"We have a powerful potential in our youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends." - Mary McLeod Bethune
People called Mary McLeod Bethune "The First Lady of The Struggle." The struggle was improving life for black Americans. Mary would dedicate much of her adult life to it.
Mary was born in 1875 in a small log cabin close to Mayesville, South Carolina. She was the fifteenth of seventeen children of parents who spent many years enslaved. Post enslavement, her mother worked for her former owner, and Mary's father farmed cotton near a large house they called "The Homestead."
From a young age, Mary understood the importance of literacy and education and felt inspired to learn. With encouragement from her parents, she'd walk five miles daily to attend the one-room mission schoolhouse nearby. The experience set a foundation for her life. "The whole world opened to me when I learned to read," Mary would say.
For Mary, her love for learning evolved into a profession of teaching. And after some years of being a teacher, Mary opened the Daytona Literary and Industrial Training Institute for Negro Girls in 1904. Her beginnings with the school were full of challenges, particularly financial constraints. Mary started the Institute with only $1.50, leading to several cost-saving initiatives, including requiring students to make pencils from burned wood and ink from elderberry juice.
But the school opened, and the initial class of six students learned from a curriculum that began at 5:30 am with Bible study and continued throughout the day, focusing on self-sufficiency skills development until the school day ended at 9 pm. This approach led to much enrollment growth. Within a couple of years, two hundred and fifty students attended the school.
Mary had a motto for life: "not for myself, but for others." Following this creed, she dedicated herself to many initiatives throughout life. Alongside educating young students, she opened a hospital and training programs for nurses, took an active role in politics, where she held several positions, including Director of Negro Affairs at the National Youth Administration, which made her the highest-ranking African American woman in government at the time and she also helped integrate organizations such as the Red Cross.
Mary passed away in 1955. In her Last Will and Testament, she wrote nine maxims,
"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 use of power. I leave your faith. I leave you racial dignity. I leave you a desire to live harmoniously with your fellow men. I leave you a responsibility to our young people."
Sources:
Coursen, W. L. (William Ludlow), 1880-1967. Mary McLeod Bethune - Daytona Beach, Florida. 1915 (circa). State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Accessed 19 Nov. 2023.<https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/730>.
“Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune.” Bethune-Cookman University, https://www.cookman.edu/history/our-founder.html
“Dr. Bethune's Last Will & Testament.” Bethune-Cookman University, https://www.cookman.edu/history/last-will-testament.html
“Letter from Mary McLeod Bethune to Josephine T. Washington, 1946.” Florida Memory, State Library and Archives of the State of Florida, https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/341166
“Mary McLeod Bethune.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_McLeod_Bethune