ministration that remains ob-

scure to many. Established in

1935, the NYA provided

youth and young adults be-

tween ages of 16 and 24 years

old with educational aid, work

-relief, and vocational training

during the height of the na-

tion’s most difficult economic

period, the Great Depression.

During her tenure as the Ne-

gro Division’s director, Be-

thune established several initi-

atives that addressed the

unique plight of the black

community such as the Spe-

cial Negro Aid Fund and Li-

brary Schools program.

These projects ensured that

“Enter to Learn, Depart to

Serve” represents Dr. Mary

McLeod Bethu-

ne’s symbolic

mantra that con-

tinues to reso-

nate throughout

the campus of

Bethune-

Cookman Uni-

versity. For the

institution’s founder and late

president, these words were

intended to guide and inspire

generations of students for a

life of service. Interestingly,

they also reflect the life and

work of a leader who worked

tirelessly to provide opportu-

nities for not only the stu-

dents of her beloved institu-

tion, but also thousands of

others as the Director of the

Negro Division of

the National

Youth Admin-

istration (NYA).

Often recognized

as the preeminent

black leader of

the 1930s and

1940s, many of Bethune’s

numerous and often simulta-

neous accomplishments are

well-known. Nevertheless, it

is her remarkable work as an

NYA official in President

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ad-

It’s good to be back! The staff of the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House was a part of the

800,000 furloughed workers caused by the October 1st federal government shutdown. We

returned to work two weeks later on October 17th and picked up right where we left off! In

addition to still continuing to service the general public, as promised, the fresh new lesson plans

that document Dr. Bethune and the National Council of Negro Women’s (NCNW) connec-

tion to Negro League Baseball have been launched and currently can be downloaded at our

website. Further, a new online Virtual Experience exhibit can be downloaded at our website.

This exhibit, which documents the tireless work and dedication of the woman once dubbed

“The First Lady of Negro Ameri-

ca,” also features never before

heard speeches and interviews by

our beloved Dr. Bethune. These

two additions to the interpreta-

tion and curriculum arm of the

Bethune Council House were

created by

(Continued on page 5)

H i s t o r i c a l H o t T o p i c :

A C a l l T o S e r v i c e

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Historical Hot Topic

A Call To Service 1

Greetings from the

Council House 1

Community Retreat 2

Inside the Retreat 2

Legend Keeper: A

Word from the

Curator

and

Retreat Memories

3

Feature Article:

Place+Purpose=

Meaning

4

Credits/Resources 5-6

G r e e t i n g s f r o m t h e C o u n c i l H o u s e

T H E H O M E O F D R . M A R Y M C L E O D B E T H U N E

The Legendary Retreat Winter, 2013 Volume 1, Issue 2

(Continued on page 5)

In celebration of the 109th Founder’s Day

at Bethune-Cookman University, the foun-

dation home donated books to Turie T.

Small Elementary School. In hopes to in-

crease awareness of the legacy of our be-

loved Founder, some of the featured books

were Dare to Be….A Hero: Mary McLeod

Bethune, I Met a Great Lady and Mary

McLeod Bethune: A Great Teacher, all of

which discussed her role as an educator and

activist. Next year the home hopes to ex-

pand the celebration of Founder’s Day in

the local community by hosting elementary

school aged children throughout the week.

C o m m u n i t y R e t r e a t :

P a g e 2 T h e L e g e n d a r y R e t r e a t

`

Inside the Retreat: A Student Interns Perspective

In this economy, applications to universities are followed by job applications. As a college student, I used every job I held as a re-

minder of where I didn’t want to be in my future, because I was doing work I didn’t really want to be doing. Little did I know that

working at the Foundation House would change my state of mind. The first day I started, the Curator gave me a thick packet with

information on Dr. Bethune but we were still instructed to do personal research on top of that. As I recall, I was pretty shocked to

learn that there was so much more to know about this phenomenal woman. Even as a student of her legacy, I only knew the hat she

wore as an educator. Dr. Bethune was a collector of hats; she was a presidential advisor, international advocate/activist and a founder

of social organizations for women of color. Working at the Foundation House has awakened my passion for this woman of great

prestige. It has given me the determination to set extraordinary goals and achieve them. This house is not only a job, but it ’s also a

place of hope, strength and peace. I have found solace in this house and I have found direction. The Mary McLeod Bethune Foun-

dation House is a compass for all who are building their own legacies.

