Mary McLeod Buthane

 Educator, Author, and African-American Civil Rights leader, Mary McLeod Buthane was best known for starting a school for Black students in Daytona Beach, Florida, that eventually became Buthane-Cookman University.  Ms. Buthane was the fifteenth out of seventeen children whose parents were previously slaves.  Mary McLeod Buthane's first teaching position was at her former elementary school in Sumter County.  Ms. Buthane was deeply influenced by Ms. Lucy Craft Laney, a former slave, who founded and ran Haines Normal and Industrial Institute, in Augusta, Georgia.  Ms. Laney ran her institute as a Christian missionary, emphasizing character and practical education for girls.  Mary McLeod Buthane soon adopted Ms. Laney's educational philosophies and began seeking to improve the conditions of Black people by educating primarily women.

In October 1904, Mary McLeod Buthane, rented a small house for $11.00 a month and used $1.50 to start the Literary and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls in Daytona.  Within two years the schools enrollment increased from six to 250 students.  The school received donations of money, equipment and labor from local Black churches.  In 1920 the school's value was estimated to be $100,000 with an enrollment of 351 students.  In 1923 the school merged with Cookman Institute for Men, from Jacksonville, Florida and became co-educational.

Mary McLeod Buthane was quoted saying, in 1938, "If our people are to fight their way up out of bondage we must arm them with the sword and the shield and buckler of pride-belief in themselves and their possibilities, based upon a sure knowledge of the achievements of the past."  "Not only the Negro child but children of all races should read and know of the achievements, accomplishments and deeds of the Negro.  World peace and brotherhood are based on a common understanding of the contributions and cultures of all races and creeds."

In 1973, Mary McLeod Buthane was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.