- Profiles in Caring: Mary McLeod Bethune 1875 - 1955 Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it may be a diamond in the rough. Mary McLeod Bethune, born to former slaves a decade after the end of the Civil War, devoted her life to ensuring the right to education and freedom from discrimination for black Americans. Bethune believed that through education, blacks could begin to earn a living in a ...www.nahc.org/NAHC/Val/Columns/SC10-6.html