Mary McLeod Bethune was born July 10, 1875, to former slave parents on a cotton plantation in Mayesville, South Carolina as Mary Jane McLeod. McLeod grew up helping her family picking cotton, however as a child showed a strong interest in her education. Because of McLeod strong interest in education, she decided to attend a one-room schoolhouse the only school in Mayesville named Trinity Mission School. Emma Jane Wilson a school teacher of McLeod became very close to her which lead to a strong mentoring relationship. With the strong support from Ms. Wilson, McLeod went on to attend two Bible Institutes, formerly Scotia Seminary in Concord, North Carolina in 1888-1894, which became Barber-Scotia College, and formerly Dwight Moody's Institute…show more content… Her first role models of modeling the way came from her parents, Samuel and Pasty McLeod once slaves of the McLeod plantation would work together in the fields as many of their children were sold to neighboring plantations. In 1865 after the Civil War ended, they became free from slavery however they continued to work for their former master to save money before relocating to Maysville to establish a homestead. Many of their older children found their homestead once slavery ended. On July 10th, 1875 Samuel and Pasty gave birth to their fifteen of seventeen children Mary Jane McLeod. Mary Jane was born free and had no recollection of slavery but learned all about it from the stories her parents and grandmother would tell by the fire place. Being a very religious family Mary was introduced to religion and God from birth. At an early age Mary started working in the fields and by the age of 9 she was able to pick 250 pounds of cotton a day alongside doing her chores around the 3 room cabin and assisting with her mother with her midwife…show more content… While working to build Bethune-Cookman, she became a national leader on issues related to civil rights, education, women and young people. During her presidency of the State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, she organized the group to fight against school segregation and inadequate health care for black children. She later served as president of the prestigious National Association of Colored Women's Clubs and founded the National Council of Negro Women. During this time, she was appointed to numerous national commissions including the Coolidge Administration's Child Welfare Conference, the Hoover Administration's National Commission on Child Welfare and Commission on Home Building and Home Ownership. She eventually became an advisor on minority affairs in the Roosevelt Administration, organizing two national conferences on the problem of black Americans. Bethune relied heavily on faith and prayer for her guidance and inspiration she stated that "Without faith, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible." Her shared vision still lives today through her school that she founded which continues to sustain her legacy of faith, scholarship and
