July 10, 1875 – Author, educator, and African American Civil Rights leader, Mary McLeod Bethune, was born in Mayesville, South Carolina. The fifteenth child of former slaves, Bethune knew from a young age that education was the key to success.
She attended Scotia Seminary School, and the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Bethune moved to Palatka, Florida, in 1899 and began teaching. She moved to Daytona in 1904, and in October of that year opened the Literary and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls.
She worked tirelessly to keep the school open by gaining support from wealthy benefactors, many from outside Florida. In 1931 the school was merged with the Cookman Institute, establishing a coeducational junior college known as Bethune-Cookman College (now University).
She was involved in a number of civic groups including the National Council of Negro Women, the National Youth Administration (a WPA program), the National Association of Colored Women, the Federal Council of Negro Affairs, and many others. She was a close friend of President Franklin and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and devoted her life to the education and civil betterment of African Americans.
~Florida Historical Society