The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

 

'Thank you all for this warmest of welcomes. The honor to speak to you today is all mine. But I want to thank Mrs. Bethune for the biggest honor of all---being introduced today by another First Lady. The First Lady of the Struggle.

"We must take whatever steps are necessary---through the New Deal or our own private funding---to make sure that Negro youths receive equal educational and employment opportunities.

"We must begin by working together and supporting one another, no matter our color, religion, or background. This country rises and falls on the strength of all its citizens."

   -from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's speech at the National Conference on the Problems of the Negro and Negro Youth, 1937

This book was recommended by a friend who knows I like history and especially women's history. I had read a biography of Eleanor Roosevelt (Eleanor Roosevelt A Life of Discovery by Russell Freedman) several years ago and have researched Mary McLeod Bethune as a part of a lecture series on great women of Florida's past so at first, I thought the book might repeat what I already knew. I was wrong! I actually learned a great deal and enjoyed seeing facts I already knew sometimes in a different light.

As First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt was not content to be a figurehead; she was bound to work for causes dear to her heart, including equal rights for all. This brought on criticism from those who thought she was stepping outside the bounds, and even threats from white supremacists.

Mary McLeod Bethune, educator and founder of Bethune-Cookman College, was already a civil rights activist when she met Eleanor Roosevelt. As a woman of color, she intimately knew the power and danger of racism.

When the two women met, they found they shared beliefs in women's rights and the power of education. They soon formed a partnership in working for desegregation, equal rights, and anti-lynching laws. Bethune had a powerful ally in the First Lady since Eleanor had the ear of the president! Over time the two women became close friends, sharing hopes, dreams and even secrets.

This biographical fiction was very interesting. I rate it a 5. Both Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune were women's libbers before there was such a thing, and both are worthy to be celebrated and emulated.