Eleanor Roosevelt served as First Lady of the United States from March 4, 1933– April 12, 1945 during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four terms in office, making her the longest-serving First Lady in the history of the United States. After the president was stricken with a paralytic illness in 1921, she regularly made public appearances on his behalf, significantly reshaping the role of First Lady. She was a controversial First Lady for her outspokenness particularly for civil rights for African-Americans. She served as the First Chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights and oversaw the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Eleanor was unafraid of publically disagreeing with her husband’s policies. Their relationship after discovery of his love letters to his Secretary Lucy Mercer was strictly that of business partners. He respected her advice and she often gave it, sometimes as the sole dissenting voice within his administration. She became outspoken that the New Deal programs discriminated against African-Americans, who she argued disproportionately received the same share of relief money. This argument became readily apparent in her discovery that University Homes lacked the funding for an auditorium and that the rents, which would increase if an auditorium were added were already too high as she observed openly to the press “for the average Negro workman could not pay the present rent rate."

In her letter to Secretary Ickes concerning the lack of funding for an auditorium at University Homes, she wrote, “I do think it is more important than anything else to make a really successful demonstration in colored housing. In the first place I think the housing conditions in the various cities where we have large colored groups are probably worse than they are for low income white groups … For that reason it seems to be very important to do a good job in selection and in the assistance given people to help themselves make good.”

When Eleanor met with Mary McLeod Bethune, a friendship blossomed. To avoid problems with the White House staff, Eleanor insisted on meeting her at the gate, embracing her, and walking arm-in-arm. They would continue sharing conversations together regarding the plan for University Homes. It was Mrs. Bethume who introduced Eleanor to Lugenia Burns Hope.

Lugenia Burns Hope was a prominent community leader and civil right activist. In 1908 she founded the Neighborhood Union to provide assistance to Atlanta’s impoverished black neighborhoods, and in 1932 she became the first vice president of the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP. She was the wife of Dr. John Hope, the appointed Chairman of the University Homes Advisory Board.

Noticing social decay in Atlanta's black neighborhoods, Lugenia Burns Hope, along with several other women, formed the Neighborhood Union in 1908. The group elected Hope, a commanding but calm and expert administrator, president. The Neighborhood Union laid the groundwork for the grassroots component of the civil rights movement and became an international model for community building. Hope recruited Morehouse students to interview community members in order to assess their needs, and she quickly realized the extent to which blacks in Atlanta suffered from a lack of sanitary homes and schools, medical and dental care, and recreational opportunities.

After her husband's death in 1936, Hope moved to New York City. In 1937 she became an assistant to Mary McLeod Bethune, the director of Negro Affairs for the National Youth Administration, a New Deal program. She also continued to work for the NAACP, periodically visiting its headquarters in Washington, D.C.