The resilience and impact of Mary McLeod Bethune

January 3, 2020

Mary McLeod Bethune was a leader born to formerly enslaved parents. Her approach to education illustrated resilience that would influence how other black women would perceive race and gender. Mary McLeod Bethune believed that school was the key to reach racial equality as the country was still opposed to this equality in the early 20th century. Mary McLeod Bethune was resilient as she worked hard to ensure that every single black individual would get an equal opportunity to make it through life. Her resilience is illustrated in that she worked tirelessly to open schools in her early years when she did not have any tangible assets. Crates were used as desks, and even though some parents could not afford the tuition fee, the children were never turned away. Mary McLeod Bethune fought to get rid of segregation, and this view influenced how black women would look at gender and race. It was not about differences, but instead, it was about working together to achieve a particular objective regardless of gender or race. Mary McLeod Bethune would also work in cooperation with multiple organizations.

Her rise to the leadership position of organizations such as the National Association of Colored Women would act to influence the women that women were capable of rising to the highest national positions. With the emerging era of the modern woman, Mary McLeod Bethune did also address how the women could strengthen their families to ensure that their future was secure. Mary McLeod Bethune was the focal point on the importance of education, as many black women would start to enroll in different schools. Bethune’s efforts legacy lives on decades after her death. The reduction of segregation in schools and hospitals in modern society points to how Bethune changed the views of the black women who fought to acquire equal rights.

• Tags: AMERICANHISTORY ANCESTORS BLACK GIRL MAGIC BLACK HISTORY BLACK HISTORY 365 BLACK WOMEN BLACKHISTORY BLOGCIVIL RIGHTS EDUCATION HISTORY LESSON HISTORYLOVER MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE SOUTH

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