Europe and is still raging in the Pacific. Yet world leaders have decided that even before the fighting has come to an end, they need to do something to stop this, a world war, from happening again. That's why 50 countries have sent representatives to California. They meet in San Francisco's Opera House, converted into a meeting space just for this conference. The main hall features more than 3,000 red plush seats for the delegates and other attendees. Facing a stage adorned with four golden pillars linked by olive branches representing the four freedoms promised four years earlier by former President Franklin freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. These countries have come together to form a world peacemaking organization already called the United Nations. How would this new organization work? That's the task in front of them for two months. Delegates meet and debate, pontificate and negotiate. And while 50 countries have a voice, there are really five. The big five that dominate the the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, France, China and the United States. There are thousands of Americans in attendance, counting media and support staff. But the delegation itself is made up of seven official delegates and 126 consultants. 133 people in total. Of those 133Americans, 128 are white. The other three are black, all there representing the NAACP. W.E.B. du Bois, scholar and co founder of the organization. Walter White, the executive secretary and the only black woman representing the United States in this process, Mary McLeod Bethune. Bethune has been an education activist for nearly half a century. She was an advisor to FDR and remains a close confidant of Eleanor Roosevelt. And her attendance at this UN conference was anything but a sure thing. Beth. But now that she's here, she's going to make her voice heard. Bethune warns her colleagues that the UN Charter must include some key points. If it's going to actually achieve its stated goal of world peace, it must deal with colonialism and racism around the world. Of course, the thought is, with the UN setting the standard, maybe life for black Americans, especially in the Jim Crow south, could improve. If these ideas can get into the UN Charter, which will go into effect on October 24, 1945, then maybe, just maybe, true freedom can be achieved. Bethune is the only African American woman in the US delegation in 1945, but she won't be the only one to have an impact on the UN today. Two black women who had a part in the earliest Days of the United nations activist Mary MacLeod Bethune and journalist Marguerite Cartwright. Why did they believe the UN was so important when their own country continued to deny them equality? And how can their work reframe the way we view the struggle for civil rights beyond US borders for all nations?

[B]

The story is useful for, I think, helping us think about leadership, how we conceptualize leadership.

[C]

Professor Keisha Blaine argues, if we look to some of the people that might be considered in the margins of the UN's early history, women like Mary MacLeod Bethune, we might be able to capture what the United nations could be, a more respected version of a world organization that so many criticize today.

[B]

Who is the leader? Is it the person that's visible, the person holding a particular title? Or could it also be the person who is invisible in the story, who might be moving quietly behind the scenes, but they're saying something that could in fact shape the narrative?

[C]

Mary MacLeod is born in 1875 in South Carolina. Her parents had both been formerly enslaved and had continued working after the Civil War for their former enslavers on the same plantation until they could save enough money to buy their own land. Mary is expected to pick cotton as well, even as a young girl. One day, when she's 9 or 10, she's with her mother at the farm owner's home. While her mother cooks, Mary wanders over to the daughter's playhouse outside. The daughter is there and lets her in. Mary notices a book on the shelf, picks it up. The daughter shouts, put that book down. You can't read. And that was true, she couldn't. But the insult sticks with her. Shortly after this incident, a Presbyterian mission opens a school 10 miles from the farm. Marian rolls, making that 10 mile round trip there and back every day. Within two years, she's reading the family's Bible. This childhood experience becomes her life's work, especially after a Supreme court decision. Plessy vs. Ferguson enshrines the disparity between educational opportunities for white and black children.

[B]

Even as Plessy vs. Ferguson establishes the notion of separate but equal. What we know is on the ground, the opportunities for black children are certainly separate, but they're by no means equal.

[C]

Mary McLeod Bethune, she had gotten married, moves to Florida. In Daytona, she rents a small house with just $1.50 and some furniture made from old crates. Bethune tries to address this issue of education head on.

[B]

Mary McLeod Bethune established the Daytona Literary and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls. And she's really committed to creating a space for black children to have Quality education. To have access to quality education, she.

