Mary McLeod Bethune: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

Line 15:

}}

'''Mary Jane McLeod Bethune''' ({{née|'''McLeod'''}}; July 10, 1875 – May 18, 1955<ref>{{cite journal |title=Mary McLeod Bethune|jstor=2715669|journal=The Journal of Negro History|volume=40|issue=4|date=October 1955 |pages=393–395|doi=10.1086/JNHv40n4p393|s2cid=199977187}}</ref>) was an American educator, [[Philanthropy|philanthropist]], [[Humanitarianism|humanitarian]], [[Womanism|womanist]], and [[civil rights activist]]. Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935, established the organization's flagship journal ''Aframerican Women's Journal'', and presided for a myriad of African -American women's organizations including the National Association for Colored Women and the National Youth Administration's Negro Division.

She started a private school for African-American students which later became [[Bethune-Cookman University]]. She was the sole African American woman officially a part of the US delegation that created the United Nations charter,<ref name="McCluskey and Smith 2001 5–6">McCluskey & Smith 2001, pp. 5–6</ref> and she held a leadership position for the [[American Women's Voluntary Services]] founded by [[Alice Throckmorton McLean]].<ref name="McCluskey and Smith 2001 5–6" /> Bethune wrote prolifically, publishing in several periodicals from 1924 to 1955.

Line 25:

Mary Jane McLeod was born in 1875 in a small log cabin near [[Mayesville, South Carolina]], on a rice and cotton farm in [[Sumter County, South Carolina|Sumter County]]. She was the fifteenth of seventeen children born to Sam and Patsy ({{nee}} McIntosh) McLeod, both former slaves.<ref name="cookhouse">{{cite web|url=http://www.cookman.edu/subpages/Founder_of_the_College.asp |title=Bethune Cookman College Founder's Biography |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929001618/http://www.cookman.edu/subpages/Founder_of_the_College.asp |archive-date=September 29, 2007 }} Retrieved January 11, 2008.</ref><ref name="ineffable">Landfall, Dolores and Sims, J. (Summer, 1976). "Mary McLeod Bethune: The Educator; Also Including a Selected Annotated Bibliography", ''Journal of Negro Education''. '''45''' (3) pp. 342–359.</ref><ref name="usca">{{cite web|url=http://www.usca.edu/aasc/bethune.htm |title=Mary McLeod Bethune |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222121/http://www.usca.edu/aasc/bethune.htm |archive-date=September 27, 2007 }} University of South Carolina website. Retrieved January 11, 2008.</ref> Patsy McLeod worked after emancipation for her former owner, earning enough to buy five acres from him.{{efn|Historian Joyce A. Hanson describes this sale as "unusual", since many White landowners in the area had formed compacts to avoid selling land to Black people.<ref>Hanson 2018, p. 30</ref>}} There, Sam and their sons built the log cabin in which Mary was born.<ref>McCluskey & Smith 2001, p. 36</ref> McLeod grew up hearing stories from her maternal grandmother, Sophie, about resistance to slavery, and both Sophie and Patsy told Mary that she was special. Mary credited them both with inspiring her work toward equality.<ref>Hanson 2018, pp. 25–27</ref>

McLeod recalled noticing racial inequality as a child, observing that the Black community had access to less material wealth and opportunity.<ref>Hanson 2018, pp. 28–29</ref> 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. Mary picked up a book, and one of the Wilson girls admonished her with "Put down that book, you can't read." McCleodMcLeod later cited the incident as contributing to her desire for literacy and education.<ref>McCluskey & Smith 2001, p. 36</ref>

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".<ref>Hanson 2018, p. 15</ref>

In October 19751886,<ref>McCluskey & Smith 2001, p.285</ref> McLeod began attending Mayesville's one-room Black schoolhouse, Trinity Mission School, which was run by the [[Presbyterian]] Board of Missions of [[Freedmen]]. 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. Her teacher, Emma Jane Wilson, became a significant mentor in her life.<ref name="moody.edu">{{Cite web|url=https://www.moody.edu/alumni/connect/news/2020/bethune/|title=Mary McLeod Bethune at Moody &#124; Alumni &#124; Moody Bible Institute|website=moody.edu|accessdate=November 8, 2022}}</ref>

