Mary McLeod Bethune

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Mary McLeod Bethune

• Educations Champion

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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 didnt go to school with white
  children.
• As a child she was told that she couldnt read a
  book by a white child. She promised herself that
  some day she would learn to read.

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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 couldnt read.
• She worked hard to prove that the girl was wrong.
  

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Mary McLeod Bethune

• The school didnt 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.

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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
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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.

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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
  wasnt used to all these things.

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Mary McLeod Bethune

• Since she wasnt used to this type of life she
  often made mistakes. She didnt 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 cakes and breads.

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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 didnt send African Americans.

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Mary McLeod Bethune

• She was sad that she couldnt 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
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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.

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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.

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Mary McLeod Bethune

• There wasnt 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
  didnt receive money she didnt give up.
• Her school grew and grew and in 1931 became a
  college.

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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.

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Mary McLeod Bethune

• Segregation was still active during this time and
  white women couldnt sit with African American
  women.
• During the 1920s 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
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Mary McLeod Bethune

• At the end of the 1920s 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.