1940's Education | Mary McLeod Bethune's Letter to Eleanor Roosevelt

Letter

By: Mary McLeod Bethune

Date: April 22, 1941

Source: McCluskey, Audrey Thomas, and Elaine M. Smith, eds. Mary McLeod Bethune: Building a Better World—Essays and Selected Documents. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999, 120–21.

About the Author: Mary McLeod Bethune (1895–1955) one of seventeen children whose parents were freed slaves, was born in Mayesville, South Carolina. She opened a school for girls in 1904, which later became Bethune-Cookman College, where she served as president for many years. She was the director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration (NYA) and the founder and first president of the National Council of Negro Women. In 1974, she was honored with a national monument in Washington, D.C.

Introduction

The story of Mary McLeod Bethune's struggle to get an education and fund her own...