Wilson had attended [[Barber-Scotia College#Scotia Seminary|Scotia Seminary]] (now [[Barber–Scotia College]]). She helped McLeod attend the same school on a scholarship,<ref>Hanson 2018, p. 37</ref> which McLeod did from 1888 to 1894.<ref>McCluskey & Smith 2001, p. 4</ref> She attended [[Dwight L. Moody]]'s Institute for Home and Foreign Missions in [[Chicago]] (now the [[Moody Bible Institute]]) from 1894 to 1895, hoping to become a [[missionary]] in Africa. Told by the Presbyterian mission board, where she applied to become a missionary, that Black missionaries were not needed, she planned to teach, as education was a prime goal among African Americans.<ref name="moody.edu"/>

==Marriage and family==

McLeod married Albertus Bethune in 1898. The Bethunes moved to [[Savannah, Georgia]], where she did social work until the they moved to Florida. They had a son named Albert McLeod Bethune, Sr. A visiting Presbyterian minister, Coyden Harold Uggams, persuaded the couple to relocate to [[Palatka, Florida]], to run a mission school.<ref>"Mary McLeod Bethune", ''Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History''. Gale Group, 1999.</ref> The Bethunes moved in 1899; Mary ran the mission school and began an outreach to prisoners. Albertus left the family in 1907 and relocated to South Carolina. The couple never divorced, and Albert died in 1918 from [[tuberculosis]].<ref name="Bracey">Smith,{{cite Elaineencyclopedia |url=https://pq-static-content.proquest.com/collateral/media2/documents/1397_MaryMcLBethuneCollege.pdf "|chapter=Introduction." ''|title=Mary McLeod Bethune Papers: The Bethune Cookman College Collection, 1922–1955'' |editor-last1=Bracey, Jr. |editor-first1=John H. |editor-last2=Meier |editor-first2=August |encyclopedia=Black Studies Research Sources microfilm project. |publisher=University Publications of America, |year=1995. |access-date=September 18, 2024 }}</ref>

==Teaching career==

Line 53:

|access-date=May 25, 2018

|title=Senior class, Daytona Literary and Industrial School of Training Negro Girls

|url=https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/166271}}</ref> She initially had six students—five girls and her son Albert. The school bordered Daytona's dump. She raised money by selling homemade sweet potato pies and ice cream to crews of local workers, gathering enough to purchase additional dump land. She hired workers to build the brick building Faith Hall, paying them in part with free tuition.<ref name=Time>{{cite webmagazine |title=Education: Matriarch |url=https://time.com/archive/6824430/education-matriarch/ |websitemagazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=July 27, 2024 |date=July 22, 1946}}</ref>

In the early days of her school, the students made ink for pens from [[elderberry]] juice and pencils from burned wood; they asked local businesses for furniture.<ref>McCluskey & Smith 2001, p. 67</ref> Bethune wrote later, "I considered cash money as the smallest part of my resources. I had faith in a loving God, faith in myself, and a desire to serve."<ref>Straub, Deborah, ed., "Mary McLeod Bethune," ''Contemporary Heroes and Heroines,'' Book II. Gale Research, 1992.</ref> The school received donations of money, equipment, and labor from local Black churches. Within a year, Bethune was teaching over 30 girls at the school.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} After two years of operation, 250 girls were enrolled.<ref name="Time" />

Bethune also courted wealthy White organizations, such as the ladies' Palmetto Club. She invited influential White men to sit on her school board of trustees, gaining participation by [[James Gamble (industrialist)|James Gamble]] (of [[Procter & Gamble]]), Ransom Eli Olds (of Oldsmobile and REO MotorCompany) and [[Thomas H. White]] (of [[White Sewing Machine Company|White Sewing Machines]]). When [[Booker T. Washington]] of the [[Tuskegee Institute]] visited in 1912, he advised her of the importance of gaining support from White [[benefactor (law)|benefactor]]s for funding.,<ref>McCluskey & Smith 2001, p. 69</ref> suggesting a few ways of doing so.<ref>Robertson 2015, pp. 34–35</ref>[[File:Marian Anderson and Mary McLeod Bethune at the launching of the SS Booker T Washington - 29 Sept 1942.jpg|thumb|right|250 px| Bethune and [[Marian Anderson]], celebrated contralto, at the launching of the [[SS Booker T. Washington|SS ''Booker T. Washington'']]]]