[C]

Starts with six students, five girls and her son. She truly creates this school from nothing. She's using elderberries to make ink for writing, burnt splinters of wood for pencils. But within two years, what's now known in the neighborhood as the Bethune School has 250 students. By 1907, she's moved to a new building, Faith hall, hiring teachers and expanding the curriculum to include academics and vocational training.

[B]

She recognizes that this is going to be perhaps one of the most important avenues for black people to improve their socioeconomic status.

[C]

In 1923, the school merges with a local college to create what would become Bethune Cookman University, which is still operating today. As the school grows, so does Bethune's profile.

[B]

She's traveling extensively. She's speaking across the globe.

[C]

In 1924, she becomes president of the national association of Colored Women's Clubs, which she seeks to make international. She travels to London, Paris, Geneva, Rome. Bethune argues that the problems black people face in America aren't united, unique to America. That racism here, quote, brings forward the color question. Belting the world colonial dominions and their attendant evils.

[B]

And given her commitments to civil rights and human rights and women's rights, she forges a number of relationships that are quite significant, and one being the relationship with first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

[C]

Eleanor Roosevelt first invites Bethune to a luncheon in 1927, well before she and her husband would ascend to the White House. It's an event for the presidents of women's organizations across the country. Bethune is the only black woman in attendance, and some of the other women refuse to sit near her. But Sarah Roosevelt, Franklin's mother, invites Bethune to join her side. This is the beginning of a lasting friendship and collaboration between Bethune and the Roosevelt family. In particular, Eleanor granted her access to a new level of influence, especially after the Roosevelts arrival in Washington in 1933.

[B]

She is able to move in very prominent circles. She has access to a number of spaces that are generally not as open for others.

[C]

In 1936, FDR appoints Bethune as head of the Office of Minority affairs within the National Youth Administration. This makes her the first black person to ever lead a federal division and the highest paid black American in the US Government. At the time, she's considered a member of Roosevelt's black Cabinet, his unofficial group of advisors on issues of race. Bethune would later say of fdr, he will be proclaimed the greatest humanitarian of his time. In the late days of World War II, when rumors start swirling about a conference to establish a partnership among nations, the United nations, Bethune, now 69 years old, knows that she has to be there.

[B]

Bethune is part of a transnational network of activists who are really thinking about the 1940s as a moment of transformation, as one in which the conversation might be shifted to not only talk about peace and security in the context of war, but also talk about freedom and freedom for all people, especially those who are living under colonialism in various parts of the globe.

[C]

Bethune's advocacy has given her a unique lens into oppression in the US and abroad. In her mind, there is an undeniable link between the struggle for black people in the US and and people of color globally. And Bethune believes that if she can prove this link at the UN Conference, it might promote freedom on a global scale.

[B]

The nation might move in the right direction as the world moves in the right direction.

[C]

Franklin Roosevelt had died just weeks before the conference was set to begin, and Bethune appeals directly to the new American president, Harry Truman, who says, no, you cannot join the US Delegation. He didn't see a reason for her to be there. There's outcry in the black press, maybe articles encouraged by Bethune herself. One paper called her treatment shabby. But when that's not enough, Bethune calls in a favor from an old friend.

[B]

Eleanor Roosevelt then becomes an important advocate for Bethune as conversations are taking place about who will represent the United States.

[C]

Right before the conference begins, Bethune is added to the list of official consultants in the American delegation. The press release literally says she's included at the last moment. Now the question becomes, will anyone listen to her? September is behind us and the school year is in full swing. By October, it's clear where kids might be struggling. I IXL helps your child build on what they've learned so far and stay confident through the fall. IXL pinpoints those tricky areas and gives them extra practice before small gaps turn into bigger roadblocks. IXL is an award winning online learning platform that helps kids truly understand what they're learning, whether they're brushing up on math or diving into social studies. It covers math, language arts, science and social studies from Pre K through 12th grade. With content that's engaging, personalized and, yes, actually fun. It's the perfect tool to keep learning going without making it feel like school. One subscription gets you everything. One site for all the kids in your home Pre K through 12th grade. Make an impact on your child's learning. Get IXL now and listeners of this podcast can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today. Visit ixllearning.com audio to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. Hey everyone, I'm Josh Radner and I am so excited to tell you about How We Made your Mother a Rewatch podcast. Looking Looking back at How I Met yout Mother and I'm here with Craig Thomas who co created the show along with Carter Bayes. Hi Craig.

