The Idealistic Realist: Mary McLeod Bethune, The National Council of Negro Women and the National Youth Administration

The available literature on Mary Mcleod Bethune is very similar. Though it may look at various aspects of her life, it does so on the same plane. It gives an overview. In other words, it skims over her life, focusing only on the very narrow - and positive - aspects. She was the founder and president of a black college. She was head of a federal agency during the New Deal. She was head of a million member black women's organization. But what do these "highlightings" tell of Bethune and the world in which she worked? The point of this paper is to vary a little from the present literature. By taking a closer look at two of Bethune's organizations: the National Council of Negro Women and the Nation Youth Administration's Division of Negro Affairs, perhaps we can tell a little more of who Bethune really was and how important her work was to her. By "humanizing" Bethune, we may get a better understanding of what it meant to be a minority in a racist nation during a trying time.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Department dc:contributor.department

History

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1999

Author dc:creator

• Wright, Robert Brian

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Farrar, Hayward

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Rosenburg, R. B.
• Jones, Kathleen W.

• Mary McLeod Bethune
• National Youth Administration
• Nation Council of Negro Women
• Division of Negro Affairs

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-050799-140251

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/32349