Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) became most widely known as the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and thus the longest-serving First Lady in American history, but she was also an accomplished diplomat, civil rights advocate and a fierce campaigner for basic human rights around the globe.Easily one of the most admired Americans of the 20th century, Eleanor Roosevelt fundamentally altered the role of First Lady, often speaking on behalf of her husband due to his persistent health issues, and did not try to disguise when she disagreed with her husband on policy issues. After leaving the White House, Eleanor served as the US Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly from 1945-1952 and delivered the speech in this volume at the Sorbonne in Paris on September 28, 1948.
Maria Eva Duarte de Peron (1919-1952) was the wife of Argentinian President Juan Peron and was First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952.Upon her husband's ascendency to the nation's highest office, Eva Peron - or "Evita" as she was called by her many admirers - became enormously popular among working class Argentinians for her support and encouragement of labor unions. She became so popular, in fact, that in 1951, she announced her candidacy to become Vice President of Argentina, a move supported and encouraged by working class Argentinians known as descamisados or "shirtless ones."However, opposition to her candidacy from the upper classes and military leaders - coupled with her failing health - forced Eva to deliver the following radio address on August 31, 1951, reversing her decision to run for Vice President.Named the "Spiritual Leader of the Nation" on May 7, 1952, Eva Peron died just over two months later, on July 26th. Her funeral in Buenos Aires was attended by more than three million admirers.
Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) was an American journalist, teacher, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and spent her long career fighting against prejudice and promoting women's rights.Born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Wells was freed at the end of the Civil War, but at 16, she lost both her parents and her infant brother in the 1878 yellow fever epidemic. She and her grandmother labored to support the family and Wells would go on to find work as a teacher and, soon afterwards, became a co-owner and writer for the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper.Wells spent much of her career as a reporter writing about the scourge of lynching. She created a widely circulated pamphlet called Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in all its Phases and became a target for her anti-lynching reporting. Her newspaper office was destroyed by a white mob, but Wells would continue to write, her articles being carried by Black-owned newspapers from coast-to-coast. Wells eventually moved to Chicago and remained an activist, writer, speaker and organizer for women's and civil rights for the rest of her life.The speech in this volume was delivered by Wells at the National Negro Conference, the forerunner to the NAACP, in New York City on May 31-June 1, 1909.