This is the story of Eleanor Roosevelt. She was First Lady of the United States and did many things to help other people. She fought for the rights of poor people, blacks and women.

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born on October 11, 1884 in New York City. Eleanor was a shy, quiet child. She was the oldest in her family with three younger brothers.

When Eleanor was eight years old, her mother Anna died. Just two years later her father, Elliot, also died. Eleanor and her brother, Hall, went to live with their grandmother.

Eleanor had private tutors until she was 15 years old. Eleanor's grandmother then sent her to boarding school in London, England. At first, she was scared, but she became friends with Marie Souvestre, who was the headmistress of the school.

Eleanor learned many things at school including French, English, music, painting and dance. The school did not teach History or Geography but Marie taught Eleanor these subjects privately. Marie also invited Eleanor to travel with her. She took her to poor neighborhoods on their travels. Seeing so many people in need made her want to do something to help them.

Eleanor married her distant cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, when she was twenty years old.

They had six children: Anna, James, Franklin (who died as a baby), Elliot, Franklin Jr. and John.

One summer, Franklin became very sick with a disease called polio. Eventually, he was not able to walk. Franklin's dream was to be President of the United States. Eleanor decided to help him reach this dream.

In 1932, Franklin was elected President. Eleanor was now First Lady of the United States of America. Being First Lady meant that Eleanor would need to give lots of parties and entertain politicians and people visiting from all over the world. She knew this was an important job, but Eleanor wanted to do more. She wanted to help people.

When Franklin became President, America was in the Great Depression. Many people could not find jobs. Sometimes they did not have enough to eat. The government tried to help the American people by creating a program called the New Deal. It helped by giving people jobs.

Eleanor decided to travel all around the country to see if the New Deal was really helping. She talked to many people and inspected places where people worked. She would tell Franklin what she saw and then help him find ways to help more people.

Eleanor wanted to do everything she could to help Americans get through the hard times of the Great Depression. She decided to serve the same types of food in the White House that other Americans were eating instead of the fancy dinners that the White House usually served.

Newspapers and magazines wrote about the food served and printed menus that would help families eat more nutritious food for less money.

Eleanor wrote many newspaper and magazine articles. She also did many radio broadcasts.

She felt that it was important to speak to the American people as often as she could. She wanted them to know that she cared about them and wanted to help.

While Eleanor was First Lady she wrote a newspaper column called "My Day." She would talk about what it was like to live in the White House. She wanted to be an example to the American people.

In one of her "My Day" articles, she told America that she no longer wanted to be a part of a group called the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) because they would not allow a black opera singer to rent Constitution Hall for a concert. A few months later, she invited this same singer, Marian Anderson, to the White House to sing for the King and Queen of England.

America wanted to hear what Eleanor had to say. Some newspapers only wanted to hire men. Eleanor decided to ban men from her press conferences. This forced the newspapers to hire women if they wanted to print her words.

This was the first step in making women a permanent part of the White House Press Corps.

Franklin died in 1945 while he was still president. Eleanor had been First Lady for twelve years. Although she was sad, she knew that she still wanted to help people.