Mary McLeod Bethune

Mary Jane McLeod Bethune was an American educator, stateswoman, philanthropist, humanitarian and civil rights activist best known for starting a private school for AfricanAmerican students in Daytona Beach, Florida. She attracted donations of time and money, and developed the academic school as a college. It later continued to develop as BethuneCookman University. She also was appointed as a national adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of what was known as his Black Cabinet. She was known as The First Lady of The Struggle because of her commitment to gain better lives for African Americans.

Mary Jane McLeod was born in 1875 in a small log cabin near Mayesville, South Carolina, on a rice and cotton farm in Sumter County. She was the fifteenth of seventeen children born to Sam and Patsy McLeod, both former slaves. Most of her siblings had been born into slavery. Her mother worked for her former master, and her father farmed cotton near a large house they called The Homestead.

Source: Wikipedia