Mary McLeod Bethune

Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) humanitarian, U. S. presidential advisor, college president, and founder of the National Council of Negro Women was a native of Mayesville, S.C.

Mary McLeod Bethune began her life amid the cotton plantations of South Carolina. She became one of the most influential women of the 20th century, serving as advisor to Presidents Harry Truman, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Bethune began her career as an educator, eventually founding Daytona (Fla.) Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls in 1904. The school later merged with Cookman Institute and is now known as Bethune Cookman. She served as founder and president from 1904-1942 and 1946-1947. While in Florida she was active with the black woman’s club movement. She also served on the national scene as president of the National Association of Colored Women. In 1935 she founded the National Council of Negro Women, an advocacy group created to increase opportunities for education, employment, child welfare and housing for blacks.

In 1936 Bethune became the first African American woman to head a federal agency as director of the Division of Negro Affairs. In 1974 she was the first African American and the first woman to have a monument honoring her built on public park land in the nation’s capitol.

In 1985 the U. S. Postal Service issued a stamp honoring Bethune’s contributions to America. Many schools across the country are named for her, and her last residence, which became the Washington, D.C. headquarters for the National Council for Negro Women, is a national historic site.