Mary Mcleod Bethune Essay

July 10th, 1875 was the day that miss Mary Mcleod Bethune was born in Mayesville South Carolina to her mother and father, who previously themselves were slaves. Mary, later in life, would come to be recognized as “one of the most prominent African American women of the first half of the twentieth century-- and one of the most powerful.”. After serving as an educator,an activist, and an advisor for a line of presidents Mary can be credited as a major figure in the road to equal opportunity in the field of education. As a child in a family of nineteen, seventeen children and their two parents, it wasn't likely that she would have known anything else because there were no opportunities for any of her siblings to go to school, all they knew was
During her time spent as an activist for African-American rights she fought for a variety of things such as the end of lynching, African-American civil rights, equal pay, and the poll tax. Not only was she involved in clubs and groups that would advocate negro women's rights but she also got involved politically with her later position as the black administrator/advisor in the Roosevelt administration where she was referred to upon matters such as “minority affairs and interracial relations”. When Mary wasn't involved with the education or government environments she was out protesting for African-American rights, for example, by picketing businesses that would refuse to hire African-American workers and was a speaker at many “conferences devoted to racial issues.”. As one can observe from only a few examples of what Mary did with her life one could say that she was persistent and active in advocating for better and equal opportunity for African-American children and