Sabbah Davis

who may not be able to make it up the

stairs. There will also be a video of Dr.

Bethune giving speeches to greet visitors

before the tour. I have been promoting

the home through presentations at the

Association for the Study of African

American Life and History Conference

in Jacksonville, Florida and at the Associ-

ation for the Study of the Worldwide

African Diaspora Biennial Conference in

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. I

will continue to use every opportunity

that I get to bring awareness to Dr. Be-

thune and the Foundation. Lastly, we re-

cently sent hundreds of pamphlets to local

hotels and other museums to invite tourists

over for a visit. In my mind there is no rea-

son someone should visit Daytona Beach

without visiting this house. Over the next

few months you can look forward to up-

coming programs in celebration of Black

History Month and Women’s History

Month, new exhibits and displays through-

out the house, and more focus on our ele-

mentary aged visitors. I am very excited

about what’s going on here! Please keep us

in your prayers and send as many positive

vibes as possible! Thank you!

Dr. Ashley “Legend Keeper” Robertson

Recently I have had the

opportunity to reflect and

reminisce about my Great

Grandmother, Dr. Mary

McLeod Bethune, who I

called “Mother Dear”. As

a little girl growing up on

the B-CU campus, many

of my younger years was

spent with visiting Mother

Dear. The foundation was

not just the Foundation

to me and my brothers,

but it was a place where

we played and grew up.

Being that I was her first

female off-spring, as her

great –granddaughter, I

was pampered and treat-

ed a little special by her.

As the story was told by

my father, I was her

L e g e n d K e e p e r : a W o r d f r o m t h e C u r a t o r

R e t r e a t M e m o r i e s

M e m o r a b l e T i m e s s h a r e d w i t h M o t h e r D e a r

P a g e 3

Greetings Bethunites!

It has been a wonderful yet busy, past

few months. We’ve increased visi-

torship, with more students coming in

for tours and in the month of Septem-

ber we hosted over 800 visitors! We

have also added an exhibit on Dr. Be-

thune’s activities as a clubwoman which

discusses her founding of the National

Council of Negro Women, her leader-

ship as National President of the Nation-

al Association of Colored Women and

membership in Delta Sigma Theta So-

rority. Please stop by to see our exhibit

when you get a chance! During Bethune-

Cookman Universities Inaugural Gala

for President Jackson, artifacts from the

home were featured in an exhibition at

the Daytona Beach International Speed-

way. We’ve gotten great responses from

those who visited the exhibition and we

were really glad to be a part of it.

We’ve also purchased a TV for the

home to be able to share a video of the

upstairs portion of the home for those

favorite! My most memo-

rable moments were spent

in her bedroom playing in

her jewelry box. I remem-

bered it being a place

where we would spend

quality time together.

Patricia Bethune Pettus

.

Page 4

Feature Article

Place + Purpose = Meaning: My Discovery of

Mrs. Bethune

The Washingtonian

Writing is a cathartic experience. Since my first book in 2011, learning about African Amer-

ican people through biography provides a sense of mission to my life. My work on Mrs.

Bethune was a unique formula of being in the right place with the right purpose resulting in meaningful publication. This formula

of place, purpose and meaning is how I came to learn about the Mrs. Bethune whose civil rights activism involved overt protests,

awarding honor roll certificates as well as hosting Negro League Baseball games. The “how” was a bridge of human contacts that

allowed me the opportunity to write something with meaning introducing Mrs. Bethune to younger generations.

