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Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune: Videos & Audio Recordings

This guide provides resources about the life, contributions and importance of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune.

Movie - The Crowning Experience

The Crowning Experience from IofC Film Archives on Vimeo.

This film is available for free personal viewing only. Licenses are required for non-profit, educational, government or commercial use; please contact film.archives@us.iofc.org

The film was actually based on a touring stage play, which itself was based on the life of Dr Mary McLeod Bethune, the pioneering educator and civil rights activist who became an adviser to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. For more information from the book companion to the film, click here: ca.iofc.org/sites/ca.iofc.org/files/media/document/th/the_crowning_experience_book_small.pdf

Screen play by Alan Thornhill. Directed by produced and presented by Moral Re-Armament. First premiered at the Warner Theatre, Broadway and Forty-seventh Street, New York
Running time: 102 minutes.

Directors: Marion Clayton Anderson, Rickard Tegström; Writer: Alan Thornhill

The Cast: Emma Tremaine: Muriel Smith, Charlie: Louis Byles, Sarah Spriggs: Ann Buckles, Julie: Anna Marie McCurdy, Mrs. Spriggs: Phyllis Konstam, Austin Blaney: Robert Anderson, Young Charlie: George McCurdy, Mr. Spriggs: William Pawley Jr.

The Crew:
Editor: Cecil Broadhurst, Prologue Narrator: Joel McCrea, Music by: Paul Dunlap, Cinematography: Rickard Tegström, Music Department:
Conductor: George Fraser, Musical Director: Paul Dunlap, Assistant (to George Fraser): Herbie Allen, Cecil Broadhurst, Frances Hadden, Richard Hadden, John Hopcraft, Waldemar Smith

Production date: 1959

Description
All-American news were the first newsreels produced for a black audience. Made in the 1940s and 1950s, they were originally intended to encourage black Americans to participate in, and support the war effort, and to reflect an African-American perspective on world and national events. Highlights of this issue include segments about the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco, California, the funeral of Tuskegee Airman Capt. Wendell O. Pruitt, and the ceremony in Norfolk, Virginia naming Rev. Bravid Washington Harris as the new Bishop of Liberia.
LCCN Permalink
https://lccn.loc.gov/2018600206
Description
All-American news were the first newsreels produced for a black audience. Made in the 1940s and 1950s, they were originally intended to encourage black Americans to participate in, and support the war effort, and to reflect an African-American perspective on world and national events. Highlights of this issue include a segment about Denver boys on a staycation, war reporting from Lemuel Graves, and a star-studded birthday party for Mary McLeod Bethune.
LCCN Permalink
https://lccn.loc.gov/2018601430

 

Bethune Cookman University: A Rock in A Weary Land

 

This is an excellent film on Bethune-Cookman College. It begins with student protests on other college campuses. The film then switches to the tranquil campus of Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, a predominately African-American college founded by the late Mary McLeod Bethune. There is an overview of the school and its individual departments, including interviews with Richard Moore (President), Dr. Rabie J. Gainous (Department of Science and Mathematics), Herine Banks (Dean of Women), and Edward Rodriquez (Administrator of the Mary Bethune Foundation). Students express their views and ambitions throughout the film. The apparent purpose for the production of this film was to obtain additional funding for the school.

Florida Memory

The Art of the Possible: The Life and Legacy of Mary McLeod Bethune

Description
All-American news were the first newsreels produced for a black audience. Made in the 1940s and 1950s, they were originally intended to encourage black Americans to participate in, and support the war effort, and to reflect an African-American perspective on world and national events. Highlights of this issue include a segment about Edward Washington who raises pigeons, the 70th birthday celebration of Mary McLeod Bethune, and W.E.B. Du Bois reporting on the United Nations Conference on International Organization.
LCCN Permalink
https://lccn.loc.gov/2018601438

Description

Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune South Carolina Historical License Plate was passed by the South Carolina General Assembly on June 19, 2012 and signed into law by Governor Nikki Haley on June 26, 2012the plate is available at all South Carolina DMV's.

This Is Your Life: Mary McLeod Bethune

Click "Watch on YouTube" to view video.

Dedication of the Bethune-Fitzwater Educational Building at Moody Institute 10/1/2024

Audio

Description

Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune's role in Mr. Robinson playing in Daytona Beach, Florida is discussed. Mention of her occurs near the 3:20 time marker.