Recent from talks
Mary McLeod Bethune
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary McLeod Bethune (née McLeod; July 10, 1875 – May 18, 1955) was an American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, womanist, and civil rights activist. Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935, and proceeded to establish the Aframerican Women's Journal, which was the flagship journal of the organization. She presided over other African-American women's organizations, including the National Association for Colored Women. Bethune became the first Black woman to lead a federal agency when she was appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt as the Secretary to lead the National Youth Association (NYA).
She started a private school for African-American students which later became Bethune-Cookman University. She was the only African American woman to hold an official position with the US delegation that created the United Nations charter. McLeod also held a leadership position for the American Women's Voluntary Services, which was founded by Alice Throckmorton McLean. Bethune wrote prolifically, publishing in several periodicals from 1924 to 1955.
After working on the presidential campaign for Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, she was appointed as a national advisor and worked with Roosevelt to create the Federal Council on Colored Affairs, also known as the Black Cabinet. Honors include the designation of her home in Daytona Beach as a National Historic Landmark and a 1974 statue as "the first monument to honor an African American and a woman in a public park in Washington, D.C."
Mary Jane McLeod was born on July 10, 1875 in a small log cabin near Mayesville, South Carolina, on a rice and cotton farm in Sumter County. She was the fifteenth of seventeen children born to Sam and Patsy (née McIntosh) McLeod, both former slaves. Patsy McLeod worked after emancipation for her former owner, earning enough to buy five acres from him. There, Sam and their sons built the log cabin in which McLeod was born. McLeod grew up hearing stories from her maternal grandmother, Sophie, about resistance to slavery, and both Sophie and Patsy told McLeod that she was special. McLeod credited them both with inspiring her work toward equality.
McLeod recalled noticing racial inequality as a child, observing that the Black community had access to less material wealth and opportunity. She particularly remembered visiting the home of the Wilsons—the family that had enslaved her mother—where she explored a play house while Patsy worked. McLeod picked up a book, and one of the Wilson girls admonished her with "Put down that book, you can't read." McLeod later cited the incident as contributing to her desire for literacy and education.
When she was twelve, McLeod saw a white mob attack and nearly hang a Black man. The man had refused to blow a match out for a White man and then had shoved him to the ground. As McLeod watched, the mob nearly hanged the Black man, stopped at the last moment by the sheriff. McLeod recalled later learning about both the terrifying effects of White violence and the value of allying with some White people, those she called "calm men of authority".
In October 1886, McLeod began attending Mayesville's one-room Black schoolhouse, Trinity Mission School, which was run by the Presbyterian Board of Missions of Freedmen and founded by Emma Jane Wilson. The school was five miles from her home, and she walked there and back. Not all her siblings attended, so she taught her family what she had learned each day. In addition to founding the school, Wilson was McLeod's teacher, and became a significant mentor in her life.
Wilson had attended Scotia Seminary (now Barber–Scotia College). She helped McLeod attend the same school on a scholarship, which McLeod did from 1888 to 1894. She attended Dwight L. Moody's Institute for Home and Foreign Missions in Chicago (now the Moody Bible Institute) from 1894 to 1895. McLeod applied to be a missionary with the Presbyterian Board of Missions, with the goal of becoming a missionary in Africa. Although her request was denied, McLeod found a new use for the skills she had learned by teaching at Haines Institute in Augusta, Georgia.
Hub AI
Mary McLeod Bethune AI simulator
(@Mary McLeod Bethune_simulator)
Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary McLeod Bethune (née McLeod; July 10, 1875 – May 18, 1955) was an American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, womanist, and civil rights activist. Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935, and proceeded to establish the Aframerican Women's Journal, which was the flagship journal of the organization. She presided over other African-American women's organizations, including the National Association for Colored Women. Bethune became the first Black woman to lead a federal agency when she was appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt as the Secretary to lead the National Youth Association (NYA).
She started a private school for African-American students which later became Bethune-Cookman University. She was the only African American woman to hold an official position with the US delegation that created the United Nations charter. McLeod also held a leadership position for the American Women's Voluntary Services, which was founded by Alice Throckmorton McLean. Bethune wrote prolifically, publishing in several periodicals from 1924 to 1955.
After working on the presidential campaign for Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, she was appointed as a national advisor and worked with Roosevelt to create the Federal Council on Colored Affairs, also known as the Black Cabinet. Honors include the designation of her home in Daytona Beach as a National Historic Landmark and a 1974 statue as "the first monument to honor an African American and a woman in a public park in Washington, D.C."
Mary Jane McLeod was born on July 10, 1875 in a small log cabin near Mayesville, South Carolina, on a rice and cotton farm in Sumter County. She was the fifteenth of seventeen children born to Sam and Patsy (née McIntosh) McLeod, both former slaves. Patsy McLeod worked after emancipation for her former owner, earning enough to buy five acres from him. There, Sam and their sons built the log cabin in which McLeod was born. McLeod grew up hearing stories from her maternal grandmother, Sophie, about resistance to slavery, and both Sophie and Patsy told McLeod that she was special. McLeod credited them both with inspiring her work toward equality.
McLeod recalled noticing racial inequality as a child, observing that the Black community had access to less material wealth and opportunity. She particularly remembered visiting the home of the Wilsons—the family that had enslaved her mother—where she explored a play house while Patsy worked. McLeod picked up a book, and one of the Wilson girls admonished her with "Put down that book, you can't read." McLeod later cited the incident as contributing to her desire for literacy and education.
When she was twelve, McLeod saw a white mob attack and nearly hang a Black man. The man had refused to blow a match out for a White man and then had shoved him to the ground. As McLeod watched, the mob nearly hanged the Black man, stopped at the last moment by the sheriff. McLeod recalled later learning about both the terrifying effects of White violence and the value of allying with some White people, those she called "calm men of authority".
In October 1886, McLeod began attending Mayesville's one-room Black schoolhouse, Trinity Mission School, which was run by the Presbyterian Board of Missions of Freedmen and founded by Emma Jane Wilson. The school was five miles from her home, and she walked there and back. Not all her siblings attended, so she taught her family what she had learned each day. In addition to founding the school, Wilson was McLeod's teacher, and became a significant mentor in her life.
Wilson had attended Scotia Seminary (now Barber–Scotia College). She helped McLeod attend the same school on a scholarship, which McLeod did from 1888 to 1894. She attended Dwight L. Moody's Institute for Home and Foreign Missions in Chicago (now the Moody Bible Institute) from 1894 to 1895. McLeod applied to be a missionary with the Presbyterian Board of Missions, with the goal of becoming a missionary in Africa. Although her request was denied, McLeod found a new use for the skills she had learned by teaching at Haines Institute in Augusta, Georgia.
Recent media