School For African American Children And Mary example essay topic

Mary McLeod Bethune was born on July 10, 1875, in Maysville, South Carolina. She was one of seventeen children and worked in the cotton fields as a slave. Samuel and Patsy McLeod were her parents. The Mission Board of the Presbyterian Church opened a school for African-American children, and Mary enrolled there. She was about eleven, and was looking forward to going to school. A few years after this, a woman in Detroit offered to pay money for one child to go to Scotia Seminary.

Mary was chosen by her teacher and was sent there. While she was attending Scotia Seminary, she received a scholarship to the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Mary was the only African-American child in that school. After two years of schooling at the Moody Bible Institute, Mary returned to Maysville. Mary was asked to have a position as a teacher in Augusta, Georgia, and she gladly accepted it. She taught at Haines Institute, and was known for her enthusiasm.

She taught here for a year, then was sent to Sumter, South Carolina. Here she taught at the Kendall Institute for two years. Not long after, she married Albertus Bethune in 1898. They moved to Savannah, Georgia, and had their first and only son, Albert, in 1899. In 1899, Mary, Albertus, and their new son moved to Palatka, Florida. While here, Mary did a lot of public services, but it all just wasn't enough for her.

Mary wanted to create a school for young, African-American girls to get an education. Five years after living in Palatka, Mary and her family moved to Daytona, Florida. Mary made her dreams come true, and found a house, that was to become the new schoolhouse. In October of 1904, Mary's school, Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School, was opened. Mary only had five students, but the total grew in a few years.

Her school was a success! In 1923, Mary's school became co-ed, with boys and girls attending. It soon merged with the Cookman Institute of Jacksonville, and the new school, became known as the Bethune-Cookman College. Along with her new school opening and such, there was also a great deal of battles. Women's suffrage was happening and African-American women had no role in politics or anything at all. There were also the issues of African-American rights.

Mary joined the Equal Suffrage League, and soon became the president of the National Association of Colored Women. Bethune thought that women should have the right to vote and were to be treated equally. Many people wanted Mary to speak about the rights of African-Americans. In the 1930's, Bethune was the founder and president of the National Council of Negro Women. From 1936 to 1944, Mary was the Director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration.

Mary McLeod Bethune received many honors for her hard work, towards African-American and women's rights. She got the Spin garn Medal in 1935, the Frances Drexel Award for Distinguished Service in 1937, and the Thomas Jefferson Award, for her great leadership, in 1942. She received the Doctor of Humanities degree from Rollins College in 1949. She was the first African-American to receive this degree from a white college. She also was the recipient of the Medal of Honor and Merit from the Republic of Haiti in 1949 and the Star of Africa from the Republic of Liberia, in 1952. After all these great honors, she passed away on May 18, 1955.

On July 10, 1974, Mary became known as the first African-American woman to be honored with a statue in Lincoln Park, in Washington, D.C. South Carolina, the home of Mary's birth, has a portrait of Mary, hanging in its state capitol.

Bibliography

Fleming, Sheila Y "Bethune-Cookman College" in Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia Brooklyn, New York: Carlson Publishing Co., 1982 Bosch, Carol Sears "Mary McLeod Bethune" (Online) Available: web "Mary McLeod Bethune" (Online) Available: web.