Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune

Born on July 10, 1875, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune was an educator, civil rights activist and presidential advisor. Bethune believed that learning–especially literacy–was the key to a better life for African Americans.

• She founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls in Daytona in 1904. In just two years, Bethune expanded her school from five to 250 students.
• That school eventually became Bethune-Cookman College (since 2007, Bethune-Cookman University); Bethune served as its president until 1942.
• She co-founded the United Negro College Fund in 1944.
• She developed friendships with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, serving as a policy advisor to both. She played a key role in organizing the so-called "Black Cabinet" of advisors, the Federal Council of Negro Affairs.
• As part of the U.S. delegation, she was the only Black woman at the 1945 founding conference of the United Nations.
• In the private sector, she was the founding president of the National Council of Negro Women; she served as vice president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and as an officer in many other organizations.
• The statue depicts Bethune at about 70 years old.