Mary McLeod Bethune

1. Mary McLeod Bethune Education’s Champion

2. Mary McLeod Bethune • Born near Mayesville, South Carolina • While her parents and relatives had to deal with slavery by the time Mary had been born in 1875 slavery had ended. • African Americans didn’t go to school with white children. • As a child she was told that she couldn’t read a book by a white child. She promised herself that some day she would learn to read.

3. Mary McLeod Bethune • Soon after this experience a school was started for African Americans. • Mary remembered how she felt when she was told that she couldn’t read. • She worked hard to prove that the girl was wrong.

4. Mary McLeod Bethune • The school didn’t have a building. They had to meet in a church. • By the time she was 15 she had learned all she could at her school. She was one of the few people in her community who could read. • She helped her older brothers and sisters learn things too.

5. Mary McLeod Bethune • Her teacher visited her family and felt that Mary should go to high school. • She was offered a spot at a school in Concord, North Carolina. The school was called Scotia Seminary. • Mary jumped at the chance to go to school again. Scotia Seminary

6. Mary McLeod Bethune • The whole community was so excited for Mary that they stopped work to see her off. • She had to go on a train from Mayesville to Concord. • Mary had never been on a train before.

7. Mary McLeod Bethune • Her school was a big brick building which Mary thought was fancy. She had never been in one before. • In fact her whole school was fancy with a bed all to herself and knives and forks. • Mary had grown up in a simple wood cabin and she wasn’t used to all these things.

8. Mary McLeod Bethune • Since she wasn’t used to this type of life she often made mistakes. She didn’t let those mistakes stop her from working hard. • She wanted to help others and she did by helping the teachers clean their clothes and also by baking cakesand breads.

9. Mary McLeod Bethune • She was on the debate team: a team that competes by making arguments for or against an idea. • Since she listened and encouraged the other girls she was soon seen as a leader. • After she finished going to Scotia she went to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. She wanted to become a Missionary. • She wanted to go to Africa to be a Missionary but the churches didn’t send African Americans.

10. Mary McLeod Bethune • She was sad that she couldn’t go but realized that children could use her help here in the United States. • She decided to become a teacher. She taught at a school called the Haines Institute in Augusta, Georgia. • It was a school for African Americans and the founder of the school, Lucy Laney, helped Mary a lot. Lucy Laney

11. Mary McLeod Bethune • Mary wanted to start a school of her own. • She decided to start one in Daytona Beach, Florida. • She started one there because there were so many African Americans living there. There were not enough schools there to help them.

12. Mary McLeod Bethune • Despite having only $1.50 Mary worked long and hard (diligence). • People in the community helped Mary by donating clothes, supplies, and their talents to help her school get started. • When it opened in 1904 there were only 5 students. By 1906 it had 250 students. She helped all learners: girls, boys, and even adults.

13. Mary McLeod Bethune • There wasn’t enough space so Mary had to find more. • She had to work hard to earn money to buy more land. • She asked the community and rode down dusty roads to churches and clubs for help. Even if she didn’t receive money she didn’t give up. • Her school grew and grew and in 1931 became a college.

14. Mary McLeod Bethune • Mary knew the importance of working together. She got people to come together to help African American women. • The clubs were made up of volunteers: people who chose to help in their communities without getting paid. • In 1924 Mary became president of a group of African American women who came from all over the United States.

15. Mary McLeod Bethune • Segregation was still active during this time and white women couldn’t sit with African American women. • During the 1920’s she was asked by President Coolidge and President Hoover to come to meetings of leaders who wanted to help children. • She understood their authority and agreed to come. Coolidge Hoover

16. Mary McLeod Bethune • At the end of the 1920’s the depression hit. Many people were without money and jobs. • Franklin Roosevelt helped people during this time with creating programs to help people earn money (The New Deal). • One program was the National Youth Administration (NYA) which gave jobs to young adults and teenagers.

17. Mary McLeod Bethune • Eleanor Roosevelt had met Mary and knew she wanted justice for all African American young people. • Eleanor told Franklin about Bethune and she was asked to work for the NYA. She was given the most responsibility of any African American at this time. • She moved to Washington, D.C. to help make sure the NYA was helping African Americans.

18. Mary McLeod Bethune • Thanks to the NYA many young African Americans got jobs which helped their families. • In 1941 Bethune-Cookman College became a four year college. Students could study all kinds of things. • When the United States went to war in 1941 many people who had worked in the NYA had training which they used to help make equipment for the war. • Mary was proud of all the things that she had done to help so many people.

19. Mary McLeod Bethune • Bethune won many awards. Many universities and organizations in the United States honored her hard work for freedom and justice. • She received the Medal of Honor and Merit from Haiti in 1949. • She also got to go to Africa in 1952. While in Liberia she was awarded the Star of Africa Award.

20. Mary McLeod Bethune • Bethune died in 1955. • Her college just celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2004. • Her group, the National Council of Negro Women, is still at work. • In 1974 Bethune was honored with a statue in D.C. in a public park the first women and the first African American to do so.

21. Mary McLeod Bethune • She worked hard for the youth of the United States. • A famous quote • “All my life I have lived for youth, I have begged for them and fought for them and lived for them. . . My story is their story.”

22. Character Traits • Diligence: Mary showed this by working so hard for so many years to build a school. • Respect for and Acceptance of Authority: Mary showed this by doing what the President wanted her to do. • Justice: Mary wanted everyone to be treated fairly and have a chance to succeed.

23. VOCABULARY • Authority: The right and power to lead. • Debate team: A team that competes by making arguments for or against an idea. • Depression: A time when many people lost jobs and companies go out of business.

24. VOCABULARY • Missionary: a person who helps people while teaching them about religion. • Segregation: a system of keeping people of different races separated. • Volunteer: a person who helps a group without pay.