Mary McLeod Bethune

Born on a farm near Mayesville, South Carolina in 1875, Mary McLeod Bethune, the 15th child of former slaves, rose from humble beginnings to become a world renowned educator, civil and human rights leader, champion for women and young people, and an advisor to five U.S presidents.

The young Mary McLeod worked in the fields alongside her parents and siblings, until she enrolled at the age of 10 in a one-room Trinity Presbyterian Mission School. Bethune always said “from the first, I made my learning, what little it was, useful any way I could.”

After studying to become a missionary and finding that they did not hire black missionaries, she became a teacher at the Haines Institute in Augusta, Georgia. Since, Bethune made it a priority to educate as many children as she could.

In 1904, she rented a building in Daytona Beach and founded a school for African-American girls. She had only six students and no supplies- ink was made from crushed berries and crates were used as desks. Mary took on every task to keep the school running- from teaching classes, managing limited finances, and even serving as custodian.

This school would grow to become Bethune-Cookman University in 1923. Mary McLeod Bethune’s vision lives on today at the school that she founded which continues to sustain her legacy of faith, scholarship and service.