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That's 20% off your first purchase with Code Short History at LiquidIV. It is June 1958, in upstate New York. A woman sits at a writing desk with the window open to hear the birds singing in the woods outside. Eleanor Roosevelt is 73, a widow, and busier than ever when the telephone rings. She pushes aside a pile of letters to take the call. She lifts the receiver and has a short conversation with a man who speaks in a hushed voice. When she hangs up, she goes to the piano, taps a few keys, but is too preoccupied to find a tune. Behind her, a door opens and a member of staff enters the room. He asks if it is a good time to brief her about her trip to Tennessee tomorrow. When Eleanor distractedly fails to respond, he asks if there's a problem. If she is feeling unwell, he can make arrangements to cancel the flight, but she closes the lid of the piano and tells him there is no problem. She doesn't mention the man on the telephone. He was from the FBI, warning her about a death threat. The Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist group that dominates parts of the American south, has put a $25,000 price on her head, the largest in its history. The KKK despises Eleanor Roosevelt. They hate her support for civil liberties, her stand against the segregation policy that discriminates against African Americans, and her highly publicized friendships with many people of color. It wants her to cancel her planned visit to a school in Tennessee that is one of the only places in the south where black and white students are integrated. According to the FBI, the chief of police down there is a KKK sympathizer who will look the other way if anyone attacks her. But Eleanor has never given in to fear. When she sets off to the airport, her only concession to the FBI's warning is that she packs a handgun. Eleanor lands in Nashville, Tennessee, late at night. She steps off the plane into hot, sticky air that screams with cicadas. On her way to the parking lot, she is approached by a familiar figure. But despite the perilous journey into the dark heart of Ku Klux Klan territory that lies ahead, this is no brawny security detail, but a friend. Another white woman in her 70s. As they head across the parking lot to the car, Eleanor mentions the gun. She warns her companion that no one is there to protect them, not the FBI nor local law enforcement. So when they put the luggage in the trunk, the other woman suggests that they place the pistol on the car seat between them. The pair set off into the darkness of unlit mountain roads. The headlights swing from side to side on switchback bends. Trees throw shapes that look like hooded men. Eleanor's hand goes to the gun, but she stands down when a looming shadow turns out to be a road sign. Dark miles slide by. Eventually, the women see the lights of the town of Montego and the hand painted sign of the Highlander Folk School, their destination. The driver swerves in through the entrance, then brakes heavily on the dirt parking lot. As the engine dies, the women get out, relieved and embrace in the glare of the headlights. Eleanor thanks her companion for her bravery. Two septuagenarians against the kkk. Her friend laughs it off and reminds Eleanor of her famous mantra. You have to do one thing every day that scares you. The trip to Tennessee wasn't the first time Eleanor Roosevelt received death threats. Far from simply being the wife of a president, she spent her long career campaigning on some of the most controversial issues of the day. Though her outspokenness made her an icon of the civil rights movement, it also made her plenty of enemies. She redefined the role of first lady of the United States, refusing to be merely a passive companion and hostess and choosing instead a life of activism. Eleanor Roosevelt was the first first lady to be considered an equal to a powerful husband, and built her own distinct public profile that made her recognizable around the world. So what made this woman, born an aristocrat, fight so hard for the underdog? How did she balance her commitment to social justice with her family life and break the mold to become an influencer and media star? And what was the truth about her unconventional marriage to one of the USA's most renowned presidents? I'm John Hopkins from Noiser. This is a short history of Eleanor Roosevelt. Around the year 1640, a Dutch man named Claes Martinson van Rosenveldt sails from Europe to what is known as the New World. Across the Atlantic in America, he lands at New Amsterdam, present day New York, and settles by purchasing a parcel of land on an island called Manhattan. The site of his 50 acre farm is well chosen. It is now some of the most valuable real estate in the world, home to the Empire State Building, among other famous landmarks. Decades later, his child Nicholas changes the family name to Roosevelt. He in turn has two sons who found separate branches of the Roosevelt family tree. Though both sides are politically active, one becomes associated with the Democratic party while the other favors the opposition Republicans on the Republican branch of the family. In 1858, Theodore Roosevelt is born and a few years later, his brother Elliot arrives. Though Theodore is destined for greatness, Elliot is less successful and as an adult he suffers from depression and alcoholism. He has a tempestuous relationship with his wife Anna, but nonetheless, their first child is born in October 1884. The new arrival is a girl whom they call Eleanor. Thanks to their ancestors canny purchase of land in Manhattan, baby Eleanor's family are rich, with no need to work. They live in luxury in a brownstone townhouse in the fashionable east side of New York. Her mother, Anna, a celebrated beauty and socialite, dedicates herself to high society, glamour and parties, but has little time for her daughter. Dr. Alida Black, is the founder of the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project and a distinguished fellow at the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford.
