Mary McLeod Bethune died in 1955, yet her timeline of accomplishments, raw political power, and ability to communicate rival any person living today. Her life is instructive as a frame for women leaders and their allies.

What was American culture like in her day?

In two words, extremely racist. Her parents were slaves. She witnessed a lynching as a young child. And while her generation was technically free, Black people faced continued oppression. Black people were expected to accept a life of less. Less education. Fewer job opportunities. Fewer rights.

How was she an extraordinary genius?

In spite of the odds, and with only a $1.50, a prayer, and 5 little girls Bethune started a school that within two decades became a co-ed university that still exists as an HBCU today – Bethune-Cookman University.  She founded two other organizations that organized and supported the political actions of Black women. All three organizations thrive today.  She served in multiple presidential administrations as a liaison for black people.

She shook down the money people of her time period (who were always white men – like John D. Rockefeller and James Gamble of Proctor and Gamble). Stroking their ego with the principals of white supremacy in one moment and challenging them to rise to the needs of Black women in the next. A white woman on one of her boards declared, “eighth grade are enough for negro girls.”  Bethune replied, “In my estimation my people need just what in your estimation your people need. If you’re going to tie my hands, I’ll start over.”

One of her favorite sayings was, “I believe in God, and Mary McLeod Bethune.”

A pretty bad-ass way of thinking for a Black woman in a time where she couldn’t even use the restroom in some places due to white-only rules that were encoded in Jim Crow laws across the country.

How did she overcome sexism and racism at the same time?

Black men didn’t have access to power and Black women didn’t have an invite to the rooms in which Black men plotted on how to gain power.  So how did Bethune put herself at the center of the conversation and become a power broker? By walking a fine line between performing white ideals of feminine prowess and strongly condemning the challenges of racism that overwhelmed Black people.

A peer, Dr. Robert Weaver said of Bethune, "She had the most marvelous gift of effecting feminine helplessness in order to attain her aims with masculine ruthlessness” (from Her Boys Remember, special publication of the National Council of Negro Women). This perception exemplifies how toughness is outside the boundaries of what a woman “should be.”

Bethune maintained clear aims as she walked a political highwire. Her beliefs remained clear-- Black women should control their body, careers, destiny, public image, and institutions -- she was a Black feminist before that term even existed.

What does this have to do with Kamala Harris?

The story of Mary McLeod Bethune gives us a frame through which to analyze Black women in positions of political power.  Black men viewed Bethune’s pragmatic power brokering as being ruthless like the boys but (“thankfully”) in a more feminine presentation.  White women viewed her as a race person, not a (“proper”) feminist because she focused primarily on black women. She was a woman without an ideological home. So, she built one.

As we watch coverage of Kamala Harris, not much has changed in what American culture expects from black women who dare to lead in the public arena. We mistrust Harris’ motives for becoming a prosecutor even as she tells us she wanted to reform the system from within -- a pragmatic approach.  At the same time, we trust the virtue of Joe Biden’s actions as he says he sacrificed the rights of people of color to “get things done” with white supremacist senators (“thank goodness he apologized for our misperception”).

Watching Kamala Harris run reminds us of the same dance that Mary McLeod Bethune did in her day.  The unspoken expectations for Harris is that she will display feminine traits and practice feminist politics while showing strength and being an ambassador of blackness—often in contradiction and a high bar for any person.  She won’t get credit from white feminist women (she isn’t a perfect progressive– she was a prosecutor after all).  And she won’t get help from black men (Cory Booker is running against her, the Obamas aren’t endorsing).  Harris must go it alone, build coalitions where she can, and try to conjure emotions of the best of the image of black women, an image largely crafted by Mary Bethune and maintained by a long legacy of black women since then.

Bethune’s story helps us challenge our assumptions and expectations of what a Black woman in power must look like and will hopefully help us expand the criteria for and number of black women who can have a seat at the tables of power.

Question of the week?

How are you using history to challenge your implicit assumptions when you look at the presidential race or women in leadership in your life?