So far, boys and girls, we have met leaders,
farmers, scientists, and inventors.
Let us now meet Mary McLeod Bethune,
the mother of higher learning.
Mary McLeod Bethune was born in 1875 in Mayersville,
South Carolina.
She was one of 17 children.
Mary McLeod Bethune was an educator,
a giant of race relations,
and an advisor to United States presidents.
She was the first black woman
who would open up a school that would become an accredited college.
In 1904, with $1.50,
Mary McLeod Bethune opened a school for girls.
By 1923,
both boys and girls attended her school.
And today stands Bethune-Cookman College down in Florida.
With $1.50,
Mary started a school.