Mary McLeod Bethune: July 10, 1974

Jet, July 15, 1996

On this day Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune was honored when a National monument on capital grounds was unveiled in her memory. It was a posthumous birthday present and celebration on what would have been her 99th birthday. It was also the first monument to a Black American or to a woman of any race. Dr. Bethune, educator, president emeritus, founder of Bethune-Cookman College, lecturer and executive, came to national attention when President Herbert Hoover invited her to the White House conference on Child Health and Protection in 1930.

Hoover's successor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, also asked her to serve on the advisory committee of one of the organizations he helped to establish, the National Youth Administration. Roosevelt was so impressed with Dr. Bethune's performance that he set up an office of minority affairs and named her as the administrator. It was the first such post created for a Black woman in the United States.