

Mary McLeod Bethune
Jan 8, 2025
36:55
Movie Trailer Inspiration
- Tracy V. Wilson was moved to tears by a movie trailer about the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion.
- The trailer also featured Oprah Winfrey portraying Mary McLeod Bethune.
Family Background
- Mary McLeod Bethune's parents, Samuel and Patsy McLeod, were former slaves who reunited with their children after emancipation.
- Although widely believed, Bethune was not the first in her family to be born free.
Early Life and Education
- Mary McLeod Bethune's parents were devout Methodists who instilled strong religious values in their children.
- A white child's comment about her inability to read fueled Bethune's determination to learn.
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Intro
00:00 • 3min
The Early Life of Mary McLeod Bethune
02:43 • 8min
Foundations of Education: Bethune's Journey
11:03 • 4min
Trailblazing Activism: The Life of a Black Educator
15:11 • 11min
Executive Order 8802: A Turning Point
26:11 • 3min
Legacy of Mary McLeod Bethune
29:27 • 11min
Purrs, Dental Woes, and Podcast Promotions
40:53 • 2min
Mary McLeod Bethune was an educator, activist, and civil servant who dedicated her entire life to the pursuit of racial and gender equality. Her impressive legacy includes schools, legislation, and the formation of the Women's Army Corps.
Research:
- Architect of the Capitol. “Mary McLeod Bethune.” https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/mary-mcleod-bethune-statue
- Bethune, Mary McLeod. “Dr. Bethune's Last Will & Testament.” Bethune-Cookman University. https://www.cookman.edu/history/last-will-testament.html
- Bethune, Mary McLeod. “Mary McLeod Bethune: Building a Better World: Essays and Selected Documents.” Indiana University Press. 1999.
- Brewer, William M. “Mary McLeod Bethune.” Negro History Bulletin , November, 1955, Vol. 19, No. 2 (November, 1955), p. 48, 36. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44212916
- "Bethune, Mary Mcleod." Encyclopedia of Race and Racism, edited by John Hartwell Moore, vol. 1, Macmillan Reference USA, 2008, pp. 166-167. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2831200056/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=8b031f93. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
- Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project. “Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955).” https://erpapers.columbian.gwu.edu/mary-mcleod-bethune-1875-1955
- Flemming, Shelia Y. and Elaine M. Smith. “Mary McLeod Bethune: Born for Greatness: Introduction to Special Volume.” Phylon (1960-), Vol. 59, No. 2 (WINTER 2022), pp. 21-54. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27180573
- Foreman, Adam. “The Extraordinary Life of Mary McLeod Bethune.” The National World War II Museum. July 30, 2020. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/mary-mcleod-bethune
- Johnson-Miller, Beverly C. "Mary McLeod Bethune: black educational ministry leader of the early 20th century." Christian Education Journal, vol. 3, no. 2, fall 2006, pp. 330+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A154513137/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=175ad2e0. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
- Jones, Martha S. “Mary McLeod Bethune Was at the Vanguard of More Than 50 Years of Black Progress.” Smithsonian. 7/2020. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/mary-mcleod-bethune-vanguard-more-than-50-years-black-progress-180975202/
- Long, Kim Cliett. "Dr. Mary Mcleod Bethune: a life devoted to service." Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table, fall 2011. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A317588290/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=af61ca7a. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
- "Mary McLeod Bethune." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History, edited by Thomas Carson and Mary Bonk, Gale, 1999. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1667000015/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=96df5412. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
- McCLUSKEY, AUDREY T. "Representing the Race: Mary McLeod Bethune and the Press in the Jim Crow Era." The Western Journal of Black Studies, vol. 23, no. 4, winter 1999, p. 236. Gale In Context:
- U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A62354228/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=d189f
- Michals, Debra. "Mary McLeod Bethune." National Women's History Museum. National Women's History Museum, 2015. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/mary-mcleod-bethune
- Moorer, Vanessa. “Mary McLeod Bethune.” National Museum of African American History and Culture. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/mary-mcleod-bethune
- National Parks Service. “Mary McLeod Bethune. Mary McLeod Bethune Council House. https://www.nps.gov/mamc/learn/historyculture/mary-mcleod-bethune.htm
- PBS American Experience. “Eleanor and Mary McLeod Bethune.” https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/eleanor-bethune/
- Popp, Veronica. “Black roses: The womanist partnership of Frances Reynolds Keyser and Mary McLeod Bethune.” Journal of Lesbian Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/10894160.2024.2385714
- Roosevelt, Eleanor. “My Day: May 20, 1955.” https://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1955&_f=md003174
- Smith, Elaine M. “Mary McLeod Bethune Papers: The Bethune-Cookman College Collection, 1922–1955.” Alabama State University. /https://pq-static-content.proquest.com/collateral/media2/documents/1397_MaryMcLBethuneCollege.pdf
- Smith, Elaine M. “Mary McLeod Bethune: In the Leadership Orbit of Men.” Phylon (1960-), WINTER 2022, Vol. 59, No. 2 (WINTER 2022). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/27180575
- Smith, Elaine M. “Mary McLeod Bethune’s ‘Last Will and Testament’: A Legacy for Race Vindication.” The Journal of Negro History, vol. 81, no. 1/4, 1996, pp. 105–22. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2717611. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.
- State Library and Archives of Florida. “Mary McLeod Bethune.” Florida Memory. https://www.floridamemory.com/learn/classroom/learning-units/mary-mcleod-bethune/
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