The rigorous curriculum had the girls rise at 5:30&nbsp;a.m. for Bible study. The classes in home economics and industrial skills such as dressmaking, millinery, cooking, and other crafts emphasized a life of [[self-sufficiency]]. Students' days ended at 9&nbsp;p.m. Soon Bethune added science and business courses, then high school-level math, English, and foreign languages.<ref name="mccluskey1">McCluskey. Audrey. [https://www.proquest.com/docview/198654029?sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals " 'We Specialize in the Wholly Impossible': Black Women School Founders"], ''Signs'', 22:2, Winter 1997, pp. 403–426.</ref> <!--Needs expansion; how many students by 1910, say, and 1920, 1930. When exactly were high school classes added? How many teachers?--> Bethune always sought donations to keep her school operating; as she traveled, she was fundraising. A donation of $62,000 by [[John D. Rockefeller]] helped, as did her friendship with Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, who gave her entry to a progressive network.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}

InBeginning 1931in 1923, Daytona School merged with the coeducational Cookman Institute; run by the [[Methodism|Methodist Churchchurch]] helped, the mergerinstitute ofwas herthe schoolfirst withBlack thecollege boys'in CookmanFlorida. InstituteBethune became president, formingat thea time when Black women rarely headed colleges. The merger completed in 1925 and formed Daytona Bethune-Cookman CollegeCollegiate Institute, a coeducational junior college.<ref>Robertson Bethune2015, became presidentpp. 18–19</ref> Through the [[Great Depression]], the school, renamed Bethune-Cookman SchoolCollege in 1931,<ref>Robertson 2015, p. 18</ref> continued to operate and met the educational standards of the State of Florida. Throughout the 1930s, Bethune and civil rights advocate [[Blake R. Van Leer]] worked with fellow Florida institutions to lobby for federal funding.<ref>{{cite thesis |url=http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0005121/smith_l.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211226204520/http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0005121/smith_l.pdf |archive-date=December 26, 2021 |title=The New Deal and Higher Education in Florida, 1933-1939: Temporary Assistance and Tacit Promises |first=Larry Russel |last=Smith |degree=MA |publisher=University of Florida |date=2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Who Was Mary Jane McLeod Bethune? |url=https://www.historyhit.com/who-was-mary-jane-mcleod-bethune/ |website=History Hit}}</ref>

From 1936 to 1942, Bethune had to cut back her time as president because of her duties in [[Washington, D.C.]] Funding declined during this period of her absence. Nevertheless, by 1941, the college had developed a four-year curriculum and achieved full college status.<ref name="Bracey"/> By 1942, Bethune gave up the presidency, as her health was adversely affected by her many responsibilities. On September&nbsp;19, 1942, she gave the address at the Los Angeles, California, launching ceremony for the Liberty ship {{SS|Booker T. Washington||2}}, a ceremony in which [[Marian Anderson]] christened the ship.<ref name=NPS>{{cite web |title=Rosie the Riveter National Historical Park, Kaiser Shipyard No. 3 (Historic American Engineering Record CA-326=M) |publisher=National Park Service |page=19|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/ca/ca3300/ca3398/data/ca3398data.pdf |access-date=June 25, 2019}}</ref>

== Impact on Daytona Beach Communitycommunity ==▼

After making the school's library accessible to the public, it became Florida's first free library accessible to Black Floridians.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Dionne|first=Evette|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1099569335|title=Lifting as we climb : Black women's battle for the ballot box|date=2020|isbn=978-0451481542|publisher=Viking|location=New York|oclc=1099569335}}</ref>▼

In the early 1900s, Daytona Beach lacked a hospital that would help people of color. Bethune had the idea to start a hospital after one of her students got appendicitis and was initially refused treatment at the local hospital. Bethune convinced the doctors to treat her student and left determined to open a hospital.<ref>Robertson 2015, pp. 29–30</ref>

