BETHUNE-COOKMAN UNIVERSITY CELEBRATES 120 YEARS BY DR. CRYSTAL deGREGORY
O ne hundred and twenty years ago, a Black woman turned a garage heap into an American treasure. That woman was Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune. The treasure was her namesake, Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU). Last fall, generations of her daughters and sons paused to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the founding of this American jewel of higher education. The story of B-CU is one that most HBCU graduates and enthusiasts think they know well. With $1.50, five little girls, her son Albert, and
a whole lot of faith, Mary McLeod Bethune opened her school for girls in the “Hell’s Hole” of Daytona Beach, Florida. For this, and much more, she—the 15th of 17 children and the first to be born free—is now the first Black American to be immortalized with a state-commissioned statue in National Statuary Hall. But what else should you know? She could not have done it alone. Her mother, Patsy McLeod, and grandmother, Sophie, gave her self-confidence and motivation. Black women school teachers like
Emma Jane Wilson and Lucy Craft Laney provided her with literacy, training and a sense of potential, while Booker T. Washington’s example as a role model gave her a path to follow. White businessmen-turned- philanthropists, James Gamble and Thomas White, along with author, Harrison Garfield Rhodes, added their financial support, each agreeing to serve as “trustees to a dream” as part of the school’s first board. Alongside them were their wives and relatives, who—together
with scores of Black women in the years to come—formed the formidable fundraising engine that is now the century-old Women’s Advisory Board. Even without the financial and other privileges of whiteness in the age of Jim Crow, everyday Black women and men also helped Bethune’s cause. It was Susie Warren, a widowed Black mother whose three daughters made up half of the school’s initial enrollment, who introduced Bethune to Black carpenter and realtor, John Williams. Williams
1 6 | HBCU TIMES WINTER ISSUE 2025
Powered by FlippingBook