Eleanor Roosevelt: Her Life in Pictures

Historical Context/Citation

Eleanor Roosevelt uses photographs to reflect back on her life. Film ID 70-4(1). Copyrighted by McCall's.

Central Issue

Mrs. Roosevelt lived a very public life. Her work advancing civil and human rights in the United States and around the world is well documented. Her personal life was no less colorful. The saying that, “a picture is worth a thousand words” is true. And those words hold true historic value when they are spoken by the person who actually lived the events.

Social Studies Themes Addressed in this Clip

1. Individual Development and Cultural Identity
2. Time, Continuity, and Change
3. Developmental and Transformation of Social Structures
4. Civic Ideals and Practices

Enduring Understandings

1. Our lives, and the course of history, are shaped and transformed by the many experiences we encounter.
2. Photographs “capture” history through images that provide us with important clues to the past.
3. Each of our lives contains “turning points” that redirect our attention, our efforts and our destiny.
4. Understanding where we came from and where we’ve been can help us to shape where we are going.

Essential Questions

1. What forces or experiences shaped Mrs. Roosevelt into the person she became?
2. What role does our family play in developing our interests and personalities?
3. What insights and perspectives can we gain by looking at photographs of the past?
4. How do our perspectives about events in the past change as we gain new knowledge and experiences?
5. What can we infer and imply from photographs from the past?

Copies of the Photographs

Use this pdf to see copies of the photographs shown in the film.

Activities for Analyzing and Understanding the Photographs

Use the set of photographs and the video clip to complete these classroom activities.