“You must do the things you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt was an inspiring feminist and human rights activist during a time when women weren’t prominent in politics. She not only developed her own career, but she was a backbone for her husband’s political career when he contracted polio. She was the First Lady for many years when Franklin Roosevelt was in office, before becoming a representative for the Human Rights Council in the United Nations. Before she could become a humanitarian icon, there were social, economic, and cultural influences on Eleanor Roosevelt which affected her lifetime achievements. Societal Influences came from every direction for Eleanor, a conservative rich family telling her to act one way, and a mother…show more content… When Eleanor was going to Allenswood Academy, Mademoiselle Souvestre took Eleanor on a trip through Europe, specifically France and Italy. “She spent the summers traveling Europe with her headmistress, who insisted upon seeing both the grandeur and squalor of the nations they visited.” (Black, “The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers”). Eleanor later said the trips were ‘a revelation’. She ate local cuisines, studying local history, and appreciated the art. When she came back to the U.S., she started volunteering. She saw parts of New York City that totally opposed her view of the elitist side of the city. She worked with immigrants of varying ethnicities and religions. “Working with impoverished children, women, and men was an awakening for Eleanor Roosevelt. Although she had always longed to be useful to others, never before had she come across so many who needed so much. The squalor in which some new immigrants lived left an indelible image in her mind, and she was determined to help in any way she could.” (Toor, 32). The different cultures and the need that she saw influenced her to do better things, and pushed her to challenge herself. Eleanor also worked with the Consumers’ League, where she saw young girls with no education working dangerously in sweatshops and factories. She volunteered to report businesses for poor labor conditions. This determination to help people made her stand out, and become somewhat of an outsider, but she wouldn’t have accomplished what she did without
