The Omaha guide., 1955-05-27
Mary Mcleod Bethune, A
Great Educator, Dies In
Florida At The Age Of ~
(From Time Magazine)
BE a Daniel."

She was a Negro and virtually
a pauper, but plucky little Mary
Mcleod Bethune was also a
dreamer. In 1904, with only S1.50
in cash, she started a school for
Negro girls in Daytona Beach,
Fla, and then she wanted none
other than Soap Tycoon James N.
Gamble, son of the founder of
Proctor & Gambles to be a trus-
tee. But where" asked Gamble
as he gazed at her shacklike
building IN the former city dump
known as Hell's Hole, els this
school of which you wish me to
be a trustee?" "In my mind" re
piled Mary Bethune. "And in my
soul"
James Gamble soon learned
that nothing on earth could stop
Mary Bethune. She not only got
her school, she also became
something of a legend in her life
time. A devout Methodist, she
would start each morning with a
prayer, e. g., with this new day,
o God, let some new strength be
mine" And each day, some new
strength was indeed hers, until
Mary Bethune became known
throughout the nation as the
First Lady of her race.
Piercing Eyes. The daughter of
two former slaves and one of II
children, she was born in a log
cabin near Mayesville, S. c. At
nine she could pick as much as
$50 lbs. of cotton a day; at eleven
she began her daily five-mile
trudge to school at a small Pres
byterian mission. At Is, she
boarded a train for the first time
in her life and set off for the
Scotia Seminary in Concord, N. c.,
and later to the Moody Bible In
stitute in Chicago. There she
found herself the only Negro in a
sea of strangers. white peoples
eyes pierced me-" said she.
"Some of them were kind eyes;
others would like to be but were
still afraid"
After graduation she taught in
Georgia, married a fellow school
teacher, Albert Bethune, moved
on to Daytona Beach. BY that
time she already had plans for a
school of her own. To raise
money, she baked sweet potato
pies and sold them from door to
door. She peddled fried fish,
sang in local hotels. She borrow
ed a shack, collected boxes for
furniture, squeezed elderberries
for ink, used charcoal slivers for
pencils. When the Daytona Nor
NAL and Industrial Institute open
ed, its student body was five
girls and her son.
With the help of James Gamble
and other men of means, it grew
into a flourishing secondary
school and later, after merging
with the neighboring Goodman
Institute for Men into a full
Pledged four-year coeducational
campus. Bethune-C ookman's as
sets rose to more than So, 800, 900,
its enrolment to $50, its faculty
to 81. Meanwhile, Mrs. Bethune
was making a name for herself in
other ways. BE a Daniel" she
urged her followers. "Take the
VOW of courage"
81 Believe in You" Her plump
figure, invariably supported by a
favorite cane, became a familiar
one at Negro rallies throughout
the U. S. She founded the Ma.
tional Council of Negro Women
(more than 800, 900 members, was
special adviser to Franklin Roose.
welt on minority problems ("Mrs
Bethune, 1 believe in your, serv.
ed as special assistant to the Sec
rotary of War on WAC training
In all her work, she was a symbol
and part of the progress of the
Negro race itself. "Now," she
once said, 81 have come to the
point where 1 can embrace all
humanity-not just the people OF
my race or another race. I just
love people"
Last week, when Mary Bethune
died in Daytona Beach at 70, just
one year after the u. S. Supreme
Courts decision against segrega
ton in the schools, she had seer
her greatest dream come true
There u.s." she once said, enc
such thing as Negro education
only education. I want my people
to prepare themselves bravely fol-
life, not because they r Neg
roes, but because they r men,"
The n right we all have is