They were the first to be laid off from their jobs, and they suffered from an unemployment rate two to three times that of whites. African Americans - African Americans - African American life during the Great Depression and the New Deal: The Great Depression of the 1930s worsened the already bleak economic situation of African Americans. Quizlet Mary McLeod Bethune Time Line Mary McLeod Bethune: AN AMERICAN PROFILE: Pioneer in Civil Rights by Ashley Bixler. Bethune, who strongly believed that education was the key to equal rights, founded the groundbreaking Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute (now known as the Bethune-Cookman College) in 1904. People also recognized her as civil rights activist, humanitarian and philanthropist. In the New Deal era, educator and activist Mary McLeod Bethune was called the "First Lady of the Struggle" for her influence on the Roosevelt administration on civil rights issues. She was born on 10th July 1875 and died on 18th May 1955. Several of these appointees formed an unofficial … Paul Revere Paul Revere Was one of the Sons of Liberty who believed that colonists should not be taxed by England unless they were allowed to vote on the taxes. Mary McLeod Bethune Mary McLeod Bethune Opened a school for African American girls in Daytona Beach, Florida. She also served as an advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt: 155134250: Brain Trust She founded a school for black students that eventually became Bethune-Cookman University. Bethune had been a spokesperson and an educator for years; with this role, she became one of the president’s foremost African American advisors. Her birth name was Mary Jane McLeod. In 1904, Bethune founded a small school for black girls in Florida that she quickly built into a thriving college-prep and vocational training program. She graduated from the Scotia Seminary for Girls in 1893. Bethune overcame poverty in rural South Carolina, discrimination, personal losses, and relocation to the Deep South, intimidation from the Ku Klux Klan, and administrative issues as leader of her own school. She was one of the nation’s first African American college presidents, and Mary McLeod Bethune… Mary McLeod Bethune: Mary McLeod Bethune was a leader in the struggle for women's and black equality. Furthermore, President Roosevelt “appointed an unprecedented number of African Americans to high positions” in the federal government, such as Mary McLeod Bethune, Lawrence Oxley and Robert C. Weaver. Timeline. Mary McLeod Bethune (born Mary Jane McLeod; July 10, 1875–May 18, 1955) was a trailblazing African American educator and civil rights leader. The daughter of former slaves, Mary Jane McLeod Bethune became one of the most important black educators, civil and women’s rights leaders and government officials of the twentieth century. One key figure in the NYA was Mary McLeod Bethune (Figure 26.13), a prominent African American educator tapped by Roosevelt to act as the director of the NYA’s Division of Negro Affairs. Mary McLeod Bethune was a child of formerly enslaved people. Fun Facts about Mary McLeod Bethune talk about the American educator.