EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; MARY JANE MCLEOD BETHUNE P/66

 

In this post I will continue my story on a woman named Mary Jane McLeod Bethune. She lived from 1875 - 1955. As a champion of racial and gender equality, Mary founded many organisations. For instance, in 1924, she was elected president of the National Association of Coloured Women's Clubs.

In 1935, she became the founding president of the National Council of Negro Women in New York City, bringing together representatives of 28 different organisations to work to improve the lives of Black women and their communities.

A friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, Mary became the highest ranking African American women in government when President Franklin Rooseveld named her director of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration in 1936. She remained in that position until 1944.She was also a leader of the president's unofficial "Black cabinet."

In 1940, she became vice-president of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured Persons, a position she held for the rest of her life.

Aditionally, Mary was a businesswoman who co-owned a Daytona, Florida resort and co-founded the Central Life Insurance Company of Tampa. 

Mary died in 1955.