Mary Jane McLeod Bethune (July 10, 1875 – May 18, 1955) was an American
educator and civil rights leader best known for starting a
school for African-American students in Daytona Beach, Florida, that eventually became Bethune-Cookman
University
and for being an advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Born in South Carolina to parents who had been slaves and having to work
in fields at age five, she took an early interest in her own education.
With the help of benefactors, Bethune attended
college
hoping to become a missionary in Africa. When that did not materialize,
she started a school for black girls in Daytona Beach. From six
students it grew and merged with an institute for black boys and
eventually became the Bethune-Cookman School. Its quality far surpassed
the standards of education for black students, and rivaled those of
white schools. Bethune worked tirelessly to ensure funding for the
school, and used it as a showcase for tourists and donors, to exhibit
what educated black people could do. She was president of the college
from 1923 to 1942 and 1946 to 1947, one of the few women in the world
who served as a college president at that time.