Portrait of Mary McLeod Bethune
Carl Van Vechten, Portrait of Mary McLeod Bethune, 1949. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division, Van Vechten Collection, Washington, D.C.
Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial, Washington, D.C.
Carol M. Highsmith (photographer), Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial, Washington, D.C., 1980. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.
This video was created by the New-York Historical Society Teen Leaders in collaboration with the Untold project.
Mary McLeod Bethune was born on July 10, 1875 in Mayesville, South Carolina. She was one of seventeen children. Her parents and some of her older siblings had been enslaved before the Civil War. Mary spent much of her childhood balancing school and work in cotton fields. In 1888, she earned a scholarship to Scotia Seminary in North Carolina. After graduation in 1893, she continued her studies with the goal of completing missionary work in Africa. However, most churches sent only white missionaries abroad, so Mary became a teacher instead.
While teaching, Mary met fellow teacher Albertus Bethune. Mary and Albertus married in 1898 and had a son named Albert in 1899. Shortly after Albert’s birth, the family moved to Daytona, Florida. Although the Ku Klux Klan had a chapter in Daytona, many Black families moved to the area in search of jobs.
Mary saw an opportunity in this growing community. She knew that education was one of the few ways Black citizens, especially Black women, could break the cycle of poverty and dependence on racist systems when they were still denied voting rights and economic opportunities. There were very few schools for Black girls in the area, so Mary founded one.
On October 3, 1904, Mary opened the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute with only five students. The school focused on practical, employable skills, including domestic science, sewing, agriculture, and teaching. Within two years, she had 250 students, many of whom lived in the school’s dormitories.
In 1907, Albertus left Mary. Although they would officially stay married until his death in 1918, Mary had to raise their son and manage her growing school alone.
Mary did not allow personal challenges to jeopardize her school. She worked tirelessly to keep the school running. Many of the school’s supplies were donated secondhand or picked up by Mary at the local landfill. Mary had so little money that she wore secondhand clothing mended by her students in sewing class. Her hard work attracted the attention of both white and Black philanthropists who vacationed in Florida. The school’s board soon counted many of the nation’s most famous businessmen as members, including John D. Rockefeller, Jr. In later years, Black millionaire and businesswoman Madam C.J. Walker was a donor.
The school adapted to the community’s changing needs. Mary added a high school and vocational programs. In 1911, she realized that none of the local hospitals served Black patients. In response, she added a nursing program so that the school could open its own hospital.
By 1923, Black education in Florida was changing. With more public schools opening, Mary shifted her focus to helping young women after high school. She merged her school with the older Cookman Institute for