-Place-

The loss of a friend is a painful process. In 2009, one of my dearest friends, Donna M. Wells died. She had not been sick, she

simply died from complications—those lingering things on the inside of a person that never surface or cause any real discomfort.

Donna, a native Washingtonian loved her city, its history and culture. She was active in many organizations. One such organization

was the D.C. Historical Studies Conference. In 2009, I offered to join the committee and requested that there be an annual Don-

na Wells memorial session at every conference for the next five years. As a committee member I met John Mueller who chal-

lenged me to write something about Washington history. My mind raced across many topics, Howard University, numerous his-

toric churches, Mary Church Terrell, Nannie Helen Burroughs and Mary McLeod Bethune. I settled on Mrs. Bethune because

her home and NCNW headquarters is a National Park that provides a viable encounter with a great legacy. Moreover, the Council

House had the archival material needed. John introduced me to the History Press, and the rest is history.

-Purpose-

As a public historian, I understand the need for many institutions to find financial support in varying streams. The Bethune Coun-

cil House, although a government institution needs financial support to innovate ways to educate the public about Mrs. Bethune

and her legacy. While researching in the archives, the needs for the house prevailed upon me a desire to contribute financially.

After speaking with various people I agreed to profit share with the House a portion of my royalties. The house, the archives and

her legacy are the fabric of my book which would not be possible had Mrs. Bethune and her NCNW daughters not created a

space where the Negro woman could engage national and international audiences as full American citizens fearlessly.

-Meaning-

Writing is an investigative, artistic and challenging process. Studying your subject requires peripheral research into their life and

times. Think about a great movie, novel or play. What made them great were the depth of character, story and environment devel-

opment. The end product made you feel something, learn something or think differently. That is the power of researching, writing

and publishing. There are many other activities Mrs. Bethune engaged in while in Washington D.C., such as the Citizen’s Com-

mittee on Race Relations which advocated for local civil rights. However, time and space does not permit meto write about those

other activities. In essence, we are all given opportunities everyday. The life of Mrs. Bethune and other African American women

are rich areas that provide blueprints for living life in a hostile and unfriendly world. Her ability to have faith, use prayer, dream

dreams and foresee rising generations of Negro people impelled her to strive and reach beyond the normal limits of organizational

leadership in part on our behalf. The Mrs. Bethune I encountered in writing my work impressed upon me the ability to embrace

the “me” I was created to be without shame, conformity or apology and live that life with the understanding that there are others

beside, in front and behind me who will need my survival as a tool for change and a testimony of God’s goodness.

By Dr. Ida Jones

By John T. Fowler II

-Greetings from the Council House, (Cont’d. from page 1)

Ms. Melissa N. Green, a fifth grade teacher in Fairfax

County, Virginia, who served as the site’s Teacher Ranger

Teacher this past summer.

The Bethune Council House is also glad to announce the

launch of our Twitter and Instagram pages! In an effort to

enhance our presence on social media, we plan to continue

to share little known facts about Dr. Bethune and the

NCNW, as well as never before seen photographs that doc-

ument the history of the organization and 1318 Vermont

Avenue, N.W. as its first national headquarters.

We have already started planning programs for next year,

and up next on the agenda is Black History Month in Feb-

ruary, so stay tuned!

If you are ever in the nation’s capital, feel free to come and

visit us at:

Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic

Site

1318 Vermont Avenue N.W.

Washington D.C. 20005

Open seven days a week, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

(202) 673-2402

Website: www.nps.gov/mamc

Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/NPS.MAMC

Follow us on Twitter: @BethuneNHS

Follow us on Instagram: @bethunenhs

Page 5

A Call To Service, (cont’d. from page 1)

black youth and young adults benefited from the

same programs and funding opportunities as their

white counterparts. To meet this goal the leader

relied on her numerous connections within the

White House with black leadership and organiza-

tions to garner funding and programming support.

