• EDUCATOR & CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST
• Born to former slaves, Bethune was the 15th of 17 kids
• Attended a Presbyterian mission school at a time when Black Americans rarely received a formal education
• Continued her schooling at what is now Barber-Scotia College, and then at an evangelical institute, intending on becoming a missionary in Africa, although her application was rejected because of her skin color
• With less than two dollars (approximately $35 today) and only a handful of students, she started the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Training Negro Girls, which eventually expanded and still exists today as the Bethune-Cookman University
• Nicknamed the "First Lady of American black women," she founded several organizations focused on improving Black women's quality of life, including the National Association of Colored Women and the National Council of Negro Women, as well as partnered with hundreds of similar organizations
• Served as the "director of Negro affairs" for the National Youth Administration, becoming the FIRST Black woman ever to hold such a high rank in the American federal government
• A close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, Bethune served as special assistant to the secretary of war during World War II, as well as assistant director of the Women's Army Corps
• Received the Haitian Medal of Honor and Merit, and the Liberian Commander of the Order of the Star of Africa
• Bethune became the FIRST Black American -- male or female -- to be honored with a statue on federal land when her memorial was erected in Washington, D.C. in 1974

Photo from State Library and Archives of Florida via Flickr

Bibliography: Basu, Aparna. “Bethune, Mary McLeod." The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History, Oxford University Press, 2008, p. 219-220.

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