Legend Spotlights
Legend Spotlights
Mary Mcleod Bethune
Born in South Carolina ,she was the daughter of former slaves who were farmers. Bethune took an early interest in education with the hopes becoming a teacher or a missionary. When her hopes of becoming a missionary did not materialize, she moved to Daytona Florida. Surrounded in a neighborhood with crime and limited educational facilities it ignited the missionary spirit in her.
In 1904 she opened the doors of her Daytona Normal and Industrial school for girls. In time the school would merge with the nearby Cook Institute for boys and would become a fully accredited coeducational college in 1943 known as Bethune Cookman University.