Background of Dr Mary McLeod Bethune “Everyone must leave something behind when he dies . . . Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die . . . It doesn't matter what you do, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away.” ― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 On July 10, 1875, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune was born on a farm near Mayesville, South Carolina. Mary McLeod was the 15th of 17 children of former slaves. Growing up amidst poverty and unjust manner with the reconstruction of the south, Dr. Bethune did not give up and let her circumstances define who she was or what she was going to be. Dr. Bethune worked alongside her parents and siblings in the fields until she enrolled at the Trinity Presbyterian Mission School at the age of 10. It was at this school that her eyes opened to the world and she later went on to study at a Seminary in hopes of becoming a Missionary. When that did not work she kept striving and became a teacher and soon fulfilled her dream of opening a school, which led her to Florida. In 1904 she founded the Daytona Educational and Industrial School for Negro Girls in Daytona Beach, Florida, which later merged with the Cookman Institute to become Bethune-Cookman College. In 2007, the school got its university status and became Bethune-Cookman University. While working to build what is now known as Bethune Cookman University (BCU), Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune became a national leader on issues relating to civil rights, education, women and also young people. She became president of the State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, and organized the group to fight against school segregation and ins... ... middle of paper ... ...ns, especially women. She was able to travel and touch so many people because she embraced everyone of every creed and color. I believe that her accepting the fact that the world viewed her people and others as different is what made her efforts more extensive and powerful. After working so hard for everything that Dr. Bethune worked for, the resolutions were both justifiable and concessions because everyone has the god given right to be one and also because there were so many people (Dr. Bethune especially) that worked hard just to prove that we as human beings have the right to live harmoniously. “Faith is the first factor in a life devoted to service. Without it, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible” –Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune. Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune was a woman who wanted to make a change in the lives of others and make a difference in the world.
Instinctively a feminist, Lucy Diggs Slowe was an outspoken advocate for the empowerment and education of the African American female. A graduate of Howard University in 1908, Ms. Slowe cultivated her passion for gender equality with many leadership positions on the Howard campus. “She was the first president of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, the first greek letter organization for black college women” (Perkins, 1996, p. 90). After graduation Slowe went on to teach, earned a Master’s degree from Columbia University and took classes in the innovative field of Student Personnel that would eventually be her career until her death in 1937. The first African American Dean of Women at Howard University, she clashed with many of the presidents at Howard during her fifteen year tenure. As a result of her push back on the paternalistic rules imposed on the female students at Howard, Ms. Slowe’s department was dismantled and she was asked to live on campus to oversee the female population that resided on campus. Despite this retaliation from the University President, Mordecai
Mary McLeod Bethune was an innovative leader because she took a story which was largely latent in the population, equal education rights for black children, and brought it to national prominence through the creation of the Bethune-Cookman college. She was also a visionary leader because of the incredible success she was able to attain in advancing the cause of equal education.
Mary Bryant was in the group of the first convicts (and the only female convict) to ever escape from the Australian shores. Mary escaped from a penal colony which often is a remote place to escape from and is a place for prisoners to be separated. The fact that Bryant escaped from Australia suggests that she was a very courageous person, this was a trait most convicts seemed to loose once they were sentenced to transportation. This made her unique using the convicts.
One of the leading black female activists of the 20th century, during her life, Mary Church Terrell worked as a writer, lecturer and educator. She is remembered best for her contribution to the struggle for the rights of women of African descent. Mary Terrell was born in Memphis, Tennessee at the close of the Civil War. Her parents, former slaves who later became millionaires, tried to shelter her from the harsh reality of racism. However, as her awareness of the problem developed, she became an ardent supporter of civil rights. Her life was one of privilege but the wealth of her family did not prevent her from experiencing segregation and the humiliation of Jim Crow laws. While traveling on a train her family was sent to the Jim Crow car. This experience, along with others led her to realize that racial injustice was evil. She saw that racial injustice and all other forms of injustice must be fought.
