State Rep. Terri Sewell, a Selma native, attended the unveiling of the 13 foot tall marble statue of educator and Civil Rights advocate Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune in the U.S. Capitol. She is now the first Black American to represent a state in Statuary Hall!
McLeod Bethune’s statue is one of two statues that will depict the Black educator, civil rights activist and suffragette. The other statue is made of bronze and will be unveiled in August at Bethune Plaza in Riverfront Esplanade Park in her home state of Florida. Bethune, the daughter of formerly enslaved people, rose to become a leader in women’s rights. She was also a friend of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and served as an advisor to her husband, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, according to her biography. In addition, she was the founder of Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach,Florida.
Dr. Bethune’s philosophy is one that we can all learn from and live by.
“My philosophy of education is the basic principle upon which my life has been built – that is the three-fold training of head, hand, heart. I believe in a rounded education with a belief in the dignity and refinement of labor – in doing well whatever task is assigned to me. A belief in a spiritual under girting of all my efforts and a clear, sane mental development.”
Other statues of Blacks in different parts of the Capitol honor Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth and Rosa Parks.
