On the Shoulders of GiantsSample

Thirst and Responsibility

We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD. -Psalm 78:4

Born the fifteenth of 17 children in 1875, Mary McLeod Bethune was the first in her family to be born free and to become literate. Her Methodist parents valued education, but public schools in Mayesville, S.C., did not admit Blacks. So they sent her to Trinity Presbyterian Mission School for Negroes.

Bethune aspired to become a missionary in Africa, but no church was willing to sponsor her. She redirected her zeal to educate Black students in the United States. Mary became the first and only woman to found and serve as president of a historically Black college: Bethune-Cookman University, Daytona Beach, Florida.

Bethune’s legacy embodies Asaph’s Psalm 78 that shares lessons from Israel’s past: “Tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done” (v. 4). This extended to “even the children yet to be born,” who were to tell their children (v. 6).

Before she died, Bethune penned “My Last Will and Testament,” bequeathing “a thirst for education” and “a responsibility to our young people.” She said, “If we have the courage and tenacity of our forebears, who stood firmly like a rock against the lash of slavery, we shall find a way to do for our day what they did for theirs.”

Bethune foresaw that only by God’s praiseworthy deeds and power could Bethune-Cookman educate succeeding generations to persevere and overcome the challenges historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) would face.

Tondra L. Loder-Jackson

What are you facing today that requires your responsibility and courage?

Father, thank You for training our generations in Your Word and for giving us courage.