Mischief Makers

Eleanor Roosevelt, 2020

 
30 x 24 in

Clare Booth Luce once said of Eleanor Roosevelt, “No woman has ever so comforted the distressed or distressed the comfortable.”

Roosevelt served as the first Chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights and played an instrumental role in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As someone who advocated for expanded roles for women in the workplace, the civil rights of African Americans and Asian Americans, and the rights of World War II refugees, she is a natural to join the ranks of Joan’s “Mischief Makers”, people who make positive change in the world through nonviolent action.

Following her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt remained active in politics for the remaining 17 years of her life.

Like Baez herself, she believed in peace and famously said,

“It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.”