Bethune's Carolina ties

Photo: Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial in Washington, D.C.
By T&D Staff

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- On the gridiron, South Carolina State and Bethune-Cookman have forged a strong football rivalry.

Yet the Daytona Beach college owes its existence to an extraordinary Palmetto State export determined to provide an education for African-Americans.

Her name was Mary McLeod Bethune.

Born to former slaves on July 10, 1875 near Maysville, S.C., Bethune was the 15th of 17 children, most of whom were born into slavery. Toward the end of Reconstruction, her parents acquired 5 acres of land and built a family home known as the "Homestead."

While Bethune spent much of her youth working in her father’s cotton fields, she also had a burning desire to read and write. Attending a one-room schoolhouse in Maysville, Bethune showed enough promise to be recommended for a scholarship to attend Scotia Seminary near Concord, N.C. After graduating in 1894, Bethune was awarded a scholarship to Dwight Moody’s Institute for Home and Foreign Missions in Chicago.

After being told there were "no openings for Negro Missionaries in Africa," Bethune returned to Maysville after one year to serve as an assistant at the Presbyterian Mission School. From there, Bethune requested and received an appointment at the Haines Normal and Industrial Institute in Augusta, Ga. where she gained experience in a predominately female setting with primary, grammar, elementary normal and industrial courses.

Sometime between 1897 and 1898, Bethune was transferred by the Presbyterian Board to Kendell Institute at Sumter. There she continued to teach and render social services. But most importantly, she met Albertus Bethune, a former schoolteacher turned haberdasher. They were married in early May 1898; on February 3, 1899, she gave birth to Albertus McLeod Bethune Jr., in Savannah, Ga.

While living in Savannah, Mrs. Bethune met the Rev. C.J. Uggans, a Presbyterian pastor from Palatka, Fla. He offered her the opportunity to start a school in that city. At Palatka, she started a community school and worked in the jails two and three times a week, and in the sawmills and among the young people in clubs. Bethune stayed in Palatka five years, until she was encouraged to go to Daytona by Reverend S.P. Pratt who informed her that the area was fertile ground for her missionary spirit.

Having received an education at Maysville Presbyterian Mission School, Scotia Institute, and Moody’s Bible Institute, having gained teaching experience at her primary school with her mentor Emma Wilson, and having arrived in Daytona Beach in 1904 and established the Daytona Literary and Industrial School for Training Negro Girls, Bethune labored the next 20 years, dividing her time and energy between making the school a success and building for herself a national reputation.

Mary McLeod Bethune became a public leader in the second decade of the 20th century. She led a drive to register black voters in Daytona Beach, which earned her a visit from the local Ku Klux Klan. Moreover during this period, Bethune was elected president of the State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs. During four years in office, she organized scattered clubs of black women throughout the Southeast to combat school segregation and the lack of health facilities among black children. In 1924, Bethune became the eighth president of the prestigious National Association of Colored Women’s clubs (NACW). Among her accomplishments, during her first four years as president, was the acquisition of a national headquarters in the nation’s capital.

In 1923, the Daytona Literary and Industrial School for Training Negro Girls became a co-ed high school as a result of a merger with Cookman Institute of Jacksonville, Fla. A year later, the school became affiliated with the United Methodist Church, evolved into a junior college by 1931 and became known as Bethune-Cookman University.

In 1941, the Florida State Department of Education approved a 4-year baccalaureate program offering liberal arts and teacher education. Mrs. Bethune retired in 1942 at which time James A. Colston became president until 1946 when Mrs. Bethune resumed the presidency for a year.

Today, Bethune’s legacy lives on as more than 3,000 students attend Bethune-Cookman College and it is the 6th largest of the 39-member UNCF colleges. A sculpture was erected in Bethune’s honor in Lincoln Park, Washington, D.C. and her portrait proudly hangs inside the S.C. General Assembly.

Photo: Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial, Washington, DC (rear view)