Allida M. Black is Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia.

Compelled to Act: Eleanor Roosevelt, a Fearful World and an International Vision of Human Rights

Eleanor Roosevelt addresses the United Nations General Assembly prior to the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris,
Eleanor Roosevelt, Representative of the United States to the Second Session of the United Nations General Assembly and Chair of the Human Rights Commission, New York, 1 November 1947. UN Photo

The battle to create an international vision of human rights drew on every skill Eleanor Roosevelt possessed—and challenged her in ways she never envisioned.