Through the school she founded in Daytona Beach, FL—known today as Bethune-Cookman University—and later as a national organization leader and federal government official, Mary McLeod Bethune (1875–1955) created new opportunities for women. She supported grassroots activism, emphasizing African American participation in the political system as voters AND policymakers. She built interracial coalitions, exercising collective power on a national scale to bring about major civil rights reforms.

Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) in 1935. Having formerly led the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, she created NCNW as “the central Wheel” uniting activities of women’s organizations nationwide. NCNW gained political recognition and empowerment for African American women, established a national agenda for social justice issues, and helped lay the foundation for the modern Civil Rights Movement. 1940 Annual Conference at then "Departmental Auditorium"

Bethune received scholarships to attend the Scotia Seminary for Girls in Concord, NC, and the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, IL. Scotia Seminary would later become Barber-Scotia College, one of over 100 Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs) still granting degrees today. Click Find out more to see our Guide to HBCUs.

In 1923, Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Girls, founded by Bethune, merged with the Cookman Institute, a Methodist school for men in Jacksonville, FL, to form the Daytona-Cookman Collegiate Institute, known today as Bethune-Cookman University. "Negroes have begun a persistent knocking at the doors of educational services and institutions of all kinds—a knocking that will not cease until every door is open." - Mary McLeod Bethune, Message to the American Teachers Association.

As Mary McLeod Bethune pursued her work in education, she also became active in women’s organizations, rising to positions of leadership at the local, state, and national level. In 1917, she was elected president of the Florida Federation of Colored Women, and in 1920, she established the Southeastern Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs (SFCWC) to link the activities of state club federations throughout the region. The SFCWC was soon headquartered at Tuskegee Institute.

From 1924 to 1928, Bethune served as president of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), an organization founded in 1896 by Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin. The 1935 NACW Convention met at Mount Zion Temple, in Cleveland, OH; formerly Tiferetch Israel, and currently Friendship Baptist Church. Established in 1896 under the motto “Lifting as We Climb,” the NACW promoted Black women’s political activism through a coalition of state and local organizations. Bethune seated in black jacket.

Bethune saw a need for a more centralized organization mobilizing women to advocate for civil rights at a national level, so she established the National Council of Negro Women, which she led from 1935 to 1949. "Help me draw fast the sisterly cords of love, the RACIAL cords that are bigger than our state organizations, our sectional organizations and even our own glorious National; for, as a RACE we must reach the topmost round of success, where we shall meet all other peoples on common ground."

In 1936, President Franklin Roosevelt appointed Bethune Director of the Negro Affairs division of the National Youth Administration (NYA), a federal education, job training, and employment program for young people. The National Archives says the NYA worked “with local schools, hospitals, and organizations, such as the YWCA to provide girls with training in nursery school work, home economics, gardening, cafeteria work, nursing, clerical skills, and factory jobs." Bethune visits the YWCA, in DC.

As the first Black woman to hold a high-level government office, Bethune advocated for equal opportunities for African Americans and to oppose racial and gender discrimination. She organized and led the Federal Council on Negro Affairs—the so-called “Black Cabinet”—a group of Black federal officials who advised President Roosevelt on civil rights issues, here gathered in front of the Departmental Auditorium (now the Mellon Auditorium in the William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building) in 1938.