2. By: Rebekah McKinnon

3.  Mary Bethune was born on July 10, 1875, in Mayesville, South Carolina. She grew up in poverty as one of 17 children born to former slaves. Mary was the one and only child to go to school when a missionary opened a school for African-American children.

4. Acclaime d educator  For nearly a decade, Mary worked as an educator. She then married a teacher, Albertus Bethune in 1898. They gave birth to one son- Albert McCleod Bethune- before ending the marrige in 1907. She believed that education provided racial advancement. Then Mary started a school for negro girls at Daytona, Florida in 1904. She started with only five students, she helped the school to get about 250 students over the years!

5.  Mary was the schools leader. She remained the leader even when a Cookmen institute for men combined with her school for negro girls in 1923. The combined school became called Bethune Cookman College. The college became one of the few schools that African-American children could persue college degrees. Mary stayed at the school until 1942!

6.  In 1935, Mary became an important advisor to President Roosevelt. On the same year she started a new school called National Council of Negro Women( NCNW ). Then she got another appointment by President R. She became the director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration in 1936. In an addition of her role in the Roosevelt Administration, Bethune was a good friend to President R. and his wife, Eleanor R.

7.  After leaving Bethune Cookman College in 1942 Mary McCleod Bethune spent the rest of her life devoted to social causes. Then Mary took up residence at its new National Council of Negro Women at a Washington D.C. townhouse. Mary lived there for several years. In the early 1950s, President Harry Tubman chose Mary to serve as an official delegate to a president inauguration in Liberia.

8. Later Years and Legacy When returning to Florida, Mary Bethune died on May 18,1955. She is remembered by fighting for the rights of African Americans and women. Before death, she pinned “My Last Will and Testement “, witch served on her own life ands legecy.

9. Later Years and Legacy Since passing, Mary has been honored in many ways. In 1973, they put her in the National Women’s Hall of Fame. In 1985, they put her likeness on a stamp! In 1994, the U.S. park service bought the headquarters of the NCNW. The site is now known as the Mary McCleod Bethune Council House Nation Historic Site.