Mary Mcleod Bethune Research Paper

Mary Mcleod Bethune
Bethany Hendley
Mary McLeod Bethune was born in Mayesville, South Carolina in 1875. She had sixteen siblings, and her parents were slaves. Mary McLeod Bethune got married to Albertus Bethune in 1898, they had a son named Albert. Considering that Mary McLeod Bethune was born in the late 1800’s as a African American female, she had to fight extraneously hard to be treated as an equal.
When Mary McLeod Bethune was younger, she worked with her mother and got to visit the white’s nurseries. One day, a white kid saw her reading and snarked the comment “She don’t know how to read.” White people assumed that because she was African American she was illiterate. As a result of this, Mary McLeod Bethune became infatuated with education and allowing blacks the equal right to receive the same education as whites. Mary McLeod Bethune received her education at Trinity Mission School, a black school with only one room. She continued her education at Scotia Seminary, and then Dwight L. Moody’s Institute.
Mary McLeod Bethune pursued a career in teaching. She teamed up with Lucy Craft Laney at an Institution in Augusta, Georgia. Mary Mcleod Bethune stated that "I was so impressed with her fearlessness, her amazing touch in every respect, an energy that seemed inexhaustible and her mighty power to command respect and admiration from

her students and all who knew her. She handled her domain with the art of a master.” After Mary Mcleod Bethune’s inspired time with Lucy Craft Laney, she continued her education career in Daytona Beach, where she opened up her own private school for blacks. She started out with very little when she opened it, so she strived to collect donations and charities. After Mary Bethune raised enough money for the children to have lunches, and supplies she soon enforced all of her regulations for school. Girls were asked to meet for bible study in the mornings, around five. The classes she taught were motor skilled based, which included cooking, and tailoring. She also taught the common core classes such as, science and math. Their classes would last all day, till nine at night.
One of the many things that Mary Bethune evolved herself into was traveling for donations. In fact, she received a $62,000 donation from the infamous John D Rockefeller, and Mrs. Rockefeller. They extended the school and offered it to boys as well, the school was named Bethune-Cookman school with the help of the Methodist Church. Mary Bethune became the president of the junior college.
Mary Bethune was assigned as National Advisor to President Franklin D.

Roosevelt and became a part of what was known as Black Cabinet. In 1917 Mary Mcleod Bethune became the chapter president of the NACW in Florida. Her occupation included helping blacks register to vote. Later after that, she was elected president of the Southeastern Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs. She also founded the National Council of Negro Women, and became the Secretary of War. Mary Bethune also served as the Director of Negro Affairs. Mary Bethune also supported the case Brown v Board of Education by putting her opinion in the “Chicago

Defender.”
Mary Mcleod Bethune is significant in various ways, and her hard work made it easier for black men and women after her time to receive equality. Along with a few others, Mary Bethune made it possible for blacks to vote and of course, gave hundreds of African Americans the opportunity to receive an education on subjects, and domesticated skills.