3rd Grade Mary McLeod Bethune Issue 3.6

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Mary McLeod Bethune was born in South Carolina in 1875. Both of her parents and most of her siblings

had been slaves, but Mary was born a decade after the Civil War and slavery had ended. However, like

most freed slaves, Mary’s parents did not have enough money to completely break free from their former

owners. Mary’s mother and her siblings continued to work on the plantation and do other jobs for white families. As Mary became familiar with the children of the families for whom her mother worked, she began to believe that education was the only difference between them. Her love of learning grew from these experiences.

Public schools were not available to African Americans in the area where Mary lived as a child; therefore, private schools were the only option. When Mary’s parents were asked to send their children to a new missionary school, they only had the financial resources to send one. Mary was selected, and she took her studies very seriously, even using free time to teach her parents and siblings the lessons she had learned in school. When Mary was older, she moved on to Scotia Seminary for Girls in North Carolina and later to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago to continue her studies. After graduating, she began teaching in mission schools in the Southern United States. In 1904, Bethune decided to buy a small house in Daytona Beach, Florida, where she would open a school called the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Girls. At first the school had only 5 students, but within two years, the student population had grown to 250 thanks to Bethune’s dedication and diligence. By 1923, the school had merged with a men’s school to become Bethune-Cookman College, one of only a few colleges in the U.S. to accept African American students at the time.

Bethune’s success as an educator brought her much acclaim and some important positions. She founded the National Council of Negro Women and was appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt to be the director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration. Throughout Roosevelt’s term in office, Bethune advised him on minority and interracial issues.

Mary McLeod Bethune is remembered as a woman of fierce determination who helped to bring education and equality to women and African Americans in the United States.

T G N I N R A E L D

H E E W H O Q L E N

T E N W O U R T L O

D C O U A P E E C I

N E E L H R D O T T

O M I P M T L E W A

H T E I S L E N I C

Y L N E E E A B R U

N E E G D T R O R D

D E E A D I E H C E

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discuss the role of Mary McLeod Bethune in helping to provide education to more Americans.

explain the social barriers, restrictions, and obstacles that Mary McLeod Bethune had to overcome and how she overcame them.

identify South Carolina, North Carolina, and Florida on a map of the United States.

describe how Mary McLeod Bethune was influenced by her physical and cultural environment.

explain how Mary McLeod Bethune spread her ideas.

describe how Mary McLeod Bethune displayed the character traits of cooperation, diligence, liberty, justice, tolerance, freedom of conscience and expression, and respect for and acceptance of authority.

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Segregation – a system of keeping people of different races separate

Missionary – a person who helps people while teaching them about religion

Minority – a group of people who differ in some way from the larger group of which they are a part

Diligence – hard work over a long time

Respect for and acceptance of authority – believing leaders have the right to lead

Justice – equal treatment under the law

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Go to � HYPERLINK "http://www.floridamemory.com/OnlineClassroom/MaryBethune/photo_page1.cfm" ��http://www.floridamemory.com/OnlineClassroom/MaryBethune/photo_page1.cfm� and look at photographs of Mary McLeod Bethune’s school. Talk about how it compares to the school you attend now.

Create a timeline of Mary McLeod Bethune’s life. You can make an interactive timeline using this website � HYPERLINK "http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/timeline/" ��http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/timeline/� or you can make your own.

Visit the public library to find books about Mary McLeod Bethune. Here are just a few you

might enjoy:

Mary McLeod Bethune: Champion for Education by Carol Greene

Mary McLeod Bethune by Eloise Greenfield

Mary McLeod Bethune: A Great American Educator by Pat McKissack

1) Bethune traveled to get an education and became a teacher. In what way did that change her life?

Bethune helped many people.

Bethune had her first train ride.

Bethune got money to start a school.

Bethune went to Africa to learn to be a teacher.

2) Equal education for African Americans was important to Mary Bethune because

she wanted to be a missionary.

Presidents asked Bethune to work with them.

there were already many schools for African Americans.

in her town, African Americans could not

go to public schools.

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Find these words in the word search.

BETHUNE COLLEGE DETERMINED

EDUCATION EQUALITY LEARNING

RESPECT

After you have found all of these words, the remaining letters will

reveal a hidden message. You can write the letters in the blanks

below.

The hidden message is a Mary McLeod Bethune quote.

Check to see if you found the hidden message at the bottom of

this page when you finish.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ .

Test Prep Answers: 1. A 2. D