Almost 70 years since her death in May 1955, Americans are still learning more about Mary McLeod Bethune’s critical contributions to advancing opportunities for African Americans and United States history.
For instance, in the 2024 Netflix film “The Six Triple Eight,” directed by Tyler Perry and based on the real life story of the all-Black woman postal battalion in World War II, Oprah Winfrey plays the role of Bethune. Having been known to work closely with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt on efforts for African Americans, the film depicts Bethune’s influence reaching the White House, and shows her as the person to suggest sending the group of Black women overseas to not only organize mail for troops, but boost morale.
While modern audiences are being reintroduced to Bethune’s life and work, The New York Times once described the activist and educator as “one of the most potent factors in the growth of interracial goodwill in America.” In 1955, The Washington Post deemed her “dynamis and force so great” that it was “almost impossible to resist her,” touting her spirit as both courageous and ebullient.
With pop culture references and universities like Bethune-Cookman continuing to carry on her legacy to this day, Bethune remains an instrumental change agent for the nation.
“I could be here all day telling you what [Bethune] accomplished in her 80 years,” said Laureen Galayda, director of Christian Education at First Baptist Church in Southington, Connecticut, who kicked off Black History Month on Feb. 2 with a ‘Children’s Message’ sermon dedicated to Bethune’s life’s work and legacy. “Her influence on America is one of the reasons that our church honors Black History Month every year.”
Bethune was a pioneer of many talents. As a businesswoman, she developed insurance companies and resorts; as a woman of faith, she founded a missionary school in Palatka, Florida after being denied the sponsorship to pursue missionary work in Africa.
But as a leader of civil rights, she tirelessly championed racial and gender equality, dotting decades of service before her passing on May 18, 1955.
“To some, she seemed unreal, something that could not be…The lesson of Mrs. Bethune’s life is that genius knows no racial barriers,” The Daytona Beach Evening Newspaper printed in tribute to her death.
‘The Threefold Training: Hand, Head, Heart‘
The daughter of formerly enslaved parents, Bethune was born on July 10, 1875 in a post-Emancipation Proclamation society–a time that presented new world opportunities for African American scholars.
After graduating from Scotia Seminary in 1894, she dove into missionary work at the Dwight Moody’s Institute for Home and Foreign Missions in Chicago, Illinois before pivoting to education in South Carolina.
By the late 1900s, Bethune had leveraged her name as a force to be reckoned with. She settled in the Sunshine State of Florida with goals to support her son and enhance African American scholarship, and opened the Daytona Beach Literary and Industrial School for Training Negro Girls in 1904, which eventually merged with the all-male Cookman Institute to later form Bethune-Cookman College in 1929 – now an accredited university (B-CU).
Today, B-CU – the only historically Black institution founded by a woman – follows the namesake’s guided principles of faith, scholarship and service to develop the next generation of Black leaders.
“My philosophy of education is the basic principle upon which my life has been built – that is the threefold training of head, hand, heart,” Bethune wrote in a 1946 letter to long-time educator Josephine T. Washington. “I believe in a rounded education with a belief in the dignity and refinement of labor – in doing well whatever task is assigned to me. A belief in a spiritual undergirding [sic] of all my efforts and a clear, sane mental development.”
Bethune continued to break barriers for Black women on a local and national level well into her old age.
She worked closely within multiple presidential administrations and forefronted many organizations – including the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), which she founded in 1935– to fight for racial integration, women’s suffrage rights, and anti-lynching and discrimination.
“If we accept and acquiesce in the face of discrimination, we accept the responsibility ourselves,” Bethune was once quoted saying. “We should, therefore, protest openly everything … that smacks of discrimination or slander.”
Bethune’s Legacy in Washington, D.C.
While the civil rights activist is buried on the campus of B-CU, her unshakable presence thrives in the nation’s capital.
Her former residence in Northwest Washington is preserved as The Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site.
A memorial statue in Bethune’s honor in Lincoln Park was originally unveiled in 1974 as the first memorial to honor an African American and a woman in a public park in the nation’s capital. Last July, members of the NCNW and local leaders gathered at the historic monument to honor Bethune’s legacy three days after what would’ve been her 149th birthday.
“[Bethune’s] tireless advocacy for voting rights resonates strongly today, certainly in Washington, D.C. and our push for statehood,” said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on July 13, 2024, emphasizing the importance of Black history recognition. “We are challenged to make sure we remember our history and make sure it’s properly reflected in our public spaces, buildings, and curriculum.”