Beatty Honored with Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Legacy Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yesterday, U.S. Congresswoman and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty (OH-03) was honored by Bethune-Cookman University with the Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Legacy Award, the highest honor awarded by the university. This came on the eve of the official unveiling of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune’s statue in the U.S. Capitol. 

“Dr. McLeod Bethune paved the way for Black women across this nation and was a champion for racial and gender equality,” said Beatty. “To put it simply, without the work of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, I would not be standing before you today as a strong, HBCU-educated Black woman and Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. I am proud to take up the mantle of women like Dr. McLeod Bethune and forge ahead in defense of our rights as a people.”

In a letter to Congresswoman Beatty, Bethune-Cookman University Board of Trustees Chairman Chief Judge Belvin Perry, Jr., lauded Beatty’s work to carry on Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune’s legacy. 

“You have been a pioneer and unwavering champion on so many issues, particularly education, healthcare, financial literacy, voting rights, and social justice. You have courageously built upon Dr. Bethune’s work for civil rights and universal suffrage,” said Perry. “After the murder of George Floyd, you joined protesters in Columbus, where you were pepper-sprayed by police in May 2020. When voting rights legislation was stalled in the U.S. Senate last year, you led a group of advocates into the Hart Senate Office Building, where you were arrested. Your advocacy in the face of personal danger epitomizes your deep moral courage.”

The namesake and founder of Bethune-Cookman University, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune was a pioneering Black educator and civil rights activist who, among other accomplishments, founded the National Council of Negro Women and served as Director of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In 2018, the Florida State legislature chose Bethune to replace Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith as one of Florida’s two statues in the  National Statuary Hall Collection, located in the U.S. Capitol. After a 4-year approval, design, and construction process, the statue was formally installed and unveiled today at a ceremony attended by Beatty and other Congressional leaders.

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