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Contribution #90 of 365
Mary McLeod Bethune
Educator, Institution Founder and Federal Administrator
1904
The contribution
How this work helped shape America
Mary McLeod Bethune founded a school in Daytona, Florida, in 1904 that developed into Bethune-Cookman University. Her educational institution expanded opportunity for generations of students, and in 1936 she became the first Black American woman to head a federal agency division through her leadership in the National Youth Administration.