▲== Impact on Daytona Beach Community ==

InShe thefound earlya 1900s,cabin Daytonanear Beach,the Floridaschool, lackedand athrough hospitalsponsors thathelping wouldher helpraise peoplemoney, ofshe color.purchased Bethuneit hadfor thefive ideathousand todollars.{{cn|date=September start2024}}<!-- aPossibly hospitalsupported afterby anPeare incidentor involvingGreenfield, onecited of her students. She was called toat the bedsideend of athe youngpara femalew/ studentno whopage fellnums. illRobertson, with appendicitisp. It30, at wasleast clearsupports that the student needed immediate medical attention. Nevertheless, there was no local hospital tostarted takein hera to"two-story thatcabin". would--> treatIn Black people.1911, Bethune demanded thatopened the Whitefirst physician at the localBlack hospital helpin theDaytona girl.Beach, Whennaming Bethuneit wentMcLeod toHospital visitafter her student, she was asked to enter through the back doorparents.<ref>Robertson At the hospital2015, shep. found30</ref> thatIt herstarted studentwith hadtwo beenbeds neglectedand, ill-caredwithin for,a andfew segregatedyears, inheld an outdoor hospitaltwenty.{{efn|According Sheto foundresearch aby cabinhistorian nearSheila the schoolFlemming, andin throughone sponsorsyear helpingof heroperation raisethe money,hospital she purchased it"cared for five105 thousandpatients, dollars.had In316 1911outpatients, Bethunemade opened242 thecommunity firstcalls Blackand hospitalperformed in Daytona,24 Floridaoperations".<ref>Flemming Itis startedquoted within twoRobertson beds and2014, withinp. a30</ref>}} few years, held twenty. Both White and Black physicians worked at the hospital, along with Bethune's student nurses. This hospital went on to save many Black lives within the twenty years that it operated.<ref name="Peare 1951">{{Cite book|title=Mary McLeod Bethune|last=Peare|first=Catherine|publisher=The Vanguard Press, Inc.|year=1951|location=New York}}</ref><ref name="Greenfield 1977">{{Cite book|title=Mary McLeod Bethune|last=Greenfield|first=Eloise|publisher=Harper Collins Publishers|year=1977|isbn=0690011296|location=New York}}</ref>▼

=== McLeod Hospital ===

▲In the early 1900s, Daytona Beach, Florida, lacked a hospital that would help people of color. Bethune had the idea to start a hospital after an incident involving one of her students. She was called to the bedside of a young female student who fell ill with appendicitis. It was clear that the student needed immediate medical attention. Nevertheless, there was no local hospital to take her to that would treat Black people. Bethune demanded that the White physician at the local hospital help the girl. When Bethune went to visit her student, she was asked to enter through the back door. At the hospital, she found that her student had been neglected, ill-cared for, and segregated in an outdoor hospital. She found a cabin near the school, and through sponsors helping her raise money, she purchased it for five thousand dollars. In 1911, Bethune opened the first Black hospital in Daytona, Florida. It started with two beds and, within a few years, held twenty. Both White and Black physicians worked at the hospital, along with Bethune's student nurses. This hospital went on to save many Black lives within the twenty years that it operated.<ref name="Peare 1951">{{Cite book|title=Mary McLeod Bethune|last=Peare|first=Catherine|publisher=The Vanguard Press, Inc.|year=1951|location=New York}}</ref><ref name="Greenfield 1977">{{Cite book|title=Mary McLeod Bethune|last=Greenfield|first=Eloise|publisher=Harper Collins Publishers|year=1977|isbn=0690011296|location=New York}}</ref>

During that time, both Black and White people in the community relied on help from the McLeod hospitalHospital. After an explosion at a nearby construction site, the hospital took in injured Black workers. The hospital and its nurses were also praised for their efforts with [[Spanish flu|the 1918 influenza outbreak]]. During this outbreak, the hospital was full and had to overflow into the school's auditorium.<ref name="Peare 1951"/><ref name="Greenfield 1977"/> In 1931, Daytona's public hospital, Halifax, agreed to open a separate hospital for people of color. Black people would not fully integrate into the public hospital's main location until the 1960s.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://daytonatimes.com/2015/09/black-daytona-beach-in-the-1940s/|title=Black Daytona Beach in the 1940s|last=Lempel|first=Leonard|date=September 10, 2015|work=Daytona Times|access-date=December 12, 2018|archive-date=December 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207074843/http://daytonatimes.com/2015/09/black-daytona-beach-in-the-1940s/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

