In December 2023 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) turns seventy-five. What has been, overall, the role that the Roosevelts played in crafting our modern view of human rights? Professors David B. Woolner, Dario Fazzi, and Anya Luscombe will discuss the complex legacies and assess their relevance in the world of today with students from the University College Roosevelt in Middelburg on 8 December.
Date: 8 December 2023
Time: 14:00-15:30
Location: RIAS Auditorium
On 10 December 2023, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) turns seventy-five. The United Nations adopted this milestone document in 1948 with the aim of enshrining the most basic rights and freedoms of all human beings. One of the UDHR’s masterminds was Eleanor Roosevelt. The former American first lady chaired the United Nations Committee that drafted the document, supervising harsh negotiations and puzzling out the many Cold War ideological wrangles that crossed them. She also introduced the UDHR to the world through an inspiring speech that she gave at the Sorbonne University at the peak of the Berlin blockade.
Roosevelt’s eras
The roots of Eleanor’s achievements were in Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt’s eras, which both represented crucial transformative moments for the US democracy. Both the Presidents were confronted with questions of citizenship, equality, peace, and freedom. How did they address these issues? Which impact did their actions and views have on the institutionalization of human rights? What has been, overall, the role that the Roosevelts played in crafting our modern view of human rights?
Complex Legacies
Professors David B. Woolner, Dario Fazzi, and Anya Luscombe will discuss these complex legacies and assess their relevance in the world of today with students from the University College Roosevelt. The event is open, but registration is needed due to limited seats. Please send an e-mail to info@roosevelt.nl.
Speakers
David B. Woolner is Professor of History, at Marist College (Poughkeepsie, NY); Senior Fellow and Resident Historian of the Roosevelt Institute; and Senior Fellow of the Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College (New York). He is the author of The Last 100 Days: FDR at War and at Peace (Basic Books, 2017), and is editor/co-editor of five books, including Progressivism in America: Past Present and Future (Oxford University Press, 2016), FDR’s World: War, Peace and Legacies (Palgrave, 2008), and FDR and the Environment (Palgrave, 2005). He served as historical advisor to the Ken Burns films The Roosevelts: An Intimate History and The US and the Holocaust and for numerous special exhibitions at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum (Hyde Park, NY).
Dario Fazzi is Professor of Transatlantic Environmental History at Leiden University/RIAS. He is the author of Eleanor Roosevelt and the Anti-Nuclear Movement: The Voice of Conscience (Palgrave, 2016) and Smoke on the Water: Incineration at Sea and the Birth of a Transatlantic Environmental Movement (Columbia University Press, 2023), and has published extensively on transatlantic protests, US global base politics, and anti-toxics campaigns.
Anya Luscombe is Associate Professor of Media at University College Roosevelt (Middelburg). She is the author of Forty Years of BBC Radio News (Peter Lang, 2013), the co-editor (with Dario Fazzi) of Eleanor Roosevelt’s Views on Diplomacy and Democracy: The Global Citizen (Palgrave, 2020) and has written extensively on Eleanor Roosevelt’s use of the media, particularly radio.
