Mary McLeod Bethune: podcast appearances and interviews

Mary McLeod Bethune was an American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, womanist, and civil rights activist born on July 10, 1875, and passed away on May 18, 1955. She founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935 and established the Aframerican Women's Journal, which served as the organization’s flagship publication. Bethune presided over several African-American women’s organizations, including the National Association for Colored Women. She started a private school for African-American students that later became Bethune-Cookman University. In 1935, Bethune became the first Black woman to lead a federal agency when she was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the head of a department within the National Youth Administration. She also worked on the presidential campaign for Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 and was subsequently appointed as a national advisor. Bethune collaborated with Roosevelt to create the Federal Council on Colored Affairs, known as the Black Cabinet. Additionally, she was the only African American woman to hold an official position with the U.S. delegation that helped create the United Nations charter. Bethune held leadership roles in the American Women’s Voluntary Services, founded by Alice Throckmorton McLean, and was a prolific writer, publishing articles from 1924 to 1955. Her contributions have been recognized through various honors, including her home in Daytona Beach being designated a National Historic Landmark and a monument in Washington, D.C., established in 1974 to honor her as the first African American woman to receive such an honor in a public park.