▲AfterBethune makingmade theDaytona schoolSchool's library accessible to the public, it became Florida's first free library accessible to Black Floridians.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Dionne|first=Evette|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1099569335|title=Lifting as we climb : Black women's battle for the ballot box|date=2020|isbn=978-0451481542|publisher=Viking|location=New York|oclc=1099569335}}</ref> She hosted a weekly story hour, which hundreds of children from the county attended, and ran a boys' club.<ref>Robertson 2015, pp. 30–31</ref>

Concerned by a lack of affordable housing for Black people, Bethune leveraged her status as president to lobby for improved housing access. She was appointed to the city's housing board—becoming its only Black member—and she successfully pushed for a [[public housing]] project built near her school's campus.<ref>Robertson 2015, pp. 31, 33</ref>

==Career as a public leader==

Line 97 ⟶ 100:

===National Association of Colored Women===

In 1896, the [[National Association of Colored Women]] (NACW) was formed to promote the needs of Black women. Bethune served as the Florida chapter president of the NACW from 1917 to 1925. She worked to register Black voters, which was resisted by White society and had been made almost impossible by various obstacles in Florida law and practices controlled by White administrators. She was threatened by members of the resurgent [[Ku Klux Klan]] in those years.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}}<ref name=" Bracey"/> Bethune also served as the president of the Southeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs from 1920 to 1925, which worked to improve opportunities for Black women.

She was elected national president of the NACW in 1924. While the organization struggled to raise funds for regular operations, Bethune envisioned acquiring a headquarters and hiring a professional executive secretary; she implemented this when NACW bought a property at 1318 Vermont Avenue in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{Citationcite web needed|url=https://www.searchablemuseum.com/the-national-council-of-negro-women |title=Mary McLeod Bethune and the National Council of Negro Women |website=[[National Museum of African American History and Culture]] |access-date=JulySeptember 18, 2024 }}</ref>

Gaining a national reputation, in 1928, Bethune was invited to attend the Child Welfare Conference called by Republican President [[Calvin Coolidge]]. In 1930 President [[Herbert Hoover]] appointed her to the White House Conference on Child Health.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cookman.edu/about_bcu/history/our_founder.html|title=Our Founder – Dr. Bethune|website=www.cookman.edu|language=en|access-date=May 14, 2017|archive-date=May 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200512083908/https://www.cookman.edu/about_BCU/history/our_founder.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Line 143 ⟶ 146:

===Civil rights===

InBethune 1931coordinated thewith Methodist Churchchurch supportedmembers mergingduring the Daytona Normal and Industrial School and the Cookman College for Men into Bethune-Cookman Collegeschool merger, establishedand first as a [[junior college]]. Bethuneshe became a member of the church, but it was segregated in the South. Essentially two organizations operated in the Methodist denomination. Bethune was prominent in the primarily Black Florida Conference. While she worked to integrate the mostly White [[Methodist Episcopal Church]], she protested its initial plans for integration because they proposed separate jurisdictions based on race.<!--Explain - separate parishes? --><ref>"Mary McLeod Bethune," ''Religious Leaders of America'', 2nd ed. Gale Group, 1999.</ref>

Bethune worked to educate both Whites and Blacks about the accomplishments and needs of Black people, writing in 1938,

Line 153 ⟶ 156:

<blockquote>Not only the Negro child but children of all races should read and know of the achievements, accomplishments, and deeds of the Negro. World peace and brotherhood are based on a common understanding of the contributions and cultures of all races and creeds.<ref name="bethuneJNh1939">Bethune, Mary (January 1939). "The Adaptation of the History of the Negro to the Capacity of the Child," ''Journal of Negro History,'' 24 (1) pp. 9–13.</ref></blockquote>

