Friday, November 27, 2009 11:07 AM CST
USA's Yesterdays -- Mary McLeod Bethune: Her resolute will paved the way
By Hal Malehorn
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is rightly well-regarded for his work in winning civil rights for blacks during the 1950s and ‘60s. However, a generation before Dr. King was even born, Mary McLeod Bethune was championing the need for justice for members of the black race.
And before Mrs. Bethune was done, she had occupied 18 different positions of leadership in state and national organizations, working for educational, political and societal benefits for blacks. Moreover, she had served in 11 federal consultancies dedicated to those same causes. She had also founded a junior college, Bethune-Cookman, in Daytona, Fla.
And during her lifetime she was granted 10 honorary degrees and six medals and decorations, in recognition of her relentless dedication to racial justice.
Furthermore, all this was achieved in spite of her being a woman, being black, and living most of her life in the Deep South.
Mary Jane McLeod was born near Mayesville, S.C., on July 10, 1875, the 15th of 17 children of former-slave parents. Her father farmed a small acreage, which he owned outright.
As the family was strictly religious, Mary Jane soon learned the difference between right and wrong. And, from her youngest years, she perceived that what was happening to blacks was simply not right.
When the Presbyterian Board of Missions opened a local school for blacks, her parents enrolled Mary Jane. The girl faithfully attended classes, braving the taunts of local white boys — and occasional attacks by their dogs.
At age 12, Mary Jane, intent on furthering her education, traveled by rail to study at Scotia School, a boarding institution for black girls in North Carolina. There she would remain for seven years. And there she began exercising her natural leadership, carrying to the teachers some of her classmates’ petitions.
In 1894 Mary Jane, hoping to become a foreign missionary, transferred to the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago — the only black so enrolled. However, having finished her course of study, she discovered that there were no openings for black missionaries to Africa. Undeterred, she decided to turn her attention to a quite different mission: educating young blacks in America.
Mary’s first assignment was to teach in the Haines Institute in Atlanta. There, in spite of heavy odds, Mary and others developed a Sunday School enrolling a thousand urchins. These children were taught lessons of personal hygiene, cleanliness and pride — along with customary religious beliefs.
Another fortuitous outcome of that effort was her meeting and marrying Albertus Bethune, a former teacher.
In 1900 the Bethunes, with their sole offspring “Bert” in hand, moved to Palatka, Fla., thence in 1904 to Daytona, where Mary opened her own school; the name of it exceeded in length the first membership roll: “The Daytona Literary and Industrial School for Training Negro Girls.” The first day of classes five little girls showed up.
Scraping and scratching to get by, Mary Bethune was indomitable in her desire to help her own; begging, borrowing, making do for rent and equipment, she expanded her efforts to include evening classes for adults. There again she instructed attendees in basic cleanliness and housekeeping skills — along with instruction in how to maintain stable and lasting marital relationships.
Contrary to local Southern customs, she insisted upon being called “Mrs. Bethune,” instead of “Auntie.” And she further ignored Southern fashion by insisting that her meetings, meals and other gatherings be racially integrated — or she otherwise refused to appear. Then, too, she always entered public buildings via their front doors, not the rear ones.
And she unflinchingly faced the intimidation of the local Ku Klux Klan’s attempts to keep blacks from voting.
Along the way, Mrs. Bethune won the unstinting support of two influential and wealthy winter tourists: James Gamble, president of Proctor and Gamble; and Thomas White, president of the White Sewing Machine Company. These two men did much to facilitate her establishing the Bethune-Cookman Institute.
To further solicit backing for her many projects, Mrs. Bethune traveled tirelessly, at times taking along groups of children to sing for potential donors. At the close of these concerts, Mrs. Bethune often triumphantly exclaimed, “We are rising!”
Back home, Mrs. Bethune insisted that the city extend running water, sewer and electric utilities to include her school. And, as her logic and force of personality were hard to resist, she got her way.
She also arranged to visit the nearby turpentine camps, where she instructed adults in sewing, reading and singing. And she fearlessly ministered to prisoners shackled together in chain gangs.
A two-bed hospital Mrs. Bethune established quickly expanded to 26 beds (plus the addition of a nursing school), thanks to her personal appearances before assorted groups of New York City’s social elite. Undaunted by their wealth, she appealed to any and all potential benefactors.
As many of her tasks were eventually taken over by competent managers, Mrs. Bethune increasingly found herself on call from several presidents of the United States. For example, she was requested to attend the White House Conference on Child Welfare convened in 1928 by Calvin Coolidge. She was the only black so invited.
Similarly, as the Great Depression deepened, and then World War II broke out, on numerous occasions Mrs. Bethune was personally requested by President Roosevelt to serve on various commissions dealing with the blacks’ involvements in the armed forces, unions and work places. Moreover, her influence in Washington, D.C., became so consequential and her reputation so widely regarded, that she often conferred with FDR directly.
One of Mrs. Bethune’s favorite responsibilities was the National Youth Administration. Under her leadership thousands of young blacks were trained in useful trades. On behalf of the NYA, in one year alone she traveled 40,000 miles, visiting 69 centers in 21 states.
Alas, such an expenditure of energy was bound to take its toll. On May 18, 1955, “Mother” Bethune arose from her rocker, collapsed and died.
Today, Bethune-Cookman University remains as a living memorial to a lifetime of good works. And the students enrolled there are likely inspired by their founder. Their triumphant cry: “We are still rising!”
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