Chapter 41

Summary

• The chapter is a first-person account narrated by Eleanor Roosevelt, the First Lady of the United States in 1936.
• Eleanor visits her friend Mrs. Bethune, a woman of color, at her house in Washington, D.C.
• Eleanor is accompanied by her guard, Earl. She's been receiving threats for her involvement with the black community and hence, additional security precautions are taken.
• Eleanor reveals that Louis, presumably a close friend or advisor to her and Franklin (the president) is ill and unlikely to recover. This news deeply upsets her.
• Eleanor and Mrs. Bethune discuss a variety of topics including Franklin's upcoming campaign and their mutual distrust of a man named Steve Woodburn.
• Eleanor suggests that she is contemplating organizing a women's division for Franklin's campaign, and wants Mrs. Bethune to help, especially in strategizing for the African American vote.
• A group of white people start protesting outside Mrs. Bethune’s house, upset at the sight of a black woman and a white woman eating together.
• Rather than being intimidated, Eleanor proposes to use the situation to normalize interracial dining. She suggests taking a photograph of herself and Mrs. Bethune dining together and sharing it with her network of female journalists.