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[B]

Seeing the clip of Mary McLeod Bethune signing autographs and just greeting people on her way to San Francisco really encapsulates her impact on the nation. It really is something to behold and it helps demonstrate just how influential she was at the time.

[C]

When Bethune arrives in San Francisco, optimism is in the air, feeling a sense.

[B]

Of hope that perhaps in the aftermath of this war, things might actually begin to change.

[C]

Delegates from around the world have gathered in California to write the fundamental charter of this new organization establishing a framework to maintain peace, a quote, solid structure to build a better world. Entering the conference as the only Black woman there in an official capacity, Bethune was definitely feeling the weight of her responsibility. According to Keisha Blaine, she knows that.

[B]

All eyes are on her. She knows that whatever she says will be reflecting on other Black women and.

[C]

Other Black People in and around the San Francisco Opera House. The delegates discuss abstract definitions of human rights and collective security. Bethune is with them, hammering home what they're not addressing.

[B]

I think she points out the inconsistencies, one might say the hypocrisy too, because she's essentially moving beyond the buzzwords. It's not enough to talk about human dignity. It's not enough to talk about equality. All of these terms are meaningful, but they don't actually materialize if you're not willing to confront very real problems.

[C]

Bethune's main target, Colonialism.

[B]

For her, there was no attempt to call for human rights without directly confronting colonialism. And at one point she's saying, if you don't actually talk about colonialism, if you don't talk about imperialism, then what you're essentially doing is saying that it's about human rights for some groups and not for others.

[C]

Remember, this is still a time when the big five countries still maintain colonies across the world. It's a long list, but, for example, the US Rules the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico. The UK still controls India, Nigeria and Palestine. Then there's French Indochina in Southeast Asia. Bethune and her NAACP CO consultants see this pattern of colonial domination as an existential threat to freedom and send out a memo to the other delegates. The colonial system of government, however deeply rooted in history and custom, is today undemocratic, socially dangerous, and a main cause of wars. They send a telegram to the US Secretary of State, which is made public. Quote, the colonial system makes another Hitler possible.

[B]

She was not afraid to confront these things, which naturally meant that some people did not appreciate her.

[C]

She tells a reporter, A lot of people are discouraged about what's going on at that conference. They see the United States talking about trusteeships and mandates instead of talking about freedom for all people, no matter where they live. I wish I could have had those people with me sitting in a chair beside me at those meetings, seeing what I saw. When the UN charter is signed, set to go in effect October 1945, there is no mention of colonialism and Jim Crow. Segregation or segregation in any country is essentially allowed to continue.

[B]

I think she felt frustrated. By the time Mary McLeod Bethune leaves San Francisco, I think it's quite clear that she's not going to actually accomplish everything that she set out to accomplish. It's clear to her that everything that she's calling for that these things are likely not to happen. But it also means that she has.

[C]

To keep doing the work while her goals aren't met. Bethune's participation in the conference does raise her international profile. Her advocacy continues to expand outside of the United States. She soon visits Haiti and Liberia, where she's welcomed as a hero. She also succeeds in inspiring other black leaders to turn to the United nations as a way to potentially lead the way on issues of racism and segregation. Again, if this international organization takes a stance, it stood to reason that the US Would have to follow. The most famous of these Attempts comes in 1951.

[B]

William Patterson and several other activists come together, put forth a petition, we charge genocide.

[C]

We charge genocide. It is a petition prepared by William Patterson and W.E.B. du Bois, signed by nearly 100 other American intellectuals. It charges the United States with genocide for its treatment of its own black citizens.

