I stumbled across this photo of Mary McLeod Bethune online and was utterly mesmerized by it! I mean, just look at the variety of clothing ensembles these young ladies (and Ms. McLeod Bethune) are wearing!

Not only does this photo record the early years of an American icon, Mary McLeod Bethune, but it’s a plethora of fashion history, all in one photo!

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For those of you who don’t know, Mary McLeod Bethune was “a pioneering American educator and civil rights leader” (Library of Congress). She’s associated with African American leadership in education and women’s suffrage, and she’s a co-founder of the United Negro College Fund.

And while these accomplishments are just the tip of the iceberg of all her impressive accolades, my website is about making doll clothes, so I want to focus on an aspect of Mary McLeod Bethune that very few people make note of… She was an impeccable dresser! Every photo I found of her showed her in clothing that demonstrated her powerful presence… Business suits with pinstripes, dresses with lace collars and lace cuffs, and a dark dress with 50 pin tucks across the top of the bodice. My GOSH!

Click here to see her in many different stages of life, wearing a number of different impressive garments.

Just look at her, standing in front of all those little girls from her school in Daytona Beach, Florida… She’s got the leg of mutton sleeves on her lovely blouse, the kick pleat at the front of her skirt, an I-mean-business belt, with that incredible hat to top it all off!

I zoomed in on Mary McLeod Bethune to really analyze the details of her attire. Think about this: not only was she teaching all those girls in that lineup, probably in a really small schoolhouse with few resources, but back in those days, most women who were not particularly wealthy sewed their own clothing too.

And Mary McLeod Bethune was not wealthy. She was born “in a small log cabin near Mayesville, South Carolina, on a rice and cotton farm in Sumter County. She was the fifteenth of seventeen children born to Sam and Patsy… McLeod, both former slaves” (Wikipedia). She walked five miles to school every single day, as she was growing up, but she also picked cotton and washed and ironed clothes. “At night, she would teach her brothers and sisters what she had learned” in school during the day (Altman).

Mary McLeod Bethune won a scholarship to attend college, graduating in 1895. She “organized concerts and wrote articles in order to raise money” to create a school of her own, having a dream to create a wonderful school for African-American children. In 1904 “she made a down payment on a former garbage dump, in Daytona, Florida, where she set up the Daytona Normal and Industrial School” (Altman).

Now I’m going to pause her story for a moment. I don’t know about you, but I’d love to sew an outfit like she’s wearing in those photos of her as a school teacher! Fortunately, there’s a Barbie pattern that might be able to help. It’s Vogue Craft 9985.

I think a person could alter this dress, making the bodice separate from the skirt, and creating a belt like Ms. Mary McLeod Bethune’s from ribbon and findings.

And here on ChellyWood.com, I also have a hat pattern that you could play with, to make a hat like Ms. Bethune wears in her school teacher photo. Click here for that free hat pattern.

Now let’s move on to more of Mary McLeod Bethune’s story!

Once her school building was established, it didn’t take long for the African American community of Daytona Beach, Florida to begin sending their children to the little shack of a schoolhouse. In those early days, “the students made ink for pens from elderberry juice and pencils from burned wood; they asked local businesses for furniture” (Wikipedia).

And of course, to no one’s surprise, Mary McLeod Bethune was raising additional money on her own, “selling homemade sweet potato pies and ice cream to crews of local workers” because her school was growing. “Within a year, Bethune was teaching more than 30 girls at the school. After two years of operation, 250 girls were enrolled” (Wikipedia). She needed more land to house these hungry minds!

One day she had an encounter with James M. Gamble (of Proctor and Gamble), and she had the courage to ask him for financial support of her burgeoning school. “When he visited the small shack that was her classroom, he was shocked. ‘Where’s the school?’ he asked.” Gamble was so impressed with Ms. Mary McLeod Bethune’s dedication to her school project, that he donated $150.

Mary McLeod Bethune went on to found and lead a number of important organizations for the improvement of education and career opportunities for African Americans. This tiny article, researched and written by me, doesn’t do justice to all that she achieved in one lifetime.

In fact, as I was reading about her phenomenal life, I actually broke down in tears and asked God in prayer, “Lord, how can I possibly do justice to this incredible woman, in one short article?” Yeah. It can’t be done.

So I’m going to end with this: you can read more about her on the Library of Congress website, where I found the image of Mary McLeod Bethune, looking prim and proper in her lovely hat, frock, and long skirt, lined up with all her students in a very fashionable, well-dressed procession. Or you can read the Wikipedia Article about her.

Questions: Take another good look at what Mary McLeod Bethune is wearing in the photo I’ve placed in three locations on this page. There’s a ribbon hanging from around her neck, and it seems to disappear near her hand or arm. What do you suppose she’s carrying at the end of that ribbon?

Please leave a comment — let me know any thoughts you have on this lady and her amazing life, accomplishments, and yes, of course, her fashion sense!

Here are some books about Mary McLeod Bethune, for further reading. They may offer these books at your local public library:

• A Passionate Mind in Relentless Pursuit: The Vision of Mary McLeod Bethune
• The Story of Mary McLeod Bethune: The School That Love Built
• Mary McLeod Bethune in Florida: Bringing Social Justice to the Sunshine State
• Extraordinary Black Americans: From Colonial to Contemporary Times (one of my research resources for today’s article)

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References:

Altman, Susan. Extraordinary Black Americans: From Colonial to Contemporary Times. Children’s Press, 1989.

Mary McLeod Bethune with a Line of Girls from the School. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021669923/>.

Wikipedia contributors. “Mary McLeod Bethune.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 28 Dec. 2025. Web. 30 Jan. 2026.

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