Mary McCloud Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt - by Nan Brooks


Mary McCloud Bethune and  Eleanor Roosevelt
Allies and Friends


Continuing the thread to honor teachers this week with another of my sheroes.

Mary McCloud Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt were allies in their work for equality and empowerment of Black women, and they were friends with genuine affection and admiration for each other.  Eleanor interviewed Mrs. Bethune in 1949 for a radio broadcast for interracial understanding. The recording, at www.wnyc.org/story/209566-mary-mcleod-bethune/ is typical of the time. Their speech is formal and very carefully enunciated, but the warmth between them comes through.

They met in 1927 and remained friends and colleagues until Mrs. Bethune’s death in 1955. By that time, Bethune was established as an African-American leader. She has been described as one of the five most  leaders important in Black U.S. history of the early to mid 20th century. Eleanor Roosevelt’s support brought her to the attention of Franklin Roosevelt, who appointed her to influential positions and she led his (unofficial) Black Cabinet. These nineteen men and one woman (Bethune), advised FDR so that Black citizens benefitted from the New Deal as part of national recovery from the great depression in the early 30’s.

A list of Mrs. Bethune’s accomplishments is below, but I want to talk about two of my favorite stories about her and Eleanor:

In 1938 the Southern Conference for Human Welfare was held in Birmingham, Alabama. It was promoted as an opportunity for southern progressives such as labor leaders, industrialists, farmers, sharecroppers, social executives, government officials, ministers, and politicians to meet and develop mutual trust. One of the featured speakers was the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. Another was Mary McCloud Bethune. During her speech, Mrs. Roosevelt scolded Congressman Luther Patrick in person for his opposition to the anti-lynching bill before congress. (Some things are slow to change!).
The Monday afternoon meeting of the Conference was interrupted by Bull Connor, who was commissioner of public safety in Birmingham. He instructed the audience not to “segregate together” and demanded that white and African-American delegates sit on opposite sides of the center aisle. (The same Bull Connor became prominent in the 1960’s civil rights movement, known for violence against Blacks.) In an act of defiance, Eleanor pulled her chair into the center of that aisle and Mrs. Bethune joined her there. It sounds like a small gesture, but the First Lady was clearly making a statement and that action remains a part of the history of the organization.

Both Eleanor and FDR were fond of Mary Bethune, who was often invited to the White House for social occasions as well as official meetings. When FDR died, Eleanor sent one of his canes to Mrs. Bethune as a memento. Mrs. Bethune used a cane in her later years for support as she walked and, sometimes, along with a flowing cape, as a part of her majestic bearing. In the late 1980’s I found the rowhouse in Washington DC where the Mary Bethune museum was to be created. There were no signs on the building, as I recall, and the staff were just getting organized in the offices. The director was very gracious and showed us around, even in the storage areas. I spotted a tall box with umbrellas in it and dared to poke around in it. “There it is!” I fairly shouted, and startled  the director, “This is the walking stick of FDR’s that Eleanor gave Mary Bethune when he died.” Sure enough, his initials were engraved on the gold head. The director was amazed; no one had known it was there or had known about the gift from 1945.  You can learn about the Mary McCloud Bethune Council House here:  www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc62.htm

I like to imagine Eleanor as she chose a gift for her friend as a mark of FDR’s admiration. I like to imagine, too, what sort of conversations she and Mary Bethune must have had as they traveled and worked together.  They came from such different worlds, but met at a time when their differing experiences could make the country better. And they had more in common than it might appear.
Eleanor was from a world of money, but had little affection growing up. She longed for an education, but did not attend school until she was 17 and sent to England to Allenswood, a progressive school for young women of privilege from all over the world.

Mary McCloud was the 15th of 17 children and the first in her family born into freedom.  In fact, the exact number of her brothers and sisters is unknown because some had been sold by slave masters. It was said that Mary was born with her eyes open, a sign that she would see the future, would know what was to come. One day while she was helping her mother deliver clean laundry to a white family, she picked up a child’s book and was quickly ordered to put it down. “You can’t read!” the white woman said. In that moment, young Mary knew that a difference between dark-skinned and light-skinned people was that the light-skinned ones were allowed to read. Her path was set then and there.

