Smithsonian American Women's History Museum’s Post

Renowned educator and reformer Mary McLeod Bethune was born on this day in 1875. She dedicated her life to organizing and empowering African American women to work for equality. In 1904, Bethune founded a school for Black girls that gave Florida students the tools they needed to become community leaders. By 1929, that institution had blossomed into Bethune-Cookman College, now a private HBCU. In the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed her director of the Division of Negro Affairs in the National Youth Administration, making her the first African American woman to head a division of a federal agency. Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935 and acted as their first president. The council influenced civil rights, education, U.S. relations with Africa, and other 20th-century movements. 🖼️: Betsy Graves Reyneau, 1943; National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution © Peter Edward Fayard

  • Oil painting portrait of Mary McLeod Bethune in a blue dress, holding a cane, standing next to a globe, with a background depicting a building through an open door.

A great example to her generation, as well as ours, of social commitment and leadership.

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