OnStarting Sundaysin 1920,<ref>Robertson 2015, p. 24</ref> she opened her school to visitors and tourists in Daytona Beach on Sundays, showing off her students' accomplishments, hosting national speakers on Black issues, and taking donations. She ensured that these "Sunday Community Meetings" were integrated. A Black teenager in Daytona at the time later recalled: "Many tourists attended, sitting wherever there were empty seats. There was no special section for white people."<ref name="smith">Smith, Elaine (Winter, 1996). "Mary McLeod Bethune's 'Last Will and Testament': A Legacy for Race Vindication", ''Journal of Negro History'', '''8''' (1/4), pp. 105–122</ref> Florida law proscribed interracial meetings, a rule which Bethune ignored.<ref>Robertson 2015, p. 24</ref>

When the [[United States Supreme Court|U.S. Supreme Court]] ruled in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' (1954) that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional, Bethune defended the decision by writing in the ''[[Chicago Defender]]'' that year:

Line 162 ⟶ 165:

=== United Negro College Fund ===

She co-founded the [[UNCF|United Negro College Fund]] (UNCF) on April&nbsp;25, 1944, with [[William J. Trent]] and [[Frederick D. Patterson]]. The UNCF is a program which gives many different scholarships, mentorships, and job opportunities to African -American and other minority students attending any of the 37 historically Black colleges and universities. Trent had joined Patterson and Bethune in raising money for UNCF. The organization started in 1944 and by 1964, Trent had raised over $50&nbsp;million.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/72-years-later-united-negro-college-fund-continues-close-college-funding-gap-minorities|title=72 years later: United Negro College Fund continues to close college funding gap for minorities|last=Moffitt|first=Kelly|website=news.stlpublicradio.org|publisher=St. Louis Public Radio|language=en|access-date=February 8, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.indianapolisrecorder.com/blogs/article_1fa8d694-e92f-11e4-bd92-03ade7697779.html|title=African-American Facts for Week of: April 19, 2015|last=Johnson|first=Annette|website=Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper|date=April 22, 2015|language=en|access-date=February 8, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/beyonce-balmain-collaboration-coachella-outfits-charity-united-negro-college-fund-a8443536.html|title=BEYONCE ANNOUNCES BALMAIN COLLABORATION WHERE ALL PROCEEDS WILL GO TO CHARITY|date=July 12, 2018|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=February 8, 2019}}</ref> Bethune helped with its initial fundraising efforts, which gathered around $900,000 ({{Inflation|US|900,000|1944|fmt=eq|r=-5}}{{Inflation/fn|US}}) in six months. Bethune continued to refer philanthropists to the fund, and she joined the board of directors in 1952.<ref>Robertson 2015, pp. 36–37</ref>

==Death and accolades==

Line 176 ⟶ 179:

She was noted for achieving her goals. [[Robert C. Weaver|Robert Weaver]], who also served in Roosevelt's Black Cabinet, said of her, "She had the most marvelous gift of effecting feminine helplessness in order to attain her aims with masculine ruthlessness."<ref>Weaver, Robert (July 10, 1974). "Her Boys Remember," ''Time.'' (special publication of the National Council of Negro Women).</ref> When a White Daytona resident threatened Bethune's students with a rifle, Bethune worked to make an ally of him. The director of the McLeod Hospital recalled, "Mrs. Bethune treated him with courtesy and developed such goodwill in him that we found him protecting the children and going so far as to say, 'If anybody bothers old Mary, I will protect her with my life.'"<ref>Adams, Texas, "As I Recollect," typescript, BF.</ref>

She prioritized self-sufficiency throughout her life. Bethune invested in several businesses, including the ''[[Pittsburgh Courier]]'', a Black newspaper, and many life insurance companies. She also founded [[Central Life Insurance Company of Florida]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 4, 2021 |title=Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune: Innovator and Entrepreneur |url=https://evolve-success.com/dr-mary-mcleod-bethune-innovator-and-entrepreneur-2/ |access-date=2024-09-18 |publisher=Bethune-Cookman University |language=en-US}}</ref> and later retired in Florida. Due to state segregation, Blacks were not allowed to visit the beach. Bethune and several other business owners responded by investing in and purchasing Paradise Beach, a {{convert|2|mi|km|adj=on}} stretch of beach and the surrounding properties and then selling them to Black families. They also allowed White families to visit the waterfront. Eventually, Paradise Beach was named Bethune-Volusia Beach in her honor. She held 25% ownership of the Welricha Motel in Daytona.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://web.naplesnews.com/03/10/florida/e19482a.htm |author=Matt Grimson |title=Historically black beach disappears with integration |work=Naples Daily News |date=October 13, 2003 |access-date=January 11, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928030440/http://web.naplesnews.com/03/10/florida/e19482a.htm |archive-date=September 28, 2007 }}</ref>

