"From this documentary portrait, a talented and multifaceted contributor to the black experience in the 20th century United States emerges. Much is owed to Bethune, and readers gain an appreciation of that debt." -Choice

This volume explores the multi-faceted career of Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) in her roles as stateswoman, politician, educational leader, and social visionary. It offers a unique combination of original documentary sources and analysis of Bethune's life and work. The more than 70 documents, spanning 53 years of Bethune's public life, include letters, memoranda, position papers, newspaper columns, interviews, and speeches. Essays by the editors relate these documents to the phases of Bethune's career.

A biography in documents of one of America's most influential black women.

About the Author

AUDREY THOMAS McCLUSKEY is Associate Professor of Afro-American Studies at Indiana University and has had a long association with the National Women's Studies Association. She has published widely on Bethune and other women activists and educators.

ELAINE M. SMITH is on the history faculty at Alabama State University. An authority on Bethune, she provided the introductions to the Guides to the Mary McLeod Bethune Papers.

Reviews

Pioneer African American educator, founder of Bethune-Cookman College, founder of national women's organizations, and an adviser to Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt during the New Deal, Mary McLeod Bethune is justifiably famous but often overlooked in the litany of contributors to African American development. This book is less biography and more a documentary testament to the many and diverse contributions of Bethune. Beginning with a biographical essay, the book brings together essays and letters on education and the founding of Bethune-Cookman, on black women and national organizations, the role of Mary McLeod Bethune in the New Deal, and her role in the UN and the post-war Civil Rights Movement. Each section has a brief interpretive section that connects Bethune's career and contributions to those of others, such as Booker T. Washington or Charles S. Johnson. There is also a detailed biographical time line and photographs. From this documentary portrait, a talented and multifaceted contributor to the black experience in the 20th-century US emerges. Much is owed to Bethune, and readers gain an appreciation of that debt. The book is grounded in secondary literature, including full-length biographies of the subject. Upper-division undergraduates and above.

-- T. F. Armstrong * Choice *



Book Information
ISBN 9780253215031
Author Audrey Thomas McCluskey
Format Paperback
Page Count 336
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press
Weight(grams) 576g