In this issue: Our New Special Exhibit, Black Americans, Civil Rights, and the Roosevelts, 1932-1962, Opens this Saturday with Discussion between Basil Smikle and Arva Rice; the Roosevelt Reading Festival; FDR's Father James Roosevelt; A. Philip Randoph's Letter to Eleanor Roosevelt.
The FDR Presidential Library presents a special exhibit opening program with panelists including FDR Library Trustee and Director of the Roosevelt House Institute for Public Policy at Hunter College, Basil Smikle PhD and President & CEO of the New York Urban League Arva Rice.
This is a free public event, but registration to attend in-person is required.
The museum and special exhibit open at 9am, with last admission at 3pm.
A new special exhibition developed in collaboration with a distinguished committee of scholars that centers on the historical voices of many Black community leaders, wartime service members, and ordinary citizens who engaged the Roosevelt administration directly and who pushed for progress. Within this context, the exhibit examines the political evolution of both Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt regarding racial justice.
The day-long program, in six concurrent sessions taking place throughout the day, will highlight recently published work by fifteen authors -- including a special afternoon presentation with Jill Watts, author of The Black Cabinet: The Untold Story of African Americans and Politics During the Age of Roosevelt.
This is a free public event, registration is not required. Copies of all the books will be available for sale in the New Deal Store. The program begins at 9:45 a.m. with coffee and refreshments.
(Original broadcast June 23, 2021) Much has been written about FDR's influential mother Sara Delano Roosevelt. In this talk, FDR Library Education Specialist Jeffrey Urbin explores the important values and influences instilled in FDR by his father James.
As war mobilization began to lift the nation out of the Great Depression, discrimination by industry and labor excluded many African Americans from the full benefits of the economic boom. Civil rights and labor leader A. Philip Randolph threatened to lead a massive March on Washington and Eleanor Roosevelt helped arrange an Oval Office meeting with FDR. The President agreed to issue an executive order creating the Fair Employment Practices Commission.
"Whatever our individual circumstances or opportunities, we are all in it, and our spirit is good... and do not let anyone tell you anything different." FDR, Oct 12, 1942, fireside chat.
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FDR Presidential Library | 4079 Albany Post Road, Hyde Park, NY 12538