== Legacy and honors ==

Line 189 ⟶ 192:

She also served as an adviser to five of the presidents of the United States. [[Calvin Coolidge]] and [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] appointed her to several government positions, which included: Special Advisor in Minority Affairs, director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration, and chair of [[Federal Council of Negro Affairs]]. Among her honors, she was an assistant director of the Women's Army Corps. She was also an honorary member of [[Delta Sigma Theta]] sorority.<ref>{{cite book | last=Giddings |first=Paula|author-link=Paula Giddings| title=In Search of Sisterhood: Delta Sigma Theta and the Challenges of the Black Sorority Movement | year=1988 |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |location=New York}} p. 84.</ref>

In 1973, Bethune was inducted into the [[National Women's Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020810094404/http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=18|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 10, 2002|title=Mary McLeod Bethune}} National Women's Hall of Fame. Retrieved on January 11, 2008.</ref> On July 10, 1974, the anniversary of her 99th birthday, the [[Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial]], by artist [[Robert Berks]], was erected in her honor in [[Lincoln Park (Washington, D.C.)]].<ref name="npslincolnpark" /> It was the first monument honoring an African American or a woman to be installed in a public park in the District of Columbia.<ref name="npslincolnpark">{{cite web|title=Lincoln Park|url=http://www.nps.gov/cahi/historyculture/cahi_lincoln.htm|work=Capitol Hill Parks {{!}} District of Columbia|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=March 11, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Lincoln Park|url = http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc87.htm|website = www.nps.gov|access-date = February 12, 2016}}</ref> The inscription on the pedestal reads "let her works praise her" (a reference to Proverbs 31:31), while the side is engraved with a passage headings from her "Last Will and Testament":

<blockquote>I leave you to love. I leave you to hope. I leave you the challenge of developing confidence in one another. I leave you a thirst for education. I leave you a respect for the useuses of power. I leave youryou faith. I leave you racial dignity. I leave you a desire to live harmoniously with your fellow men. I leave you, finally, a responsibility to our young people.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dr. Bethune's Last Will & Testament |url=https://www.cookman.edu/history/last-will-testament.html |access-date=2024-08-27 |website=www.cookman.edu}}</ref></blockquote>In 1976, a portrait of Bethune, painted by artist [[Simmie Knox]], was unveiled in the South Carolina House of Representatives. as part of a day of events observing the [[United States Bicentennial]]. Speakers during the day of events included [[Dorothy Height]], President of the [[National Council of Negro Women]]; Governor [[James B. Edwards]], Senate [[president pro tempore]] [[Marion Gressette]]; House Speaker [[Rex L. Carter|Rex Carter]], Commissioner of the South Carolina Human Affairs Commission [[Jim Clyburn]] and National Council of Negro Women event Co-Chair [[Alma W. Byrd]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 10, 1976 |title=Mary McLeod Bethune Portrait Unveiling |url=https://dc.statelibrary.sc.gov/bitstream/handle/10827/12124/ARBC_Mary_McLeod_Bethune_1976-7-10.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |access-date=August 9, 2023 |website=South Carolina State Library}}</ref>

