Mary McLeod Bethune was born on July 10, 1875. Her parents, former slaves, recognized the power of education.
In 1904, she opened the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School with just five students, which later became Bethune-Cookman College in 1929.
She founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935 and was an influential advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt on “Negro affairs.”
In 1974, she became the first Black leader and woman honored with a statue in a public park in Washington, D.C. She passed away on May 18, 1955.
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