The Life and Legacy of Mary McLeod Bethune

by Nancy Ann Zrinyi Long

Book by Long, Nancy Ann Zrinyi

Genres: Biography

116 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2005

Reviews

[Rob Smith, Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a relatively short biography of Mary McLeod Bethune and very good. I debated giving it a 5 star rating. But, at the end are a set of individual memories of Bethune by various family and friends, which adds a so much to better define the biography.

The book is very thorough and well covers her life, along with the building of Bethune-Cookman College. It is also well written.

I'm trying to think of something to write bad about the book and it's a bit tough. Maybe more about her personal life, but it appears her life was one of an endless engine for the college.

Bottom line: i recommend the book.

[Joan Zimmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this book five stars based on the content not the writing. I had not heard of Dr Bethune until this summer when we saw her statue in the Capitol. We then went to the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site to learn more. We should all have heard of her!!! (And there should be more books about her!)

[Heather Harding · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an inspirational woman. It was great to read about her life.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this book a 3-star score on the basis of the excellent quality of its research contribution to the body of knowledge about Bethune. Long has published the verbatim interviews of 30+ people who knew Mary McLeod Bethune, including her grandson. These provide invaluable data about the subject from those who spoke and worked with her.. Alas, my rating also reflects the amateurish visual and narrative presentation of the material in Long's book. It is a shame that her diligent efforts to get the story right were not complemented by professional-level editorial production and book marketing/distribution efforts. I believe this is a true loss for people who want to learn about Bethune's life and contributions to our society.

My knowledge of Bethune is not broad and deep. I have learned what I know by reviewing Googled and Binged internet citations about her life and also from having read the 2023 NY Times Bestseller, The First Ladies, by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.

Despite my relative ignorance about Bethune, I have learned to date that the popularly received Benedict/Murray book was misleading about Bethune's biological son (she adopted and mentored at least one other) and his son, her only biological grandson. The Benedict/Murray book stresses Bethune's devotion to these treasured relatives, as well as her efforts to ensure that they could live productive and rewarding lives that honored themselves and their legacy. It tells how disappointed she was when her son produced an illegitimate child early in his life, and her decision to adopt the child and raise him as her son. It fails to inform us that the son's mother was white, a fact that was pertinent for how Bethune and her progeny would have been perceived and treated at the time. It does recount how her son's repeated and futile attempts to establish a career in his early adulthood were a major concern for Bethune; she repeatedly intervened to try to help him right his course. At one point, she bought a funeral home for him to manage--a move that Benedict/Murray say finally resulted in his having a good career. Nothing more is mentioned in The First Ladies to disabuse us of the notion that all was well with her son after that, or that he and her grandson failed to live up to her expectations that he would lead an honorable and productive life. And yet, according to Bethune's grandson's interview published in Long's book, neither he nor his father could stand the funeral business and all but abandoned it. Furthermore, he says that both he and his father had problematic personal lives because--like Bethune's husband whom she kicked out of the house forever when she found him in bed with another women--they had a weakness for embroiling themselves in tangled and difficult affairs with women. He also reveals that his father embezzled over $30,000 in federal funds intended for the Bethune-McCook University that she considered a crown jewel of her life''s work.

In sum, reading this bio of Bethune, amateurish as its presentation is, contributed to a valuable understanding of several realities--the importance of good scholarship as a basis for both fictional and nonfictional biographies; the lack of attention to good scholarship by those who write, edit and publish some widely-acclaimed historical fiction; and the sad story of how Bethune's husband, biological son, and biological grandson did not lead the lives she hoped they would.

[Millicent Bolden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Mary Mcleod Bethune was a remarkable woman. I can not learn enough about her. I
listened to the audiobook version of this work. While it was a very informative text, it was marred by several glaring mispronunciations by the narrator Rael Ba. Although she had a compelling voice and delivery, it seemed no editor or advisor was involved in the production.

[Tracy Thompson]

so far it is spectacular