...women, Jews, and Negroes were just some of the many things she believed in and worked for. With more equality between the different kinds of people, there can be more peace and happiness in the world without all the discrimination. Her accomplishments brought about increased unity in people, which was what she did to benefit mankind. All of her experiences and determination motivated her to do what she did, and it was a gift to humanity.
Sojourner set out on her mission, to educate all people on the subject of slavery, and became a very powerful speaker. She became an influential speaker for women’s rights, as well for the abolishment of slavery all over the country. She became famous for being the first black women to speak out against slavery.
paved the way for religious freedom. She was a great leader in the cause for
She earned her masters from Columbia University in elementary education and became an expert on early childhood education. She also did a number of volunteer work as well she volunteered with organizations such as Bedford-Stuyvesant Political League and the League of Women Voters, which eventually led to her political career. Moreover, Chisholm career began to take form the greatest obstacle she had to face was the “hostility she encountered because of her sex, the hostility she would face for the rest of her political life” (pg. 44). The hostility she faced ultimately shaped her role in the civil rights movement because she was motivated to prove that not only African Americans were capable of partaking in politics but women as
Anna Julia Haywood was born into slavery to Hannah Stanley Haywood and her master, George Washington Haywood, in 1858.1 At the age of nine, she enrolled in St. Augustine's Normal School and Collegiate Institute for free Blacks. Cooper married St. Augustine graduate George Cooper, in 1877. His death in 1879 "ironically allowed her to pursue a ca reer as a teacher, whereas no married woman—black or white—could continue to teach."2 Cooper received a Bachelor's and a Master's degree from Oberlin College, and was first recruited to teach in 1887. She taught at M Street High School, Washingto n's only black high school, for many years, and was the subject of public controversy because of her educational philosophy.
...ugh her work in college, at Hull House, or with the NCL, Florence Kelley’s impact was truly remarkable. She never criticized any potential cause that she encountered, and she helped most everyone that needed it. The proof is in her career. She not only helped start the NCL, a general workers’ league, but also the NAACP, one of the first organizations founded solely to help alleviate the lives of colored people. She made massive contributions to the US Children’s Bureau, and inspired countless people from all walks of life. One of which was Kelley’s on protégé, Frances Perkins, who would later go on to become the Secretary of Labor, the first female cabinet member, under President Teddy Roosevelt. Wherever you look, Kelley’s impact is there. She affected every type of person, and toiled for social justice for all; regardless of race, gender, or age.
Sojourner Truth is an American legend. She began life as a slave and ended her life as an outgoing speaker and free woman. Sojourner led a very disadvantage life but was able to rise above her hardships. Truth was a motivational speaker even though she was not able to read or write. Sojourner Truth continues to impact lives today through her works.
Harriet Tubman was a woman of many jobs and not only did she do them very well but she did them with love and with God in her heart. She is one of the most influential woman in U.S. history.
Harriet Tubman is a lady of belief and dignity, who saved a great number of African American males and females through her determination and love for God. People might think that what would motivate anyone to take all that pain and misery to one’s self in order to help other people. Harriet Tubman was an African American lady that took upon several roles throughout her lifetime just like a protester, philanthropist, and a Union Spy in the time of the American civil war. Her actions, not just saved many lives during these horrible time’s but at the same time gave other African Americans the confidence and courage to get up for what they have faith in and accomplish same human rights for males and females in all over the world, regardless of what their skin color or sex was.
Her parents nurtured the background of this crusader to make her a great spokesperson. She also held positions throughout her life that allowed her to learn a lot about lynching. She was fueled by her natural drive to search for the truth.
...nspired to make a change that she knew that nothing could stop her, not even her family. In a way, she seemed to want to prove that she could rise above the rest. She refused to let fear eat at her and inflict in her the weakness that poisoned her family. As a child she was a witness to too much violence and pain and much too often she could feel the hopelessness that many African Americans felt. She was set in her beliefs to make choices freely and help others like herself do so as well.