• About Us
  • Paper Locations
  • Contact
Hispanic News || Shirley Ann Flower Shop || RS Deer Ranch
May 28, 2023
MEDIA KIT
African American News and Issues
63 °f
Houston
  • National
    • Politics
  • Local
    • Community
    • Announcements
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Education
  • Lifestyle
    • Entertainment
    • Health
  • Afram TV
  • Events
  • E-Editions
    • Archives
  • Resources
No Result
View All Result
African American News and Issues
  • National
    • Politics
  • Local
    • Community
    • Announcements
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Education
  • Lifestyle
    • Entertainment
    • Health
  • Afram TV
  • Events
  • E-Editions
    • Archives
  • Resources
No Result
View All Result
African American News and Issues
No Result
View All Result
  • AframNews Media Kit
  • About
  • Paper Locations
Home Black History

Know Your History: Mary McLeod Bethune

aframnews by aframnews
October 17, 2021
in Black History, Education, Featured, National, News
0
Know Your History: Mary McLeod Bethune
77
SHARES
1.3k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedIn

A marble statue of civil rights pioneer Mary McLeod Bethune is replacing one of a Confederate general in the US Capitol’s Statuary Hall, making history as the first African American to have a state-commissioned statue in that particular hall. This is the perfect time to honor Bethune, and educate you about her life’s work in this week’s “Know Your History.”

You might also like

Flip the Coin

Rock Legend Tina Turner Dies at 83

It’s Not About Age

The National Statuary Hall Collection features two statues from each state. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis requested the replacement of the General Edmund Kirby Smith statue in 2019.

US Rep. Kathy Castor of Florida said, “Dr. Bethune embodies the very best of the Sunshine State — Floridians and all Americans can take great pride in being represented by the great educator and civil rights icon.”

The 11-foot-tall statue of Bethune, which was unveiled Monday in Daytona Beach, Florida, will be on display in Daytona Beach through December before it makes its way to the US Capitol in early 2022.

Who is Mary McLeod Bethune?

Born in Mayesville, South Carolina, to parents who had been slaves, she started working in fields with her family at age five. She took an early interest in becoming educated, and with the help of benefactors, attended college hoping to become a missionary in Africa. She started a school for African-American girls in Daytona Beach, Florida which later merged with a private institute for African-American boys and was known as the Bethune-Cookman School. Bethune maintained high standards and promoted the school with tourists and donors to demonstrate what educated African Americans could do. She was president of the college from 1923 to 1942, and 1946 to 1947. She was one of the few women in the world to serve as a college president at that time.

Bethune founded the National Council for Negro Women in 1935, established the organization’s flagship journal Aframerican Women’s Journal, and resided as president or leader for myriad African American women’s organizations including the National Association for Colored Women and the National Youth Administration’s Negro Division. She also was appointed as a national adviser to president Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom she worked with to create the Federal Council on colored Affairs, also known as the Black Cabinet. She is well known for starting a private school for African-American students in Daytona Beach, Florida; it later continued to develop as Bethune-Cookman University. Bethune was the sole African American woman officially a part of the US delegation that created the United Nations charter, and held a leadership position for the American Women’s Voluntary Services founded by Alice Throckmorton McLean. For her lifetime of activism, she was deemed “acknowledged First Lady of Negro America” by Ebony magazine in July 1949 and was known by the Black Press as the “Female Booker T. Washington.” She was known as “The First Lady of The Struggle” because of her commitment to gain better lives for African Americans.

Bethune was also active in women’s clubs, which were strong civic organizations supporting welfare and other needs, and became a national leader. Bethune wrote prolifically, publishing in National Notes from 1924–1928, Pittsburgh Courier from 1937–1938, Aframerican Women’s Journal from 1940–1949, and Chicago Defender from 1948–1955, among others. After working on the presidential campaign for Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, she was invited as a member of his “Black Cabinet.” She advised him on concerns of African Americans and helped share Roosevelt’s message and achievements with blacks, who had historically been Republican voters since the Civil War. At the time, blacks had been largely disenfranchised in the South since the turn of the century, so she spoke to black voters across the North. Upon her death, columnist Louis E. Martin said, “She gave out faith and hope as if they were pills and she some sort of doctor.”

Tags: /know Your Historymary mcleod bethuneUS Capitol's Statuary Hall
Share31Tweet19
aframnews

aframnews

Recommended For You

Flip the Coin

by Bobby E Mills, PhD
May 26, 2023
0
Flip the Coin

America, we have experienced in real time a two tailed coin: Herschel Walker and Senator Tim Scott. What an abomination, and a damn shame for these two Black...

Read more

Rock Legend Tina Turner Dies at 83

by NNPA
May 24, 2023
0
Rock Legend Tina Turner Dies at 83

Tina Turner, the “Queen of Rock ‘n Roll’ whose legend grew after she overcame a bitter divorce to musician Ike Turner that was filled with violence, has died...

Read more

It’s Not About Age

by Bobby E Mills, PhD
May 21, 2023
0
It’s Not About Age

Age is only a number. Therefore, age does not determine or define one’s abilities or capabilities in achieving or completing a certain goal. Thus, it is not about...

Read more

What Color is God

by Bobby E Mills, PhD
May 13, 2023
0
What Color is God

Mankind’s desire is to play God. To not honor and serve God is a monumental problem. Therefore, individuals have always sought to define God in anthropological terms, rather...

Read more

Jack Yates Drama wins UIL One Act Play at Regional Competition

by Crystal LaShan
May 6, 2023
0
Jack Yates Drama wins UIL One Act Play at Regional Competition

"Women, if the soul of our nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul." - Coretta Scott King Jack Yates High School has...

Read more
Next Post
Billy Preston with afro. Courtesy, Wikipedia

Protecting our ‘Crown and Glory’

Latest Articles

RICH BLACK, POOR BLACK

RICH BLACK, POOR BLACK

May 26, 2023
A Military Experience

A Military Experience

May 26, 2023
Edison Arts Foundation’4th Annual Tutus and Tuxes

Edison Arts Foundation’4th Annual Tutus and Tuxes

May 26, 2023

NEED PAST ISSUES?

Search our archive of past issues Receive our Latest Updates
* indicates required
  • Local
  • National
  • Community
  • Education
  • Politics
  • COVID-19
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports

ARTICLES

  • Local
  • National
  • Community
  • Education
  • Politics
  • COVID-19
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports

CONNECT WITH US

  • Home
  • Advertise With Us
  • Contact

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

  • Hispanic News
  • Shirley Ann’s Flower Shop
African American News and Issues

African American News & Issues
6130 Wheatley St
Houston, TX 77091
(713) 692-1892

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Copyright © 2023. African American News & Issues. All rights reserved. Private Policy | Terms of Use |

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • National
  • Local
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Education
  • Health
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Announcements
  • Events
  • Afram TV
  • Contact

Copyright © 2023. African American News & Issues. All rights reserved. Private Policy | Terms of Use |

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?