See Also:
Beginning of a FAMOUS Hero: The Abraham Lincoln Story.
Life Lesson #29 – Never Escape Problems.
Mary Jane McLeod was the fifteenth child born to her parents! But she was the very first one born after President Abraham Lincoln had free all of the slaves.
The McLeods were very poor, but worked hard on their farm in South Carolina. Mary was happy to work hard and help her family. But more than anything, she wanted to learn to read! It didn’t look like that could ever happen, though, because there had never been schools for slaves, and there were not any schools for the children of slaves. Mary knew that was not fair. Then one day a lady came to their cotton field and said she had been sent by a church to start a school that Mary could go to. At last, Mary would learn to read. She learned many other wonderful things, too! She studied very hard in school, and later in college.
When Mary grew up she got married, and became Mary McLeod Bethune. Even as an adult, though, she remembered what it was like as a little girl when there were no schools for her to go to, and she knew that was still a problem in a lot of places. So she went to work doing something about it. She started a small school that began with only five little girls. But the school grew and grew. Later, Mary started a college, and she started a hospital for sick children right next door. She even helped the president of the United States work to provide education and jobs for young people. But you know, it started when she was just a little girl, because Mary McLeod Bethune saw things that were unfair, and she decided to help bring justice for all people no matter what color their skin was. And because of that, she became a HERO.
– Jim Lord