The Importance of Bethune-Cookman University

     There are 101 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the United States and all of these institutions were found by an influential figure such as Tuskegee University was found by Booker T. Washington. However, there is only one HBCU which was found by a woman and this institution is known as Bethune-Cookman University. Bethune-Cookman University was found by Mary Jane McLeod-  Bethune in 1904 in Daytona Beach, Florida. The importance of an institution that is found by a black woman is so great because women, and especially black women are the most underestimated group in the world. Though, this did not stop Mary Jane McLeod Bethune to take great steps into giving African-American men and women a chance in getting a high quality education. In fact, Bethune-Cookman University should be a lesson to women of color who aspire to break all odds in that the world has against them. Mary Jane McLeod Bethune was an activist, educator, writer, philanthropist, stateswoman and humanitarian. McLeod has worked with the National Association of the Advancement of Colored Persons (NAACP), the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps and she had also worked along with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This goes to show that women of color are capable of anything.