“First Lady of the Struggle”: A Tribute to Mary McLeod Bethune

Mary McLeod Bethune: God’s Ambassador to Education

“At Moody [Bible Institute], we learned to look upon a man as a man, not as a Caucasian or Negro,” said Mary McLeod Bethune. “A love for the whole human family entered my soul and remains with me to this day.” The fifteenth of seventeen children born to former slaves, Mary rose from the grips of poverty to become one of the greatest Kingdom ambassadors for education the world has ever known.

When her dream to become a missionary to Africa crumbled in 1895, Mary obtained a teaching position at the Haines Institute in Augusta, Georgia. Work at Haines fired Mary’s imagination of what she herself could achieve. She soon realized “that Africans in America needed Christ and school just as much as Negroes in Africa…. My life work lay not in Africa but in my own country.” She decided to commit herself to improving the education of young Black Americans.

In 1904, Mary arrived in Daytona Beach, where she had a prophetic dream of crossing a river. A man rode up to her on a horse as soon as she made it safely across the river. The man was Booker T. Washington, the country’s leading black educator. Washington took a soiled handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the sweat from his brow, then produced a glittering diamond and handed it to Mary. “This is for your school,” he told her. Inspired by her dream and her faith in God, Mary went on to found what later became the first fully accredited four-year college for Blacks in Florida. Students were instructed in spiritual matters as well as academics, often taking over the pastorates of the many mission churches Mary founded for migrant workers throughout the swamps of Florida.

The Lord continued to open doors for Mary, bringing her into contact with the wealthiest and most influential people of the early 20^th Century. Booker T. Washington, himself, became a friend and colleague. Sponsors of her school and mission work included the Rockefellers, Carnegies, and Guggenheims. Her voice advocating for Black education found an ear with President Calvin Coolidge and later President Franklin Roosevelt. She became the first African American woman to head a federal agency under the Roosevelt administration. Her friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt greatly enhanced her status and gave her access to important political leaders. After Roosevelt’s death, President Truman named Mary Bethune to his Civil Rights Commission as the only African American woman consultant working to draw up the charter for the United Nations. She became known as the “First Lady of the Struggle” for her influence in early Civil Rights activism.

Mary often insisted that she had been blessed with a rich and wonderful life even though she had been born into poverty. At the end of her life, she wrote that she wanted to pass on the richness of her life’s experiences by inspiring acts of love and fellowship in others. Such a legacy, she hoped, would foster education and interracial cooperation. “Faith, courage, brotherhood, dignity, ambition, responsibility—these are needed today as never before,” she wrote. Truly, her words still ring true today.

~Linda Frederick

Celebrating Black History: Amanda Berry Smith

“The color line was washed away in the Blood.” – Frank Bartleman

Without a doubt, the United States has been the birthplace of the modern Pentecostal movement. As we continue our celebration of Black History month, it is important to note that our history, the history of the Church, has been shaped by the contributions of Black believers.

Amanda Berry Smith

Born a slave in Maryland in 1837, Amanda Berry was the daughter of a slave who was able to buy his freedom and that of his wife and five children. The Berry family moved to Pennsylvania where their home became a station on the Underground Railroad. After her first husband was killed while serving in the African Regiments in the Civil War, Amanda remarried and moved to Philadelphia. There, she was born again, joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and received her call to preach. In 1869, she began preaching in churches and at Holiness camp meetings in New York and New Jersey, becoming a popular speaker to both black and white audiences. By the end of the decade, she was known as far north as Maine and as far south as Tennessee. Although she was not ordained or financially supported by the AME Church or any other organization, she became the first black woman to work as an international evangelist in 1878. She served for twelve years in England, Ireland, Scotland, India, and various African countries. She emerged as one of the A.M.E. Church’s most effective missionaries and one of the most remarkable preachers of the age. In the process, she opened the way for more black women to preach in the A.M.E. church.

Celebrating Black History: CH Mason

CH Mason

Charles Harrison Mason organized the largest black Pentecostal denomination in the United States, the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), now based in Memphis, Tennessee. Born to former slaves, Mason grew up intending to be a minister. In 1897, when Mississippi Baptists ordered him to vacate his pulpit for the offense of preaching holiness doctrines (sanctification), Mason received permission to use an abandoned gin house for a revival. Like other early Pentecostals, he sought and later found a deeper experience with the Holy Spirit at the Azusa street revival. During a night of prayer at Azusa, Mason saw a vision. “When I opened my mouth to say glory, a flame touched my tongue which ran down in me. My language changed and no word could I speak in my own tongue.” Early Pentecostals recognized Mason’s special powers of discernment and saw him as supernaturally gifted. Mason said of his experience that the Holy Spirit through him “saved, sanctified and baptized thousands of souls of all colors and races.” Mason led the COGIC until his death in 1961.

As Pentecostalism spread, division arose along racial lines. The enemy forged his way into the church to bring separation. As the separation deepened through the segregated early 20^th century, contributions of faith from Black American Christians became more and more obscured. It is our obligation to honor and celebrate these fathers and mothers in the faith. We give praise to our God for their lives, their sacrifice, and their great hope that the Church would one day “come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.” (Eph 4:13, NLT)