[B]

It's making an appeal saying, look at how black people are being treated in the US Based on your definition of genocide, we believe you should do something about it.

[C]

The petition, 237 pages long, cites lynchings and mob violence, as well as segregation laws and practices that promote voter disenfranchisement across US History, all to argue that America had been carrying out a long and violent genocide against a segment of its population. Internationally, we charged genocide is hailed as a monumental achievement not at home. Even other black activists distance themselves from the petition. US Officials are against the the idea and pressure the UN not to consider it. Eleanor Roosevelt calls it ridiculous, the press calls it communist propaganda, and so the UN never brings it forward for debate. Their stance.

[B]

Well, you know, thank you for sharing that, but you don't represent a nation state. It's a very bizarre response, but it amounts to we can't help you.

[C]

This incident is later blamed for truly damaging the perception of the UN among black Americans. And yet that very same year, a black journalist gets her UN press credentials and decides she's going to bring the United nations to her community in a way they've never seen before. The holidays have arrived at the Home Depot and we're here to help bring the excitement with decor for every part of your home. Check out our wide assortment of easy to assemble pre lit trees so you can spend less time setting up and more time celebrating. And bring your holiday spirit outdoors with unique decor like one of our Santa inflatables.

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[B]

And after she completes her master's thesis, she simply could not find a a job.

[C]

Cartwright spends a little time as a schoolteacher, but with slim opportunities available for a black woman in the middle of the Great Depression, she enters show business.

[B]

It was not necessarily what she intended to do, but it was an opportunity that opened up and she took it.

[C]

Cartwright ends up as a dancer at the Cotton Club in Harlem in front of acts like Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway. She appears in a couple of Broadway shows and even some movies, too. But she soon finds herself wanting something more.

[B]

She goes from job to job, and she's constantly trying to figure out a place where she could utilize all of these skills and knowledge that she has.

[C]

In 1939, she ends up working at the New York City Welfare Department, which is doing good work under FDR's New Deal policies. And Cartwright is a fan.

[B]

She was so excited about his campaign. She was constantly talking about it. She really saw that he had a vision that would improve the socioeconomic conditions of black people.

[C]

Apparently, she's almost as much a fan of FDR as Mary McLeod Bethune was, but when you work in government, that's an issue. She's openly campaigning for FDR in the office, which is a no no.

[B]

They gave her a warning and it said, you can resign or you can end your campaign.

[C]

She resigns, but it actually was a.

[B]

Silver lining there because she lost her job. She ended up enrolling as a doctoral student in the School of Education at New York University.

[C]

Cartwright is back in academia. This is where she really hits her stride. She studies anti discrimination legislation and gets her doctorate in 1948, one of the few black women in America to achieve that level of education at the time. Then she returns to teaching at Hunter College, also in New York City. But she also starts to write. In 1950, she's approached by the editors of the Negro History Bulletin. They want her to pen a response to an anthropologist who had argued enslaved people had not been, quote, ready for freedom after the Civil War. She tears the argument apart as backwards and racist. Slaves were not dogs or pianos, but human beings. This pushes her writing career forward, and she soon becomes a fixture in black newspapers across the country.

[B]

She's a columnist for the Pittsburgh Courier and also the New York Amsterdam News. And what is remarkable about her is how determined she is to draw the connections between what's taking place in the US context and what's happening globally.

[C]

Cartwright had already traveled extensively throughout her academic career, and armed with her entire lived experience and a PhD in sociology, she starts to embrace a similar philosophy as Mary MacLeod Bethune, that black Americans are directly affected by what happens on the world stage, especially what happens at the un.

[B]

So she's already interested in what's happening globally, and at some point, she recognizes that the UN has to be the avenue through which to do this kind of work.

[C]

She starts a weekly column for the Pittsburgh Courier. Around the United Nations.

[B]

We oftentimes talk about this notion of having a seat at the table. In the case of Margaret Cartwright, she didn't have a seat at the table, but she was in the room.

