Brigadier General James Monroe Williams

Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial is a bronze statue honoring educator and activist Mary McLeod Bethune, by Robert Berks.^[1]

The monument is the first statue erected on public land in Washington, D.C. to honor an African American and a woman. The statue features an elderly Mrs. Bethune handing a copy of her legacy to two young black children. Mrs. Bethune is supporting herself by a cane given to her by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The statue was unveiled on the anniversary of her 99th birthday, July 10, 1974, before a crowd of over 18,000 people. The funds for the monument were raised by the National Council of Negro Women, the organization Mrs. Bethune founded in 1935. ^[2]

It is located in Lincoln Park, at East Capitol Street and 12th Street N.E. Washington, D.C.^[3]

The inscription reads:
(Front bottom of Bethune's dress:)
(copyright symbol)
73
Berks (Front of base:)
MARY McLEOD BETHUNE
1875 1955
(Front of base, in script:)
Let her works praise her
(Bronze plaque, front of base:)
ERECTED
JULY 10, 1974
BY THE
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NEGRO WOMEN, INC.
DOROTHY I. HEIGHT
PRESIDENT
(Bronze plaque running around sides of base:)
I LEAVE YOU LOVE. I LEAVE YOU HOPE. I LEAVE YOU THE CHALLENGE OF DEVELOPING CONFIDENCE IN ONE ANOTHER. I LEAVE YOU A THIRST FOR EDUCATION. I LEAVE YOU A RESPECT FOR THE USE OF POWER. I LEAVE YOU FAITH. I LEAVE YOU RACIAL DIGNITY. I LEAVE YOU A DESIRE TO LIVE HARMONIOUSLY WITH YOUR FELLOW MEN. I LEAVE YOU FINALLY, A RESPONSIBILITY TO OUR YOUNG PEOPLE.
Mary McLeod Bethune (in script)

References

^ "Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial, (sculpture)". SIRIS
^ "Lincoln Park - Capitol Hill Parks (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
^ "BETHUNE, Mary McLeod: Memorial at Lincoln Park in Washington, D.C. by Robert Berks located in James M. Goode's Capitol Hill area". Archived from the original on 2009-02-07. Retrieved 2011-04-16.

External links

"Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial"
"Statue of Mary MacLeod Bethune (Washington D.C. (District of Columbia))", wikimapia
"The Mary Mcleod Bethune Emancipation Memorial"
Robert Pohl (July 7, 2009). "Anniversary events this week for Mary McLeod Bethune statue in Lincoln Park". The Hill is Home.

[1] "Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial, (sculpture)". SIRIS

[2] "Lincoln Park - Capitol Hill Parks (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2016-02-12.

[3] "BETHUNE, Mary McLeod: Memorial at Lincoln Park in Washington, D.C. by Robert Berks located in James M. Goode's Capitol Hill area". Archived from the original on 2009-02-07. Retrieved 2011-04-16.

[1]

[2]

[3]

Landmarks of Washington, D.C.
Memorials	Adams African American Civil War American Veterans Disabled for Life Belmont–Paul Women's Equality National Monument Mary McLeod Bethune Boy Scout James Buchanan John Carroll D.C. War Albert Einstein Emancipation Dwight D. Eisenhower John Ericsson David Farragut First Division Thomas Gallaudet James A. Garfield Kahlil Gibran Samuel Gompers Ulysses S. Grant Holocaust Museum Holodomor Genocide Andrew Jackson Japanese American Patriotism During World War II Jefferson Memorial Lyndon Baines Johnson Grove John Paul Jones Marquis de Lafayette Law Enforcement Officers Lincoln Memorial statue Martin Luther King, Jr. Korean War Veterans George Mason George B. McClellan George Meade Peter Muhlenberg National Statuary Hall Collection Navy – Merchant Marine Nuns of the Battlefield Peace Monument John J. Pershing Second Division Signers of the Declaration of Independence The Extra Mile Three Soldiers Jean de Rochambeau Franklin Delano Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Island Taras Shevchenko Statues of the Liberators Oscar Straus Robert A. Taft Titanic United States Navy Victims of Communism Vietnam Veterans Vietnam Women's Washington Monument Daniel Webster World War I World War II Rainbow Pool
Other	Basilica of the Immaculate Conception Blair House Capitol Reflecting Pool Congressional Cemetery DAR Constitution Hall Frederick Douglass National Historic Site Exorcist steps Ford's Theatre Petersen House Healy Hall Islamic Center Jefferson Pier John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Library of Congress Jefferson Adams Madison National Arboretum National Capitol Columns National Building Museum National Gallery of Art Lincoln's Cottage at Soldiers' Home Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool National Archives National Cathedral National Mall Octagon House Old Post Office Old Stone House Smithsonian Institution St. John's Episcopal Church The Arts of War and The Arts of Peace Tidal Basin Treasury Building Freedman's Bank Building Tudor Place Union Station United States Capitol Capitol Hill Dome Rotunda United States Supreme Court Building Watergate complex White House Willard Hotel
Parks and plazas	Constitution Gardens Dupont Circle East Potomac Park Farragut Square Freedom Plaza Lafayette Square L'Enfant Plaza Meridian Hill Park National Arboretum Pershing Park Rock Creek Park The Ellipse Union Square United States Botanic Garden West Potomac Park
Boundaries	Anacostia River Arlington Memorial Bridge Boundary markers of the original District of Columbia Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Constitution Avenue Francis Scott Key Bridge Pennsylvania Avenue Potomac River Zero Milestone
Nearby landmarks	Arlington National Cemetery Tomb of the Unknown Soldier John F. Kennedy gravesite Arlington House Marine Corps War Memorial Mount Vernon Netherlands Carillon Pentagon Pentagon Memorial United States Air Force Memorial Women in Military Service for America Memorial
Planned	Adams Memorial National Desert Storm and Desert Shield Memorial National Liberty Memorial Peace Corps Commemorative
Canceled	George Washington Memorial Building Gold Star Mothers National Monument Mammy memorial National Slave Memorial
Related	National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission National Mall and Memorial Parks List of National Historic Landmarks in Washington, D.C. National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.
Public art in Washington, D.C. (American Revolution Statuary, Civil War Monuments, Commemorating African-Americans, Outdoor sculpture)

See also

References

External links