- Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) was one of seventeen children of Samuel and Patsy McLeod, slaves on the McLeod plantation in Maysville, South Carolina. Born after the Emancipation, Mary McLeod was a free woman. Seeing the overriding importance of real freedom and equality, she became a powerful force in the emerging struggle for civil rights. As an educator, she established a school for Black girls in 1904, and within 20 years she transformed it into a college. She was a valued counselor to four presidents, director of a major government agency, founder of the National Council of Negro Women, and a consultant to world figures seeking to build universal peace through the United Nations. As president of NCNW, Bethune implemented programs addressing the problems of Black women, the Black community, and the world community. Her deepest interest was in the education of women, and she led a voter registration drive in 1920 for Black women. She expanded the NCNW and launched the Aframerican Woman’s Journal. Her philosophy for the NCNW was to “visualize a growing oneness in purpose; a growing release from selfishness; ... a growing consciousness in our own souls that we work and serve NOT FOR OURSELVES, BUT FOR OTHERS!” Bethune was a powerful speaker; she marched for civil rights, and picketed businesses which discriminated against Blacks. Through her words and actions, she was one of the most influential and inspiring Black leaders in the country.
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