In 1985, the [[U.S. Postal Service]] issued a stamp in Bethune's honor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://usstampgallery.com/view.php?id=eee440bfbe0801ec3f533f897c1d55e6a5afd5cd|title=Mary McLeod Bethune}} US Stamp Gallery. Retrieved on December 4, 2012.</ref> In 1989 ''[[Ebony (magazine)|Ebony]]'' [[Ebony (magazine)|magazine]] listed her as one of "50 Most Important Figures in Black American History". In 1999, ''Ebony'' included her as one of the "100 Most Fascinating Black Women of the 20th century".<ref>(March 1999). "100 Most Fascinating Black Women of the Twentieth Century," ''Ebony Magazine''.</ref> In 1991, the [[International Astronomical Union]] named a crater on planet [[Venus]] in her honor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/722?__fsk=-1224379603|title=Planetary names: Patera, patera: Bethune Patera on Venus|website=Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature|publisher=[[U.S. Geological Survey]], [[NASA]], and the [[International Astronomical Union]]|language=en-US|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120716065527/http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/722?__fsk=-1224379603|archive-date=July 16, 2012|url-status=live|access-date=May 31, 2018}}</ref>

Line 225 ⟶ 228:

* {{cite book |last1=Hanson |first1=Joyce A. |title=Mary McLeod Bethune and Black Women's Political Activism |date=2018 |publisher=University of Missouri |isbn=9780826221544}}

* {{Cite book|title=Mary McLeod Bethune: Building a Better World Essays and Selected Documents|last=McCluskey and Smith|first=Audrey Thomas and Elaine M.|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2001|pages=5–6}}

* {{cite book |last1=Robertson |first1=Ashley N. |title=Mary Mcleod Bethune in Florida: Bringing Social Justice to the Sunshine State |date=2015 |publisher=History Press |location=Charleston, SC |isbn=9781626199835}}

== Further reading ==

Line 234 ⟶ 238:

|newspaper=[[Washington Post]]

|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/03/01/mary-mcleod-bethune-roosevelt-statue/}}

*Rooks, Noliwe (2024). ''A Passionate Mind in Relentless Pursuit: The Vision of Mary McLeod Bethune''. New York: Penguin.

*Smith, Elaine M. "Mary McLeod Bethune: In the Leadership Orbit of Men." ''Phylon'' 59.2 (2022): 55–76.

*Thomas, Rhondda R. & Ashton, Susanna, eds. (2014). ''The South Carolina Roots of African American Thought''. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. "Mary Jane McLeod Bethune (1875–1955)", p.&nbsp;163–167.

*Wesley, C. H. (1984). ''The History of the NACW's Clubs: A legacy of service''.

==External links==

Line 249 ⟶ 255:

* [https://www.academia.edu/2565932/CHAPTER_On_Black_Womens_Activism_The_New_Deal_and_Public_Policy_Mary_McLeod_Bethune_the_National_Council_of_Negro_Women_and_the_Prewar_Push_for_Equal_Opportunity_in_Defense_Projects_by_gloria-yvonne_in_THE_ECONOMIC_CIVIL_RIGHTS_MOVEMENT_African_Americans_and_the_Struggle_for_Economic_Power Mary McLeod Bethune, the NCNW, and the Prewar Push for Equal Opportunity in Defense Projects]

* [https://stars.library.ucf.edu/ahistoryofcentralfloridapodcast/38/ Uniforms] at [https://stars.library.ucf.edu/ahistoryofcentralfloridapodcast/ ''A History of Central Florida'' Podcast]

<!--- hide this until it can be improved McCluskey, A. T., & Smith, E. M. (eds.). (1999). ''Mary McLeod Bethune: Building a Better World. Essays and selected documents''. Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press.</ref> <ref>34</ref><ref>Hanson, J. A. (2003). ''Mary McLeod Bethune & Black Women's Political Activism''. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.</ref> <ref>35</ref> Wesley, C. H. (1984). ''The History of the NACW's Clubs: A legacy of service''. -->

* [http://www.biography.com/people/mary-mcleod-bethune-9211266?page=1#acclaimed-educator Mary McLeod Bethune Biography, Biography.com, February 25, 2015]

* [https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX2831200056&v=2.1&u=psucic&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=67ef28a18870637538a132e089453f61 Encyclopedia of Race and Racism]

Line 282 ⟶ 287:

[[Category:Writers from South Carolina]]

[[Category:Writers from Washington, D.C.]]

[[Category:Spingarn Medal winners]]

[[Category:African-American history of South Carolina]]

[[Category:African-American Methodists]]