Chapter 47

Summary

• Eleanor's driver is taking her from a housing project she visited earlier to the Municipal Auditorium in Birmingham, Alabama, for day two of the Southern Conference for Human Welfare.
• The conference is to promote the New Deal policies supporting African Americans and is one of the first large interracial meetings of its kind in the South. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, Alabama Governor Bibb Graves, and many others will be attending, and about 200 of the attendees are African American.
• On arrival, Eleanor learns that on the first day of the conference, local segregation laws were ignored and Whites and African Americans sat together, which upset Bull Connor, Birmingham's public safety commissioner. Rumors floated that Connor may enforce segregation laws at the conference, but Eleanor hopes her plan to address the situation won't be necessary.
• Upon entering the auditorium, Eleanor is approached by a young police officer who tells her that by sitting in the "colored section," she is breaking the law and must move to the "white section," or she will be arrested.
• Eleanor's bodyguard, Earl, jumps in to defend her, warning the officer that Eleanor is the First Lady of the United States. The officer remains insistent and enforces Birmingham's segregation statute.
• Bull Connor himself arrives and, with a tone feigning respect, reiterates the demand that Eleanor move to the white section of the auditorium or else face detention for the duration of the conference and possibly further punishment.
• Eleanor protests and, rather than comply with the segregation law or ignore it, she measures the exact middle of the aisle with a ruler and places her chair there. She sits on the chair, thus avoiding breaking the law while still refusing to abide strictly by segregation.
• Eleanor is determined to discuss Kristallnacht and call all American citizens to uphold human rights standards during her speech, emphasizing that every world citizen deserves equal freedoms and treatment.
• The chapter ends with Eleanor sitting in her chair in the middle of the aisle, ignoring Connor and his policemen until they finally leave. All eyes are on her as she contemplates how her actions will be perceived and their potential impact on her husband's presidency.