HONORING
DR. MARY McCLEOD BETHUNE
AT 150
Building an open, multimedia archive of her life, leadership, lessons, and unfinished work.
vision. History. legacy.
Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune
turned faith into infrastructure.
A living digital monument to her life, leadership, and lessons.
The Bethune at 150 Syllabus is a living, collaborative digital project extending Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune’s 150th commemorative year through an open, multimedia archive of her life, leadership, and lessons.
HELP BUILD THE DIGITAL MONUMENT
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Digital preservation + hosting
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Curation + annotation of resources
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Teaching tools + public programming
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Multimedia storytelling for future generations
Your investment makes Dr. Bethune’s legacy more visible, teachable, and accessible.
“Invest in the human soul.”
— Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune
invest
“The story of Mary McLeod Bethune is arguably the most important American story still untold.”
— Dr. Crystal A. deGregory
REMEMBER
“Faith is the first factor in a life devoted to service...”
— Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune
BUILD
Join us in building
the digital monument Dr. Bethune deserves.
editorial board
The Bethune at 150 Syllabus is guided by scholars, educators, public historians, librarians, archivists, and cultural workers committed to honoring Dr. Bethune’s legacy through rigorous, accessible, public-facing humanities work.
Crystal is a Nashville-based historian, storyteller, and public scholar whose work centers Black education, women’s leadership, and cultural memory. She is the founding director of the Mary McLeod Bethune Institute for the Study of Women and Girls and the creator of HBCUstory.
Leadership focus
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Sets editorial vision and interpretive framework
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Guides contributor recruitment, content selection, and final review
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Ensures scholarly rigor and public accessibility across the syllabus
Crystal A. deGregory, Ph.D.
Founder & Editorial Director
An experienced Director of Library Services at Fisk University and Ph.D. Candidate at Middle Tennessee State University, DeLisa brings deep expertise in library leadership, archival access, public history, community engagement, and grant-funded project management.
Leadership focus
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Strengthens archival access, source clarity, and research integrity
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Guides resource curation with an emphasis on usability for educators and community learners
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Supports public-facing interpretation rooted in library and public history practice
DeLisa Minor Harris
Associate Editor
With more than three decades of marketing and design experience, Linwood leads the project’s visual direction and design strategy—ensuring the Bethune at 150 Syllabus is evocative, accessible, and aligned with the site’s “digital monument” purpose.
Leadership focus
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Builds the project’s visual identity and user experience
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Clarifies the content hierarchy through dynamic, responsive design
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Ensures brand consistency across web + multimedia assets
Linwood Hawkins Jr.
Creative Director
Benjamin O. Watson is a business educator and visual storyteller who teaches Digital Marketing and Sports & Entertainment Marketing. As a digital archivist specializing in the restoration and colorization of historic Black-and-white photographs, Watson’s work brings historical figures and everyday Black life into sharper, more human focus.
Leadership focus
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Leads the ethical restoration and colorization of historical photographic materials
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Strengthens visual interpretation as a core method of public history and cultural memory
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Advances archival accessibility through human-centered image storytelling
Benjamin O. Watson
Historical Photo Restoration Lead
Bethune at 150 is an open, multimedia archive and public humanities project honoring Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune’s life, leadership, lessons, and unfinished work.
Created to mark the 150th anniversary of her birth, the project gathers resources for classrooms, communities, HBCUs, women and girls, scholars, students, and the wider public.
The Project
What It Means
Dr. Bethune turned faith into infrastructure.
The Bethune at 150 Syllabus follows her blueprint by transforming memory into method: gathering resources that make her legacy more visible, teachable, and accessible.
This project is not only a tribute. It is a digital monument, a teaching tool, and an invitation to remember forward.
The Bethune at 150 Syllabus has secured its domain, visual identity, launch platform, and initial digital framework.
With seed support from Because of Them We Can® and Victoria Christopher Murray, the project is moving from vision to public resource.
What's Been Done
Why Now
As the Bethune at 150 commemorative year nears its close, the work must continue beyond the anniversary.
This project helps make Dr. Bethune’s life, leadership, lessons, and unfinished work more visible, teachable, and accessible.
Help Build the Digital Monument
-
Digital preservation + hosting
-
Curation + annotation of resources
-
Teaching tools + public programming
-
Multimedia storytelling for future generations
Your investment makes Dr. Bethune’s legacy more visible, teachable, and accessible.
Contribute a Resource
Share materials that illuminate Dr. Bethune’s life, leadership, lessons, and unfinished work.
What You Can Submit
We welcome resources across genres and formats — from scholarship to storytelling, archives to art.
Categories include:
Autobiographical • Biographical • Non-Fiction • Institutional History • Fiction • Juvenile Literature • Speech • Article • Video • Audio • Database • Visual
Media types include:
Written • Audio • Visual • Multimedia • Art • Website
What to Include With Each Submission
To help us properly credit, curate, and annotate your submission, please include:
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Name
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Affiliation, if applicable
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Email Address
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Resource Title & Creator
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Category & Media Type
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Annotation (3–5 sentences) explaining what it is and why it matters
What’s an Annotation?
An annotation is a short note explaining what a resource is, why it matters, and how it helps illuminate Dr. Bethune’s life, leadership, lessons, or legacy.
Example Annotation:
Bethune, Mary McLeod. “My Last Will and Testament.” Ebony Magazine (Aug. 1955).
A powerful farewell that distills Dr. Bethune’s philosophy of service, education, and faith in language as direct as it is prophetic. Commonly used in leadership, ethics, and civic-engagement courses.
BETHUNE at 150: A Syllabus
A collection of resources across genres and formats — from scholarship to storytelling, archives to art. Recent syllabus entries are displayed below. To view the full Bethune at 150 Syllabus, click here
OUR SEED SPONSORS
We are deeply grateful for the foundational support that has propelled this venture from a vision
to a living, and collaborative digital project.
A platform dedicated to Black history, excellence, and intergenerational possibility.
Victoria Christopher Murray
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author
Bethune at 150 is seeking strategic partners to join us as we move from foundational growth to global impact.