The “First Lady of the Struggle” Who Built a College & Advised 4 US Presidents

Mary McLeod Bethune

Born on July 10, 1875 near Maysville, South Carolina, Bethune was the 15th of 17 children born to Samuel and Patsy McLeod, both former slaves.

By age nine, Bethune could pick 250 pounds of cotton a day.

She was the first in her family born into freedom and the first to receive formal education.

In 1904, Mary walked into Daytona Beach, Florida, and saw something nobody else could see: potential.

The Beginning of a Legacy

She rented a small house for $11 a month. The neighborhood bordered Daytona’s dump, the building was falling apart, and most people thought she was crazy.

Bethune didn’t care. She had five little girls and her five-year-old son Albert who needed an education, and that was enough to start with.

Mary’s School

The Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute opened on October 3, 1904, with only five students.

She made benches and desks from discarded crates and created “pencils” from charred wood, ink from elderberries, and mattresses from moss-stuffed corn sacks.

Tuition was 50 cents. Bethune raised money by selling homemade sweet potato pies and ice cream to crews of local workers, gathering enough to purchase more dump land.

In less than two years, the school grew to 250 students.

From 5 Students to a College

In 1923, her school merged with the all-male Cookman Institute to become Bethune-Cookman College. By 1941, the school was a four-year college on a thirty-two-acre campus with fourteen buildings and 600 students.

But Bethune wasn’t done building.

Expanding Her Service

When one of her students got appendicitis and was initially refused treatment at the local hospital, Bethune saw another problem to solve.

She found a cabin near the school, and through sponsors helping her raise money, she purchased it for five thousand dollars.

In 1911, Bethune opened the first Black hospital in Daytona Beach, naming it McLeod Hospital after her parents. It started with two beds and, within a few years, held twenty.

The hospital proved its worth quickly. After an explosion at a nearby construction site, the hospital took in injured Black workers.

The hospital and its nurses were also praised for their efforts with the 1918 influenza outbreak.

Advising 4 US Presidents

Meanwhile, she caught the attention of presidents.

In 1936 Roosevelt appointed her administrative assistant for Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration, making her the first Black woman to lead a federal agency.

She advised four presidents and founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935.

She was the only African American woman to hold an official position with the US delegation that created the United Nations charter.

The Mary Bethune McLeod Home

Her two-story home was purchased for Bethune in 1913 and became her primary residence until her death in 1955.

Phone calls that changed laws happened in her living room. Dinner parties that shaped policy took place at her kitchen table.

She hosted everyone from Eleanor Roosevelt to Langston Hughes, who recalled being invited by Mary Bethune to give a reading at Bethune-Cookman College in 1929.

Mary Bethune’s Home Remains

In 1955, Dr. Bethune had a heart attack and died on the back porch of her Daytona Beach home.

She is buried on the campus of Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The house where it all began still stands and is maintained in the same state as when occupied by Bethune. The rooms have not been changed since her death and the original furnishings remain.

Visiting The Mary McLeod Bethune Home

Located at 640 Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard on the Bethune-Cookman University campus, this National Historic Landmark normally offers free guided tours Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Saturdays by appointment.

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