A serene new setting in the global heart of New York City.
Honor Eleanor Roosevelt where she lit the flame to make our world shine with infinite possibility.
Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial Garden
Restoration Project
Her superpower was hope. Her voice, a plea for humanity. Her goal: a planet at peace, with fairness for all under the law. Eleanor Roosevelt had each of us in mind during her lifelong crusade for social and economic justice.
She fought discrimination—towards race, gender, religion—and championed the underserved--on picket lines, in coal mines, at refugee camps. As America’s First Lady, she was an activist; as a widow, she became a diplomat, First Lady of the World.
And as the first U.S. delegate appointed to the newly-founded United Nations, she guided the creation and adoption of an extraordinary set of rights due every individual: to eat, to live safely, to earn a living wage, to speak without fear, to worship freely, to be governed by equally-administered laws. And more. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, is recognized as the premier moral authority of the world. It is Eleanor Roosevelt’s living legacy.
She was honored more concretely in 1966, with a curved granite bench and tall stele in the U.N. Garden. The tribute from U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson, etched into granite, famously captures her spirit.
“She would rather light a candle than curse the darkness, and her glow has warmed the world” —Adlai Stevenson, 1962
That memorial has fallen into disrepair, its cracked stones, invasive mold, and sparse planting untended. Similarly, seventy-five years after its adoption, the UDHR has often been ignored. It’s been called “the unfinished ethical agenda of our time,” especially elusive in today’s deeply fractured world.
Projected costs for the rehabilitated memorial and garden are estimated to be $2.5 million. 100% of your donation will go to these ends.
Make real her dream.
--Arthur Goldberg, US Ambassador to the UN, 1966
Join us to restore the site and reinvigorate Eleanor Roosevelt’s hopes and ideals for the twenty-first century world. In her lifetime, she called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights “a first step.” Help us take the next ones.
Reigniting the Legacy
As one of the 20th century’s leading champions for human rights, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt spoke boldly on behalf of women, the disenfranchised and refugees. In December 1945, President Harry Truman asked Roosevelt to serve as a delegate to the newly formed United Nations. She carried the commitment to international cooperation—a legacy of her late husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt—into her role at the UN. In Roosevelt’s capacity, she shepherded the creation of one of the world’s most enduring documents: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. After years of impassioned efforts by Roosevelt, the UN General Assembly adopted the groundbreaking declaration without dissent on December 10, 1948. While this was the first-ever global statement on political, civil, social, and economic rights to apply to every person on the planet, it wasn’t the last. Roosevelt’s achievement seeded the development of no fewer than nine international, binding human rights treaties and thousands of laws worldwide to protect human rights.
About UNA-USA
UNA-USA was established in 1943 by Eleanor Roosevelt and a group of American citizens to help guide a world ravaged by World War II into a more peaceful era. The organization was centrally involved in the creation of the UN Charter and its Congressional ratification in 1945. Today, more than 20,000 members in 200 chapters across the nation continue the work and legacy of its remarkable founder.
The Eleanor Roosevelt Garden Restoration is hosted by the United Nations Foundation and supported by UNA-USA, a 501(c)(3) public charity, which accepts donations on behalf of the project.
(Image: Eleanor Roosevelt at the National Convention, July 13, 1960, Library of Congress.)
