The First Ladies

Mary McLeod Bethune, born to formerly enslaved parents in South Carolina, refuses to back down as white supremacists try to thwart her work as an educator and activist. She builds a school for Black girls in Florida, becomes a revered public figure, and earns the attention of presidents. Eleanor Roosevelt, drawn to Mary's vision and courage, seeks out her friendship, and the two women discover a shared belief in education and women's rights. Told in their alternating voices, the novel traces a partnership that crosses the color line at a moment when the country fought to keep them apart, and follows their work together inside and around the New Deal and the early civil rights movement.