…so many other fields including a healthy body and mind, Bethune founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls in Daytona, Florida, in 1904. Starting out with only five students, she helped grow the school to more 250 students over the next years. The school later became known as Bethune Cookman college.
Bethune became involved in serving on the highest level of government. President Calvin Coolidge invited her to participate a conference on child welfare to help find ways to lengthen the life of children. Then for President Herbert Hoover, she served on Commission on Home Building and Home Ownership and was appointed to a committee on child health.
Additionally, Bethune created the National Council of Negro Women to represent numerous groups working on critical issues for African-American women including adequate and affordable health care. She received another appointment from President Roosevelt in 1936, and became the director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration. One of her main concerns in this position was helping young people find job opportunities. It was important to her that young men and women were able to find work and afford to take proper care of their family’s health and needs.
After decades of service, Bethune retired and returned to Florida. Bethune died on May 18, 1955, in Daytona, Florida. She is remembered for her work to advance the rights of both African Americans and women. Before her death, Bethune penned “My Last Will and Testament,” which served as a reflection on her own life and legacy in addition to addressing a few estate matters. Among her list of spiritual bequests, she wrote “I leave you a thirst for education. Knowledge is the prime need of the hour.” Bethune closed with ‘If I have a legacy to leave my people, it is my philosophy of living and serving.”
Mary McLeod Bethune: The Health Advocate You Never Knew was originally published on blackdoctor.org
