Mary Mcleod Bethune's Life As A Social Activist

Mary McLeod Bethune

Mary Jane McLeod was born July 10, 1875 in Mayesville, S.C. She was the 15th of 15 children. Her parent's names were Samuel and Pasty McLeod. They were former slaves. She was the first child born free. They were dirt poor.

Education was the first step out of poverty, but there were no schools for blacks. Mary was determined to read like white people. Fortunately, one kind lady opened a school for young African Americans, and she convinced Mary's father to let Mary attend. Mary's father did not really want her to attend because he wanted her to work in the cotton fields with the rest of the family.

Mary did very well in school and wanted to go farther than elementary school. In 1887, another kind lady paid for her to get more schooling. She entered Scotia Seminary in Concord, N.C. After high school, in 1894, she studied at Moody Bible college in Chicago to be a missionary to share the bible with blacks in Africa, but she denied this job because of her color. Instead of becoming a missionary as she had planned, she became a teacher.

She had a dream to open her own school for black girls. With God's help, five little girls, and $1.50, she founded the Daytona Literary and Industrial School for Negro Girls in

At the end of her life, in her last will and testament, Mary Jane McLeod Bethune had some very wise words to give to other black people. I think these words are so impressive that they should be for all people. In her will Mary didn't talk about “stuff;”to give to other people, instead, she made a true “testimony” of what she felt was important in life- responsibility, courage, faith, confidence, service, dignity, and hope. She said, “Our children must never lose their zeal for building a better