Mary
McLeod Bethune's parents were poor farmers who had been freed as slaves after
the Civil War, and there wasn't even a school nearby for black children to attend
until she was eleven years old. But she ended up becoming a famous educator and
black leader, and a presidential advisor. "The world opened up to me when I learned
to read," Mary Bethune said, and she believed that education would help young
black people to a better life in a society which still did not practice racial
equality. In 1904 she started a school for black girls in Florida that she ultimately
grew into the Bethune-Cookman College in 1925. Once the school was a success,
she began to extend her efforts to a national political level. She founded the
National Council of Negro Women in 1935 and the next year became the first black
woman to head a federal agency when she was appointed director of the Division
of Negro Affairs. This was part of President Franklin Roosevelt's unofficial "Black
Cabinet" which advised the president on ways to make life better for black Americans.
She also helped President Roosevelt to set up the National Youth Administration
to help find employment for young people. A statue in Lincoln Park in Washington
DC was erected to honor her life of service and dedication to the cause of equal
education and freedom from discrimination for black Americans.
