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Visit Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune statue before it leaves for Capitol

Published on 11/16/2021
Among the hottest tickets for Central Florida Leaguers are the free reserved spots to visit the inspiring statue of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune that’s at the News-Journal Center in Daytona Beach through December 12.  Visit https://mmbstatue.org/

In 2019, just before the COVID shutdown, Bethune was the honoree at the Orange County Regional History Center’s inaugural Women’s History Month Celebration, which LWVOC co-sponsored. So when we learned of the chance to see the monumental figure of this amazing suffragist, educator, and adviser to presidents before it is installed in the nation’s Capitol, Leaguers began clicking on the website at MMBStatue.org to reserve their spots.

Two groups, including History Committee members Joan Erwin, Ann Patton, Sue Foreman, and Joy Dickinson (below)


and longtime Leaguers (below) Jackie Brockington, Laurie Wack, Leslie Feinberg, and Susan Windmiller


 recently visited the statue and the accompanying exhibit; they also stopped to pay their respects at the great woman’s gravesite on the Bethune-Cookman University campus. It’s on the grounds of her home at 640 Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Blvd., just a few blocks off International Speedway Blvd. 

The News-Journal Center, the site of the statue exhibition, is Daytona State College’s performing arts venue, at 221 N Beach St, Daytona Beach, FL 32114. There’s plenty of free parking.

The trip was “well worth the effort,” notes Joan, with "a great introductory video featuring the voices of MMB and Eleanor Roosevelt.” The exhibition also includes good information about the history and creation of the statue and about the Statuary Hall Collection in the Capitol, where Bethune will represent Florida—the first African American woman to represent a state.