Mary McLeod Bethune

For other people named Mary Bethune, see Mary Bethune (disambiguation).
Mary McLeod Bethune
1949 portrait
Born
Mary Jane McLeod

(1875-07-10)July 10, 1875
Mayesville, South Carolina, U.S.
DiedMay 18, 1955(1955-05-18) (aged 79)
Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S.
Occupations
  • Educator
  • philanthropist
  • humanitarian
  • civil rights activist
Spouse
Albertus Bethune
​
​
(m. 1898; sep. 1907)​
Children1

Mary Jane McLeod Bethune (née McLeod; July 10, 1875 – May 18, 1955[1]) was an American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, 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,[2] and she held a leadership position for the American Women's Voluntary Services founded by Alice Throckmorton McLean.[2] Bethune wrote prolifically, publishing in several periodicals from 1924 to 1955.

After working on the presidential campaign for Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, she was appointed as a national advisor and worked with Roosevelt to create the Federal Council on Colored Affairs, also known as the Black Cabinet.[3] Honors include the designation of her home in Daytona Beach as a National Historic Landmark[4] and a 1974 statue as "the first monument to honor an African American and a woman in a public park in Washington, D.C."[5] She was called the "First Lady of Negro America" by Ebony magazine in April 1949.[6]

  1. ^ "Mary McLeod Bethune". The Journal of Negro History. 40 (4): 393–395. October 1955. doi:10.1086/JNHv40n4p393. JSTOR 2715669. S2CID 199977187.
  2. ^ a b McCluskey & Smith 2001, pp. 5–6
  3. ^ McCluskey & Smith 2001, p. xii
  4. ^ James Sheire (August 1974). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Mary McLeod Bethune Foundation/Mary McLeod Bethune Home". National Park Service. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
  5. ^ "Mary McLeod Bethune". statuesforequality.com. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  6. ^ "Women Leaders". Ebony. Vol. 4, no. 9. July 1, 1949. pp. 19–22.