Prompt:
African American women from the American Revolution to present have played a myriad of critical roles in the making of our nation. Their labor and leadership, their motherhood and patriotism, and their intellect and artistic expression have all enriched both the African American community and the nation at large.
Reflect on American culture today and focus on the accomplishments of such prominent figures as Phillis Wheatley, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Rosa Parks, Toni Morrison, Michelle Obama, and Rita Dove. These African American women have distinguished themselves in various areas of American culture and history.
The accomplishments of African American women has been defined as exceptional and can be easily be identified in churches, community groups, literary societies, sororities, and advocacy organizations. African American woman have been the core of organized black life, but their accomplishments have often escaped the gaze of the public and hence their history is too little known. “Faith is the first factor in a life devoted to service. Without it, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.” This is Mary McLeod Bethune’s quote, an African American woman who lived this quote by achieving many accomplishments with faith. Mary Bethune was a civil rights leader, founder of the National Council of Negro Women and Bethune-Cookman College, and an advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but she is best known as the first Black woman to receive a major U.S. government appointment and an American educator. Mary Bethune, a woman that is the mentor for generations of African Americans and Americans. Mary Jane McLeod Bethune was born on July 10, 1875 in Mayesville, South Carolina. Her parents were slaves. What most people don’t know is that she was one of 17 children of her parents, Samuel and Patsy McLeod, who were former slaves. She was interested in education at a young age which influenced her in her accomplishments. When she was back in the farm, already done in basic education, she received a scholarship to Concord North Carolina to finish her studies. Later, she started a school for African American girls in Daytona Beach. From six students it grew and merged with an institute for African American boys and eventually became the Bethune-Cookman School. But it wasn’t all easy-peezy, lemon-squeezy; she had the characteristics of being hardworking, faithful, and determined that made it possible to start a school. Mary began with a cottage that cost that she had to pay for eleven dollars monthly. In that period of time, it was a lot of money and Mary wasn’t well…rich, she was a regular person. She wrote