nick+b-mary+mecleod+bethuane

__**Mary Mcleod Bethune**__

My name is Mary mcleod Buthune. I was born and raised in South Carolina (The old Confederatecy). During my lifetime I tried to promote schooling for African Americans. Before I was born not to many African Americans had school, partly because this was around the time of slavery, and not many slaves had any for of education. My parents use to be slaves, but were freed before I was born. They both had almost no education, and I had to teach them everything I learned at school to help educate them. The schools we went to were for color people only, there were no whites at our school, they went to better schools, and got the better education. Before I helped the movement for education for African Americans, there werent many schools that actually wanted to teach African Americans. I went to a school that was set up by a missionary from the Presbyterian Church. I was real lucky I had the chance to have an education.



During my movement I pushed for more, and better schooling for African Americans, and voting for African Americans. I set up my own school that going to teach young African American's and give them a chance at an education. The school opened in 1904, and when it started I was the only employee, until later when my school expanded. When the school was first started, we were very poor. We used crates for desk, charcoal for pencils, and the ink came from crushed elderberries. I also spoke out for African American womens rights. One time the KKK confronted me and threatend me not to prepare African Americans to vote, but I did not back down, and I leg one hundred African Americans to the polls for the first time. I also believed I could make a change by becoming such good friends with Eleanor Roosevelt, and I was appointed to a political positiong from President Coolidge all the way up to Roosevelt. I kept pushing for racial equality for African Americans, and especially African American women.

I accomplished alot of stuff while I was alive, but I didn't fix the problem completely of African American's schooling. I died during the actual start of the civil rights movement. I never got a chance to try and stop the hate towards African Americans, and never had a chance to desegregate schools. I also never got a chance to push for equal education for African Americans before I died. I did do alot that helped African Americans recieve an education. Before my time almost no African Americans had any sort of education, but after me they had schools that helped African Americans get an education. I also pushed African Americans to vote, and led them to vote for the first time since the 19 amendment was passed. After I died schools were still segregated for a few years, until the civil rights movement. Today African Americans have equal education rights as white people.