Eventually, she was offered a place at the Trinity Mission School, run by the Presbyterian Board of Missions. She was 10 years old and walked five miles to and from school every day. She immediately began to teach the rest of her family to read. Her teacher, Emma Jane Wilson, made it possible for young Mary to attend Backer-Scotia College. When she moved on to Moody Bible Institute, her goal was to be a missionary to Africa, but she was turned down, apparently for two reasons. She was told there was “no room for Negro missionaries to African” and what’s more, single women were not allowed either.

Mary soon married Albertus Bethune, but they apparently lived separately for most of their marriage and he died in 1918. To further her determination to educate children as she had been, Mrs. Bethune moved to Daytona, Florida and started a school for Black children. She began with $1.50 and at one point stood on street corners, asking for dimes and quarters from neighbors to fund the education of their daughters. She learned from Booker T. Washington to appeal to wealthy donors. One story is that she stopped a well-dress man on the street and asked him for money for her school, which he demanded to see. So she invited him for a tour of the modest school and showed him the one sewing machine that was used to teach girls to sew. The man was impressed because it was a White brand, and he was Mr. White, the owner of the manufacturing company that made the machine. He immediately gave her a sum of money.

Mrs. Bethune with her students

Some leaders criticized the school, named the Bethune Educational and Industrial School for Girls, because they thought the emphasis should be on the liberal arts and not on vocational training. Mrs. Bethune insisted that both were necessary so that the girls could support themselves and their families if necessary.

The school was soon targeted by the local Ku Klux Klan and riders appeared on horseback with burning torches. Mrs. Bethune was away and the riders left quickly, having made their threat. A few nights later, they came again. The older girls were instructed to be sure the younger girls were in bed and could not see the torches. Mrs. Bethune stood in the small courtyard in front of the school as they men rode up and let her know they intended to burn the place to the ground. She did not move, and the men rode off. One version of the story is that she called some of the men by name, saying that she recognized their boots or their horses. In any case, there she stood in her flowing cape, and the men rode on. Another version of the story is that the Klansmen knew that a large group of armed Black men was waiting to take action if they damage the school. Such a group of Black men would have been dangerous and their determination to defend the school is a mark of their esteem for Mrs. Bethune.

On Sundays, she opened the school to the community and tourists, featuring Black guest speakers and displaying the accomplishments of her students. Her school eventually became Bethune College and later, when a local college for men was struggling to stay afloat, it became Bethune Cookman College.

Mover and Shaker in the Halls of Power - and beyond

Here are the accomplishments and the contributions to racial justice by one individual woman, an educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, civil rights activist, and advisor to at least three presidents, a woman who was determined to make a difference:

o   Founded the National Council for Negro Women in 1935, an organization for 28 women’s clubs around the country, all of which worked on one way or another to empower, educate, and support Black women.

o   Raised the money and opened a hospital for Black patients in Daytona, where hospitals would not admit African-Americans. She began with a cabin and two beds and within two years had a better building and 20 beds. The hospital and its racially integrated staff saved many lives over the next twenty years.
o   Served as head of the National Youth Administration Division of Negro Affairs and was the financial manager as well. In that position she saw to it that the Civilian Pilot  Training Program included black pilots.
o   Served as the sole African American woman on the U.S. delegation that created the United Nations.
o   Was a leader and advisor to the Women’s Army  Auxillary Corps.
o   Formed the Federal Council of Negro Affairs, which became known as the Black Cabinet during the Franklin Roosevelt administration.  https://livingnewdeal.org/tag/black-cabinet/
o   Wrote for the Pittsburgh Courier, Aframerican Women’s Journal, the Chicago Defender, and other publications.
o   Pushed to integrate the Methodist Episcopal  Church.


More about Mary McCloud Bethune and  Eleanor Roosevelt can be found here:  https://erpapers.columbian.gwu.edu/mary-mcleod-bethune-1875-1955-0
and here:  



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