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The most distinguished guest who visited the Kump House in the 1930s returned this week with the inspired performance of local story teller Becky Ashburn as Eleanor Roosevelt. Our Mrs. Roosevelt came for tea with students in the Targeted Tutoring program for fourth and fifth graders. The principles of basic human rights and equality were inherent in everything our Eleanor Roosevelt said and did.
First, our Eleanor did a metaphorical experiment with various small vessels to show that people are all equal inside. On the kitchen table Eleanor arranged a circle of small hollow objects: a brown bottle, a white china bunny, a candle holder, a steel pitcher, a vase, etc.
When the children poured the water into a measuring glass, they could see that each one held about the same amount of the symbolic living water that represented humanity or personhood. Although the vessels were different colors with different purposes and shapes, they each had the same essential human value inside.
When the students were seated in the formal Kump dining room drinking from china tea cups, eating macaroon cookies, and tasting cucumber sandwiches for the first time, they began asking questions.
"What was childhood like for you, Mrs. Roosevelt?" Without hesitation our Eleanor told the children how she dearly loved her father who called her "Little Nell." He valued her intelligence and thought she would have a bright future, but he was depressed himself and died early in her life from alcoholism.
Eleanor's mother was the most beautiful woman in New York at the time, but she thought her own daughter was very ugly. She did not want to be seen with her Eleanor. After her mother died of diphtheria, Eleanor was sent to live with her grandmother at age 10. This stern grandmother would not allow Eleanor to go out and enjoy being with friends. She had a lonely and sad childhood until she was sent to a private school where she had a wonderful teacher and became an outstanding student.
When our students asked Mrs. Roosevelt about her favorite foods, she answered that she liked to eat what the people were eating anywhere she went. She did not want to be treated in a special way because she wanted to know how people were getting along anywhere she went in the world.
She made a point of saying that the Homestead housing project in Randolph County West Virginia was one of her favorite New Deal initiatives. She liked the fact that the people in this area were willing to work and overcome their own disadvantages to earn their new homes. She was proud that they were among the first people in the area to have refrigerators in their attractive kitchens.
Becky Ashburn wore a light teal blue suit with a white blouse and pearls around her neck. Her costume had all the modest elegance that the real Mrs. Roosevelt would have expected of her own clothing. This performance was a sincere testimony to Mrs. Roosevelt's belief that all human beings are equal and must have basic human rights.
In 1946 Eleanor Roosevelt took the lead as chairperson for the drafting committee for the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This document is still used as the definition of fair treatment for all people around the world.
Becky Ashburn gave our students an experience with the personal history and philosophy of the woman who helped to shape this important document.