As a result, the NYA provided Black college stu-

dents who were barely able to afford school with

much needed wages, occupational training, and stu-

dent aid.

Bethune also reached out to her network of black

college presidents to encourage them to support the

Negro Division’s efforts in also providing for the

needs of others who were not college students una-

ble to afford college. Bethune explained that these

were the individuals who “needed just [the] little

things—-thousands just waiting for somebody to ex-

pose them to something.” The leaders heeded Be-

thune’s call to action and supported the black com-

munities beyond their campuses by providing re-

sources such as facilities campus for residential train-

ing and vocational programs. Officials also utilized

the talent of faculty and students alike to teach pro-

gram participants in several of the NYA’s programs.

By 1943, World War II had begun and the nation

was recovering from the depression. As a result, like

other federal initiatives that were developed to pro-

vide economic relief, the NYA program was

deemed no longer needed and was therefore dis-

mantled. Nevertheless, Bethune and the Negro divi-

sion made enormous strides. Unlike with other New

Deal programs, black NYA participants were the

first to receive equitable wages. The programs also

provided numerous opportunities and opened doors

in the professional and skilled labor sector for its

participants both during and after the war. Perhaps

Bethune’s greatest accomplishment with the NYA

was her ability to ensure that more than 300,000

students in mostly southern and rural communities

were provided with the opportunities through the

auspices of the NYA’s Negro Division. In looking

back over her tenure as the agency’s director, the

leader stated that her only regret was that she could

not help more than the thousands of youth for

which she had served—a remarkable statement by a

visionary leader who poignantly lived the mantra,

“Enter to Learn, Depart to Serve.”

By Dr. Jametta A. Davis

Bethune-Cookman University is an institution filled with rich history and

beloved traditions. From it's beginnings as a school for young African

American girls to its university status, B-CU prides itself with the com-

mitment to academic excellence and community service.

Founded by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune in 1904, Bethune-Cookman

University is an historically Black, United Methodist church related uni-

versity offering Baccalaureate and Master’s degrees. The mission is to

serve in the Christian tradition, the diverse educational, social and cultur-

al needs of the students, and to develop in them the desire and capacity

for continuous intellectual and professional growth, leadership and ser-

vice to others. The university has deep roots in the history of America,

and continues to provide services to the broader community through a

focus on service learning and civic engagement.

Thank you to the following contributing writers for their submissions in

our winter newsletter:

Retreat Memories: Ms. Patricia Bethune Pettus, great-granddaughter of

Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune and Administrative Assistant for the Dean of

the Library, Bethune-Cookman University.

Greetings: Mr. John T. Fowler II, Park Guide and Volunteer Coordinator

at the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House, National Historic Site. He

is currently a Master’s student in the Public History Program at Howard

University.

Historical Hot Topic: Dr. Jametta Davis, Ph.D. is an Appraisal Archivist at

the United States National Archives and Records Administration.

Inside the Retreat: Miss Sabbah Davis is a B-CU student in her Junior year

majoring in History.

Feature Article: Dr. Ida Jones, Ph.D. is the Assistant Curator at the Moor-

land-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University and the author of

Mary McLeod Bethune in Washington D.C.

Mary McLeod Bethune Foundation Newsletter

Dr. Ashley Robertson, Curator/Director/ Newsletter Editor

Ms. Dawn Gross, Assistant to the Curator/Co-Editor/Design Production

Hours of Operation:

Monday-Friday 10a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays by appointment

386-481-2121/2122

mmbfoundation@cookman.edu

Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/mmbretreat

Enter To Learn, Depart To Serve

Mary McLeod Bethune Foundation

640 Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Blvd.

Daytona Beach, Florida 32114

“Next to God we are indebted to women, first “Next to God we are indebted to women, first

for life itself, and then for making it worth for life itself, and then for making it worth

living” living”

--Mary McLeod BethuneMary McLeod Bethune--