On the recordApril 21, 2010
I was born and raised in the little town of Sumter, South Carolina, and just outside of Sumter is a little town of Mayesville, the birthplace of Mary McLeod Bethune, the founder of the National Council of Negro Women. When I was growing up, my mother, who was a beautician, and Mrs. Bethune organized the National Council through beauty shops. My mother thought that Mrs. Bethune was the greatest person to ever live, and she made me learn everything I could about Mrs. Bethune. Later, as I labored on the staff of Governor John West back in 1971, I received a phone call from Dorothy Height. She said to me that she wanted my help, because she thought that South Carolina, being the birthplace of Mary McLeod Bethune, would be the place that ought to honor her. She thought that Mrs. Bethune's portrait should be in the State House of South Carolina. At that time no African American was so honored.
