How Did Mary Mcleod Bethune Impact Society

Mary McLeod Bethune was born on July 10th, 1875 in Maysville, South Carolina. She was the only one of seventeen children to go to school. Bethune was an educator, author, civil rights activist leader, and an innovator, and she has had a great impact on the state of Florida. In 1904, Mary McLeod Bethune started a private school for African American students in Daytona Beach, Florida called Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls. Bethune founded the school with $1.50, five young girls as students, and faith. In 1923 the school merged with Cookman Institute of Jacksonville which made the school co-ed. In 1924, the school became affiliated with The United Methodist Church in 1924 which would led to the school becoming a junior college. The school’s name would change to Bethune-Cookman College. The school continued to grow and provide education for many. In 1941, the Florida State Department of Education approved a 4-year baccalaureate program which would offer liberal arts and teacher education. Bethune stated “Faith is the first factor in a life devoted to service. Without it, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.” She believed that education provided the key to racial advancement.

A black student was turned away from the hospital in Daytona Beach, Florida. That would motivate Bethune to During World War I, Bethune helped pressure the American Red Cross to integrate hospitals. Bethune urged Daytona blacks to register and vote, and she had to withstand attacks by the Ku Klux Klan. She also invested in real estate, and owned one fourth of a resort in Daytona. In 1923, Bethune was a co-founder of “Central Life Insurance Company of Tampa”. In 1952, Bethune became the company’s president, at the time; she was the only woman in America to hold this