Mary mcleod bethune documentary

Mary McLeod Bethune was a civil rights pioneer, speaking out against discrimination and paving the way for African-Americans to get a better education.

She was born on July 10, 1875, in Mayesville, S.C. She was the 15th of 17 children born to Samuel and Patsy McLeod, both former slaves. Much of the family picked cotton in order to survive. Mary started pulling her weight when she was 5; by the time she was 9, she could pick 250 pounds of cotton a day.

Young Mary was the only one of her siblings to go to school. She walked five miles each way each day to attend Trinity Mission School, run by Christian missionaries to help educate African-American children. Her teacher, Emma Wilson, mentored Mary throughout her life.

A good student, Mary earned a scholarship to the Scotia Seminary, a Concord, N.C., girls school, and began attending the school in 1888; she graduated in 1893. Her next stop in her education journey was the Moody Bible Institute, in Chicago. After finishing two years o Mary mcleod bethune biography.