The daughter of formerly enslaved parents, 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. Born on July 10, 1875 near Maysville, South Carolina, Bethune was one of the last of Samuel and Patsy McLeod’s seventeen children. After the Civil War, her mother worked for her former owner until she could buy the land on which the family grew cotton. By age nine, Bethune could pick 250 pounds of cotton a day. Her successes on a local level propelled her to the national stage when the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) elected her its eighth national president in 1924. During World War II, she advised President Harry S. Truman and continued to fight for African Americans, particularly for the inclusion of African American women in the WAACS (Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps) and WAVES (Women Appointed for Voluntary Emergency Service). And she served as an unofficial advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She was also was great friends with Dr. Carter G. Woodson and served as the first female president of his organization, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Inc. (known today as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Inc. or ASALH) and was also involved in other projects to preserve the history of African American women and the documentation of their achievements. In 1949, she was invited to Haiti to receive the “Medal of Honor and Merit.” She also traveled to Liberia, as a representative of President Truman, where she received the “Commander of the Order of the Star of Africa.” Her legacy continued after her death in May 1955. In her last will and testament from 1955, Dr. Bethune wrote: “I leave you hope. The Negro’s growth will be great in the years to come. Yesterday our ancestors endured the degradation of slavery, yet they retained their dignity. Today, we direct our strength toward winning a more abundant and secure life. Tomorrow, a new Negro, unhindered by race taboos and shackles, will benefit from more than 330 years of ceaseless struggle. Theirs will be a better world. This I believe with all my heart.”