Mary McLeod Bethune was born Mary Jane McLeod on July 10, 1875 in Mayesville,
South Carolina to Samuel and Patsy McIntosh McLeod, former slaves. She
was the fifteenth of seventeen children, most of her brothers and
sisters were born in slavery. Once her family was reassembled
from various plantations after slavery her parents acquired
five acres of land and built a family home known as the
"Homestead". Her mother continued to work for her former
owner, and her father cultivated cotton on their land.
She had a burning desire to learn how to read and write and was not happy until
she was allowed to attend Maysville's one room schoolhouse. McLeod became
the prize student of the teacher, Emma Jane Wilson, who recognized her
outstanding skills. Miss Wilson recommended McLeod for a
scholarship to attend Scotia Seminary near Concord,
North Carolina. Upon graduation from Scotia in 1894,
McLeod was awarded a scholarship to Dwight Moody's
Institute for Home and Foreign Missions in Chicago.
She had dreamed of going to Africa to minister to
the spiritual and educational needs of her
ancestors. However she was informed that
there were "no openings for Negro
Missionaries in Africa".
Mary McLeod was transferred by the Presbyterian Board to Kendell
Institute at Sumpter, South Carolina. Here she continued to teach
and render social services. She met Albertus Bethune,
a former schoolteacher turned haberdasher. They were
married in early May 1898; on February 3, 1899, she
gave birth to Albertus McLeod Bethune Jr.,
in Savannah, Georgia.
Mary and son Albert moved to Daytona where she opened a cabin school
located on a dump site. $5 down and $5 a month. In 1904 she began her own
school. Her one room school
became the Daytona Normal and Industrial School for Negro Girls and
taught not only reading and writing but home economics skills as well.
Her school grew over the years until 1923 when it merged with
Cookman Institute, a school for boys. The merged schools
became known as Bethune-Cookman College and continued
to be located in Daytona Beach where it is in
operation today.
Mary McLeod Bethune was active in the fight against racism and served
under several Presidents as a member of the unofficial African American
"brain trust." In 1936 she was appointed by President Roosevelt as
the director of the National Youth Administration's Division of
Negro Affairs. She also founded the National Council of Negro
Women and was an active member of the National Association of
Colored Women. Bethune died in May 1955. Thirty years later
in 1985, Bethune was recognized as one of the most
influential Afro-American women in the country
with a postage stamp issued in her honor and
a statue of her erected in a park in
Washington, DC.
|
