Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) was born in Mayesville, South Carolina, the daughter and sister of formerly enslaved people. After discovering an interest in education, she attended Scotia Seminary in Concord, North Carolina before studying to be a missionary at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. She taught in South Carolina and Georgia before going to Florida and establishing the Daytona Literacy and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls in 1904; today, her school has transformed into Bethune-Cookman University. In addition to being an educator, Mary McLeod Bethune was a civil rights activist and founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935. She worked with Presidents Hebert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt and was a consultant on the drawing up of the charter for the United Nations. During the American Revolution Bicentennial, a portrait of Bethune was unveiled at the South Carolina State House on her birthday, July 10th. This is a program from the unveiling with information about the portrait unveiling ceremony, a performance of Langston Hughes’ play Don’t You Want to Be Free? by the Benedict College Drama Club, and the Mary McLeod Bethune Bicentennial Recognition Dinner.
