Born in humble circumstances, Mary Bethune first educated herself and then engaged in the calling to teach other minority children across her long life.
"The only difference between black children and white children is education," she said and set out to live by that impulse. Studying at Moody Institute with the aim of being a missionary to Africa she instead developed a school for girls which began with Bible Studies at 5:30 AM.
Her efforts brought her to the attention of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1930s who influenced her selection as virtual czar of the National Youth Administration which built schools for all races across the South.
Mary Bethune's efforts helped 300,000 black children escape the handicap of illiteracy and laid some of the groundwork for the civil rights movement of the next generation. She advised five Presidents and was the sole black woman at the founding conference of the United Nations in 1945-46. A life well lived.