[C]

She's attending UN General Assemblies, peace summits, UNESCO conferences.

[B]

She could listen in, she could take notes, she could digest sort of process what's happening, and then she could reflect on it and go back and write about them for the public, and in so doing, attempt to shape the dialogue from outside of the space.

[C]

Cartwright is not your traditional journalist. She blurs the lines between news and opinion, keeping her readers informed while also telling them what she thinks. Her first column in the series starts, the un where history is made, geography carved out, continents destroyed, where the defenses of peace must be established. This is my beat.

[B]

Cartwright is very direct. She's a very bold thinker and a bold writer, the kind of person who's not afraid to call people out.

[C]

In 1955, she reports from a UNESCO meeting in Milwaukee. She writes about William O. Walker, a black representative from the National Newspaper Publishers.

[B]

Association, who she says is not really paying attention and is falling asleep.

[C]

She confronts another delegate about why UNESCO hadn't taken up desegregation or human rights. He responded that if Americans wanted to take that position, they'd need approval from the U.S. congress. She writes, if this were true, it would make the very existence of the body, meaning UNESCO, the biggest and most useless fraud of all time.

[B]

And I can only imagine the kinds of attentions that she had to deal with at the interpersonal level because she's naming names.

[C]

But ultimately, in her brutal honesty, Cartwright explains to her readers that the UN isn't perfect, but it's what we've got. Quote, the United nations, with all its faults, is the only international organization for the fulfillment of our hopes for collective security, freedom, justice, and peace in the world.

[B]

She's saying we have the power to bring about the change. Rather than say, oh, the UN isn't doing what we want, so we'll move on. She's saying, no, stay with it. Stay with it and bring about the changes you want to see.

[C]

Marguerite Cartwright continues to travel the world, report on international affairs, and teach sociology until her death in 1986. She hasn't become well known until recently. Keisha Blaine is one of the first to have access to her personal archives. But looking at her life, it becomes clear that Cartwright and Mary MacLeod Bethune both leave a legacy of international consciousness. That's something that often isn't a part of the conversation. When we talk about the history of civil rights in the United States.

[B]

I think when we write about black Americans, it is often through the lens of certainly thinking about slavery as a period, but then emancipation, reconstruction, the question of citizenship. And to be clear, that is very significant, and it is very much a part of the history. But what that means is that a lot of the books that we write about black Americans tend to be within that particular vein. The effort to move from second class citizenship to equal citizenship. And because of the overemphasis, I think, on that particular narrative, it means that we have not paid as much attention to the story that really connects what's happening in the US to what's happening across the globe.

[C]

This is the core of Keisha Blaine's perspective, the link between the national and international, which is the same belief that Bethune and Cartwright both shared. Some argue that link is too strong, that the United States has disproportionate influence over UN decision making. But still, like Cartwright wrote, the UN is basically our best option. The challenge, Blaine says, is turning it into something more.

[B]

For many people, they do see the UN as espousing very important, powerful ideas that have great possibility. But the question is, how do we make that real? How do we make that real on the ground? How do we make that real for all people everywhere. It's not an easy process, but it has to happen because we can't just continue talking about dreams and concepts at some point, we do need to see them materialize within our lifetime, within our lives and in our communities.

[C]

Thanks for listening to History this Week, a Back Pocket Studios production in partnership with the History Channel. To stay updated on all things History this week, sign [e-mail] and if you have any thoughts or questions, send us an [e-mail] Special thanks to our guest, Keisha Blaine, professor of Africana Studies and History at Brown University and author of Without Black Women and the Making of Human Rights. This episode was produced by Ben Dickstein, sound designed by Dan Rosado and hosted by me, Ilana Casanova Burgess for Back Pocket Studios. Our executive producer is Ben Dickstein from the History Channel. Our executive producers are Eli Lehrer and Liv Fiddler. Don't forget to follow rate and review History this Week, wherever you get your podcasts, and we'll see you next week.