"E" is for Eleanor Clubs. During the early years of World War II, white South Carolinians, like other white southerners, passed rumors about “Eleanor Clubs.” They told each other that their black help—inspired by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt—were organizing quasi-unions to raise their pay or leave domestic employment. And, they vowed to have a white woman in every kitchen by Christmas. Then they would start to press for social equality and, finally, the overthrow of white-led government. By the spring of 1942 the rumors were so alarming and widespread that public officials—including the First Lady called in the FBI to see if they were true. Governor Richard I. Jeffries directed all 46 county sheriffs to investigate the matter. Neither they nor the FBI could find any truth to the rumors about the Eleanor Clubs.
"E" is for Eleanor Clubs
