As Black History Month draws to a close, I wonder how Mary McLeod Bethune, the illustrious educator and civil rights leader, would react to school closures across swaths of land inhabited overwhelmingly by poor blacks. She who sold sweet potato pies door-to-door; scavenged the city dump for furniture; used burnt wood for chalk and berries for ink – all to help sustain the school that she built for Black girls.
I wonder if being born to former slaves (who were prohibited by law from being educated) and being one of only a few of her 14 siblings to receive schooling fueled her educational aspirations.
I wonder if the fact that she did not attend school nor learn how to read until age 10 fed her indomitable desire to advocate for the educational empowerment of black kids.
I wonder if being born during a period when black schools were routinely touched by white supremacist hatred, torched by white supremacist hands strengthened her resolve to construct more learning institutions for black youth.
Having ridden countless miles by bike to solicit donations for her fledgling school, I wonder how heartbroken Mrs. Bethune would be to learn that at present, there are leading blacks in our city who have taken to (silently) shuttering black schools, even in absence of the Ku Klux Klan’s flames.
While it is impossible to cite Mrs. Bethune’s exact sentiments towards our present-day problems, perhaps her words can enlighten: “I leave you finally a responsibility to our young people.”
Arthurine Harris
St. Louis
