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Roosevelt 's Rights Of Women

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In 1933, Roosevelt became First Lady; she would remain this position for twelve years which was far more than any other First Lady in history (Jones 73). On March 6, 1933 Roosevelt held her first press conference with 35 female reporters in attendance; this was the first press conference held by a First Lady, and the first to have only female reporters attending it (Jones 73, 74). This forced newspapers to hire female reporters, creating more jobs for women (Jones 73). Roosevelt expressed to the women reporters that she would keep an open-mind during these conferences for their ideas and opinions (Jones 74). The Press Conferences were a way for Roosevelt to communicate with the public, she also used her “My Day Column to talk to the public …show more content…

She also focused on equal rights for African-Americans, something previous First Ladies did not do.
Roosevelt strongly spoke out against many topics, but she focused on rights for African-Americans as well as rights for women. Roosevelt felt that the one real test of the United States democracy was civil rights (Black 16). At the Conference for Human Welfare Roosevelt took a stand against racial discrimination and sat down in the aisle that separated the white and colored sections (Fordman 6). This stand against discrimination earned Roosevelt some enemies in the public and newspapers often teased that she had “colored blood” (Jones 87). In 1939 upon hearing that the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow singer Marian Anderson to perform at Constitution Hall, because of her race, Roosevelt was quick to send a resignation to the Daughters of the American Revolution (Jones 90). Roosevelt resigned by saying that, “You had an opportunity to lead in an enlightened way, and it seems to me that your organization failed” (Jones 91). She immediately arranged for Anderson to perform at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday in front of about 75,000 people (Jones 90).
As Roosevelt did for the women, she also provided job opportunities for African American people. The White House staff was

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