Bethune, Mary McLeod
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Bethune, Mary McLeod
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Mary Bethune lived between 1875-1955 and was an educator, activist for both civil rights and women's rights, and an advisor of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
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Mary Bethune was a significant educator and an activist for both civil rights and women's rights. She established an all-girl's school in Daytona, FL, which became Bethune-Cookman College in 1929. She also served in President Roosevelt's administration, participating in his unofficial "Black cabinet". Bethune's parents had been slaves, and she spent her early childhood on a cotton farm in South Carolina. Bethune attended a boarding school, and she originally wanted to be a missionary but none of the churches wanted to fund her so she turned to education and pursued teaching instead. She founded a school for girls in Daytona to support herself and her son after the end of her marriage. She was active in many organizations aimed at promoting Black achievement, and in 1935 founded the National Council of Negro Women. She consistently fought to end lynching and discrimination. In 1936 President Roosevelt appointed her to the National Youth Administration because of her long history in education, and, in 1939, she became the organization's Director of Negro Affairs. Along with many other achievements, she was vice-president of the NAACP from 1940 until her death in 1955. Bethune had a long friendship with Rollins president, Hamilton Holt. In 1949 Holt awarded Bethune an honorary degree in the humanities--the first such honor bestowed by any US college or university on an African American woman.
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July 10, 1875
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May 18, 1955
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Bethune Cookman College
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NAACP
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Bethune Cookman College
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