Small places

Where Do Human Rights Begin?

Remarks at the United Nations, March 27, 1953

Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person: The neighborhood he lives in; the school or the college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places of every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunities, equal dignity without any discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.

Eleanor Roosevelt