Mary Mcleod Bethune's Passion For Education

As Mary McLeod Bethune once said, “Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it might be a diamond in the rough.” Those words depict the passionate African American rights activist perfectly. Being the child of two slaves, Mary wanted to break free of the chains that were impairing her potential. After graduating from the Scotia Seminary for Girls in 1893, the young protestor longed to provide education to every oppressed African American child because in Mary’s opinion, education provided the key to racial development. Mary McLeod Bethune should be recognized today for her role in shaping Florida as a black American. Bethune’s passion for education started when she was only ten years old, as she was the only of her sixteen siblings to go to school. That fervor didn’t expire. With a completed education, Mary opened the Daytona Educational and Industrial School for Negro Girls. “In her own life, Bethune recognized the value of education. She began her school with only five students, but it grew to 250 students over the coming years” (Soft Schools). Within eight years, Mary’s first student had graduated eighth grade. Mary began her great influence on Florida in Volusia County, but she had no intentions of stopping there. Bethune left a footprint on the beach of life, but she wanted to change the world. She wanted to show everyone, especially in Florida that African Americans could …show more content…
Today, her influence on Florida lives on stronger than ever with her growing university that she raised from only five young girls to what it is today. Without Mary’s perseverance, African American children may have never gotten such a wonderful opportunity for a new life in Florida. Mary McLeod Bethune is a name to go down in the books forever as a primary African American shaper of Florida who changed this state for the better and influenced our lives as Florida residents