Mary McLeod Bethune #1506

Caption from poster__        Mary McLeod Bethune   " The true worth of a race must be measured by the character of its womanhood."     Born the 15th of 17 children of former slaves in Maysville, South Carolina,  Mary Jane McLeod Bethune eventually became a prominent educator,  presidential advisor and political activist. As a child, Bethune quickly dis- covered education’s relationship to political and economic freedom through reading and writing. She was once ordered by a white child to put down a book after insisting that she could not read. Unlike her parents and siblings, Bethune was born free and was fortunate to be formally educated at the  Maysville School, a missionary school for African Americans. Shortly after  graduating from the Maysville School, Bethune continued her education on a scholarship at the Scotia Seminary for Girls in Concord, North Carolina.  After graduating from Scotia, Bethune initially wanted to be a Christian  missionary in Africa. After teaching and worki