Mary McLeod Bethune (1875 - 1955)

Sat Jul 10, 1875

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Mary Bethune, born on this day in 1875, was a U.S. educator and civil rights activist.

Born in South Carolina to parents who had been enslaved, Bethune started working in fields with her family at age five. She took an early interest in becoming educated, and later became a big exponent of education within the black community. She started a school for young black girls that later, after merging with a boys’ school, became known as the “Bethune-Cookman School”, with Bethune serving as its president on multiple occasions.

Bethune founded the National Council for Negro Women in 1935, established the organization’s flagship journal “Aframerican Women’s Journal”, and resided as president or leader for a myriad of black women’s organizations. She also was appointed as a national adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom she worked with to create the Federal Council on Negro Affairs, also known as the “Black Cabinet.”

According to Dr. Herb Ruffin of BlackPast.org, Bethune’s friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt led to Bethune becoming the Director of the National Youth Administration’s (NYA) Division of Negro Affairs, a post she held from 1936 to 1943. As director, she led an organization that trained tens of thousands of black youth for skilled positions that eventually became available in defense plants during World War II.

For her lifetime of activism, Bethune was deemed “First Lady of Negro America” by Ebony magazine in 1949 and was dubbed by the press as the “female Booker T. Washington”. Journalist Louis E. Martin stated that “She gave out faith and hope as if they were pills and she some sort of doctor.”

“The drums of Africa still beat in my heart. They will not let me rest while there is a single Negro boy or girl without a chance to prove his worth.”

- Mary Bethune