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Listen: The World ProgramMary McLeod Bethune
Photos and History
Mary Jane McLeod
Mary McLeod Bethune was born Mary Jane McLeod on July 10, 1875 in Mayesville, South Carolina.
Cabin in Mayesville, South Carolina where Mary McLeod Bethune was born (late 1800s)
Image number: PR00786
Samuel and Patsy McIntosh McLeod of Mayesville, South Carolina, parents of Mary McLeod Bethune and 16 other children, were former slaves. Rachel and Maria, Mary McLeod Bethune’s sisters, are in front of the cabin in this photograph.
Samuel and Patsy McIntosh McLeod (late 1800s)
Image number: PR00782
Samuel and Patsy McIntosh McLeod of Mayesville, South Carolina; former slaves and parents of Mary McLeod Bethune.
Daytona Normal and Industrial School for Negro Girls
After being sponsored at a mission school in South Carolina, and receiving a scholarship to Moody Bible Institute, Bethune moved to Daytona Beach in 1904 to begin her own school. Her one room school became known as the Daytona Normal and Industrial School for Negro Girls, and taught reading, writing and home economics.
Mary McLeod Bethune with a line of girls from her school (ca. 1905)
Image number: N041432
Daytona Normal and Industrial School students at their barn (ca. 1912)
Image number: PR00785
Mary McLeod Bethune (second from left) with teachers, male helpers, students, cows, a mule and a horse.
Sewing and needlework classes at Daytona Normal and Industrial School (ca. 1905)
Image number: PR00784
Mary McLeod Bethune started her school in 1904 with $1.50 in her pocket and five girls in a rented cabin. By 1918, school property included a four story building called Faith Hall, a two story building used as a kitchen, and a new $40,000 auditorium. Campus grounds sprawled across 20 acres, where students took courses in sewing, dressmaking, domestic science, gardening, poultry farming, raffia work, rug weaving, chair caning, broom making, teacher and nurses training. An additional building, some distance from the main campus, was used for the education of boys and men.
Laundry at the Daytona Normal and Industrial School (ca. 1910)
Image number: PR00783
Group portrait at the Daytona Normal and Industrial School (1919)
Image number: PR00790
Mary McLeod Bethune, principal (1910 or 1911)
Image number: N028177
Mary McLeod Bethune (ca. 1904)
Image number: PR00788
Meal preparation at the Daytona Normal and Industrial School (ca. 1912)
Image number: PR00796
Mary McLeod Bethune is third from the left. This was possibly taken inside the original Faith Hall.
Mary McLeod Bethune (ca. 1920)
Image number: PR00755
Cooking class at the Daytona Normal and Industrial School (1910 or 1911)
Image number: N028176
Mary McLeod Bethune is first on the left.
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