Mary McLeod Bethune
You probably started school when you were 5 or 6 years old. But in Mayesville, South Carolina, Mary McLeod didn’t begin her formal education until she was 11 years old, in 1886. She was the 15th of 17 children of former slaves and was the only member of her family to go to school. Many of her older brothers and sisters had also been born into slavery. Like them, she worked as a child in the cotton fields on her parents’ homestead. But something deep inside of Mary drove her to look for more. She wanted to learn and teach and lead. So, in a one-room schoolhouse, with Emma Jane Wilson as her teacher, Mary’s new life began.
The power of education
More than anything, Mary knew that education gives you the power to change your life. Why? Because the opportunity to go to school changed hers. Mary attended the same seminary ,or school, that Emma Jane Wilson had graduated from. After marrying in 1898, Mary taught school. But she really wanted to open a school for girls. Mary felt strongly about “giving back” the gift of learning. In 1904, with only $1.50, she opened the Daytona (Florida) Literary and Industrial School for Training Negro Girls. There were only six students (five girls and Mary’s son) in this elementary school, but over the next 25 years, it grew steadily, transforming into a high school, junior college, and finally Bethune-Cookman College. The story of its survival and growth will forever be the greatest tribute to Mary’s determination and energy.
Good works
Mary also channeled her energy into other efforts. She started a hospital for black people when she saw how discrimination prevented them from getting proper medical care. She became the president of the National Association of Colored Women in 1924. Mary even faced 80 white-hooded Ku Klux Klansmen and forced them to retreat over the issue of blacks having the right to vote. Later, during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration, Mary was the director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration. For more than 25 years, Mary moved forward with determination, educating, organizing, and even advising presidents. She encouraged African-Americans, particularly women, to step forward with confidence and dignity and make their voices heard.