Eleanor Roosevelt and Antilynching Efforts

I was browsing the American Memory's Women's History Collection without much luck when I stumbled upon this letter from Eleanor Roosevelt to Walter White. In it, Eleanor Roosevelt sympathizes with antilynching efforts and lists ideas for both legal and social means to end lynching. I knew Eleanor Roosevelt spent much of her time as First Lady committed to social reform, but I had no idea she became so committed to racial justice. Furthermore, I was always taught that lynching was largely ignored in Washington, so I was very surprised to find out that Eleanor Roosevelt was exerting her personal influence and privately corresponding to bring it to an end.
Later, I found out more about the friction between Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband's aides; FDR's cabinet was apparently incensed over her involvement with the anti-lynching bill that had thus far gone unacknowledged by the White House. To learn more about that, click here.
Although I'm still totally undecided about my thesis, I have been very interested in the ways in which First Ladies have pushed their own agendas, even at the expense of their husbands' policies. I had so far been examining Hillary Clinton's unpopular efforts for health care reform during her husband's presidency and the way Michelle Obama more successfully worked on her Let's Move! campaign on her own. But after reading this letter, I think there are also rich comparisons to be made with Eleanor Roosevelt's controversial ideas, and possibly with more First Ladies.