Recently, a statue of Bethune was unveiled in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.
Educator and adviser to presidents
Bethune was born in Mayesville, South Carolina, a decade after the Civil War ended. Her parents had been enslaved. She attended school in Mayesville, which was uncommon for Black Americans during the Reconstruction era. This opportunity set her on her path as an educator.
Bethune worked as a teacher in Georgia and South Carolina. After marrying Albertus Bethune in 1898, she opened a missionary school in Palatka, Florida. Over the next two decades, she opened a school for girls in Daytona Beach, Florida, and helped create Bethune-Cookman College. There she became the first Black woman college president, serving from 1931–1947.
Over the course of her life, Bethune served as the vice president of both the NAACP and the National Urban League, in addition to advising Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover on education and youth employment.
As a friend of first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Bethune attracted the attention of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who asked her to serve as a special adviser for the National Youth Administration. From there, Bethune became a part of Roosevelt’s “Black Cabinet,” where she worked to create more opportunities for Black Americans under the New Deal.
During World War II, she worked with President Harry S. Truman to include Black women in the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps and Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. Those Black women went on to serve in the European theater.
After retiring in the late 1940s to her home in Daytona Beach, Bethune died May 18, 1955.
When the statue of Bethune was unveiled in July, she became the first Black American to have her statue donated as the gift of a state in the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall Collection.
The sculptor, Nilda Comas, is also the first Hispanic artist with a work in the National Statuary Hall collection in the Capitol.
The statue depicts Bethune in an academic cap and gown, holding a black rose made from Spanish marble in her left hand and a walking stick — modeled on one owned by Roosevelt — in her right.
The base includes a quote from Bethune: “I invest in the human soul. It may be a diamond in the rough.”
—
Previously Published on share.america.gov
***
You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project
Compliments Men Want to Hear More Often | Relationships Aren’t Easy, But They’re Worth It | The One Thing Men Want More Than Sex | ..A Man’s Kiss Tells You Everything |
Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community. A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities. A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.
Register New Account
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.—