Be·thune  (bə-thōōn', -thyōōn')  American educator who sought improved racial relations and educational opportunities for African Americans. She was part of the U.S. delegation to the first United Nations meeting (1945). |
An African-American educator and civil rights leader who in 1904 founded a school for girls that later became part of Bethune-Cookman College. In the late 1930s and early 1940s she held an administrative position under the New Deal. In 1949 she founded the National Council of Negro Women, which opposed the poll tax and racial discrimination and which promoted the teaching of black history in the public schools.