Mary McLeod Bethune

Mary McLeod Bethune (née McLeod; July 10, 1875 – May 18, 1955) was an American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, womanist, and civil rights activist. Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935, and proceeded to establish the Aframerican Women's Journal, which was the flagship journal of the organization. She presided over other Black American women's organizations, including the National Association for Colored Women. Shortly after joining the National Youth Administration in 1935, Bethune became the first Black woman to lead a federal agency when she was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the head of a department within the NYA. She started a private school for Black American students which later became Bethune-Cookman University. She was the only Black American woman to hold an official position with the US delegation that created the United Nations charter. McLeod also held a leadership position for the American Women's Voluntary Services, which was founded by Alice Throckmorton McLean. Bethune wrote prolifically, publishing in several periodicals from 1924 to 1955. After working on the presidential campaign for Franklin Roosevelt in 1932, she was appointed as a national advisor and worked with Roosevelt to create the Federal Council on Colored Affairs, also known as the Black Cabinet. Honors include the designation of her home in Daytona Beach, Florida, as a National Historic Landmark and a 1974 statue as "the first monument to honor a Black American and a woman in a public park in Washington, D.C."

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