Eleanor Roosevelt Resources
http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/ Eleanor Roosevelt was first lady during two of our nation’s
greatest calamities--the Great Depression and World War II. She should also be remembered as
an author, political activist, columnist teacher, and United Nations diplomat. This site, sponsored
by George Washington University is dedicated to the on-line availability of Eleanor Roosevelt’s
papers—correspondence, columns, news articles, radio broadcasts, and speeches. Explore the
site for primary resources that can be analyzed to support the Standard Course of Study.
http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/eleanor.html In 2000 Time magazine
commemorated the new century with its list honoring the one hundred most influential people of
the twentieth century. Divided into five categories, the list honored Eleanor Roosevelt as one of
the twenty most respected Leaders and Revolutionaries of the past one hundred years. This
article, written by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, beautifully narrates why Eleanor Roosevelt,
though never elected as a leader, was one of three women anointed as one of the greatest by
Time magazine.
 Why was Roosevelt chosen by Time Magazine? What other women should have made
the list? Why?
 Of the twenty leaders chosen, how many were leaders during the Great Depression?
Why would this number be significant?
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/first_ladies/eleanorroosevelt/ The official site of The
White House is a wonderful place for students to explore the structure, people, and policies that
make the Executive Branch an effective part of our government. The site also offers brief
historical biographies of past presidents and first ladies of the United States. If you need a
concise introduction to Eleanor Roosevelt’s contributions as first lady, this site would be a good
start. The site could also be navigated by students as a research tool for information on past and
present White Houses.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eleanor/ Many social studies teachers have supplemented
their classrooms with documentaries from the American Experience series often promoted by the
Public Broadcasting Series. This PBS site provides supplementary instructional material to
teachers supporting the documentary, Eleanor Roosevelt. Explore this site for more
supplementary support of other PBS documentaries.
http://newdeal.feri.org/index.htm During the Great Depression, thousands of young people
wrote to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt for help. They asked for clothing, money, and other forms
of assistance. The New Deal Network website contains Dear, Mrs. Roosevelt, a section devoted
to letters written to the first lady and ways to incorporate the letters into the social studies
classroom. These resources would make relevant connections for your students as they reflect
on their own place in a nation facing economic difficulties.
http://newdeal.feri.org/library/l_x.htm Explore the same New Deal Network site for
photographs of Eleanor Roosevelt in action. There are hundreds of photographs pertaining to not
only the first lady, but the Great Depression and the New Deal, as well.
Frances Perkins Resources
http://www.francesperkinscenter.org/ Currently, there exists no library, museum, or memorial
to the life and contributions of the first female cabinet member. The Frances Perkins Center web
site, offers a place to honor her accomplishments and carry on her work. The links section
contains audio clips, videos, photographs, and historic references that help bring her career and
her time to life.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/nny/perkinsf/index.html The Notable
New Yorkers Web site offers audio recordings and transcripts of interviews with ten influential
New Yorkers, including Frances Perkins. These interviews were conducted by the Oral History
Research Office of the Columbia University Libraries between 1955 and 2001. The interviews
are intended to demonstrate how twentieth-century New York City has affected the culture and
history of the United States and the world.
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/fp/ Frances Perkins attended Mount Holyoke College as an
undergraduate student in economics. A program bearing her name welcomes women of non
traditional age to Mount Holyoke College. There is also a brief biography of Perkins linked to the
program’s site.
http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/dolchp03.htm Another method of researching
the contributions of Frances Perkins, is through the organization that made her the most famous.
The Department of Labor website offers a brief biography of Perkins, and specifically her role as
the first female secretary in a president’s cabinet.
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/search.php?function=find History Matters, specifically
designed for high school teachers and students, serves as a gateway to web resources and other
useful materials for teaching U.S. history. Explore possibilities for incorporation of primary
sources in support of the Standard Course of Study. This site specifically looks at letters written
by anthracite coal miners of the Great Depression to Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins
concerning silicosis, a deadly lung disease.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4795737 On many levels this National
Public Radio report, “Remembering Social Security's Forgotten Shepherd” will help the student
understand the significance of Frances Perkins’ contributions to the American landscape. The
current debate about the future of Social Security in today’s economic climate makes this a timely
resource on the New Deal program, the role of government in people’s lives, and the person most
responsible for implementing one of the New Deal’s lasting legacies.
Mary McLeod Bethune
http://www.floridamemory.com/onlineclassroom/MaryBethune/ Florida Memory offers a
selection of historical records highlighting moments in Florida history which includes educational
resources for students and archival collections for historical research. This site contains
transcripts of several interviews with Mary McLeod Bethune conducted in the summer of 1946 for
a biography that was never completed. Other records include photographs and letters of
Bethune.
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/sayitplain/mmbethune.html
On November 23, 1939, Mary McLeod Bethune joined a panel discussion on NBC radio's weekly
public affairs broadcast entitled America’s Town Meeting of the Air in New York City and
delivered a speech, "What Does American Democracy Mean to Me?" This site provides the text
and audio of that speech, as well as, a biography of Bethune. The speech would make an
interesting rhetorical and historical comparison to other speeches that attempt to answer the
same question.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eleanor/peopleevents/pande05.html Many social studies
teachers have supplemented their classrooms with documentaries from the American Experience
series often promoted by the Public Broadcasting Series. This PBS site provides supplementary
instructional material to teachers supporting the documentary, Eleanor Roosevelt. Included in the
documentary is a section on Roosevelt’s relationship with Mary Bethune.
http://www.nypl.org/research/sc/scl/bethune.html The New York Public Library’s Schomburg
Center for Research in Black Culture houses resource collections of prominent AfricanAmericans. Included in this collection are audio links to speeches of Mary Bethune.
http://www.nps.gov/history/Nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/135bethune/135lrnmore.htm In 1935,
Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) to give African American
women a means to be heard on the national level. In 1943, Bethune and the NCNW purchased a
townhouse in Washington, D.C. to serve as a headquarters. The site is currently administered by
the National Park Service and known as the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National
Historic Site. This website offers a supplementary list of resource links on Bethune, the National
Youth League, Bethune-Cookman University and the NCNW.
http://www.cookman.edu/about_BCU/history/index.html Bethune-Cookman University began
in 1904, as the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls. As this site
indicates, Bethune opened the school “with $1.50, faith in God and five little girls for students”.
The university’s website offers links to the history of the school, Bethune as its leader and her last
will and testament--a powerful document that closes with the sentiment that “the Freedom Gates
are half-ajar. We must pry them fully open.”