Mary McLeod Bethune

Mary McLeod Bethune was born on July 10, 1875, in Maysville, South Carolina. She was one of seventeen children and worked in the cotton fields as a slave. Samuel and Patsy McLeod were her parents. The Mission Board of the Presbyterian Church opened a school for African-American children, and Mary enrolled there. She was about eleven, and was looking forward to going to school. A few years after this, a woman in Detroit offered to pay money for one child to go to Scotia Seminary. Mary was chosen by her teacher and was sent there. While she was attending Scotia Seminary, she received a scholarship to the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Mary was the only African-American child in that school. After two years of schooling at the Moody Bible Institute, Mary returned to Maysville. Mary was asked to have a position as a teacher in Augusta, Georgia, and she gladly accepted it. She taught at Haines Institute, and was known for her enthusiasm. She taught here for a year, then was sent to Sumte...