MCLEOD BETHUNE: d Entrepreneur by Bethune-Cookman University staff Photos courtesy of Bethune-Cookman University Archives foundation of success for others but also ensured fiscal security for her and her family.
And like the other aspects of her life, Dr. Bethune’ s entrepreneurial spirit centered on improving the lives of those in Black communities. In addition to establishing businesses to serve the people, she also invested in businesses. Here is a look at some of her more lucrative efforts.
Insurance Business
Dr. Bethune played a notable role in the insurance business in North Central and Central Florida. Noting the lack of insurance companies catering specifically to the Black community, Dr. Bethune lent her support to two companies, according to historical accounts. Dr. Bethune held capital stock in the Afro- American Life Insurance Company of Jacksonville and is noted as a co-founder of the Central Life Insurance Company of Tampa. Her association with Central Life Insurance began in 1923, when 13 men, led by Tampa realtor and mortician Garfield D. Rodgers, offered Dr. Bethune the opportunity to join them in the insurance business.
This opportunity proved most lucrative for Dr. Bethune. Using the extra earnings from selling insurance, Dr. Bethune was able to pay off the mortgage on the“ Homestead,” the estate in which she was born and raised in Mayesville, SC and buy a modern home for her parents.
Bethune Beach
As mentioned earlier, Dr. Bethune was an activist who advocated for the civil and personal rights of people of color. While she made her voice heard on a national level on many occasions, in the early 1940s, she took on a local cause – the lack of access to Daytona’ s public beaches for people of color.
Although beaches had been open to all races during Daytona Beach’ s founding years, by the 1940s, a series of Jim Crow laws banned African Americans from most of Florida’ s beaches where whites could go.
In 1943, working with a group of wealthy African American investors, including George Engram, Sr., owner of Engram Electric, the Bethune-Cookman University founder purchased a 2.5 mile strip of land in New Smyrna Beach, 23 miles south of Daytona, for $ 200,000. She and Mr. Engram envisioned a resort town where African Americans could gather in peace and enjoy the surf and sun, all the while experiencing economic empowerment as property owners.
The beach was incorporated as Bethune-Volusia Beach, with Dr. Bethune serving as its first president. Shortly thereafter, the land was subdivided into 800 properties and sold to African Americans who wanted to live beachside.
In 1951, Welricha Hotel, in which Dr. Bethune held partial interest, was opened to accommodate vacationers and provide recreational facilities to African American residents. Advertised as“ a playground controlled exclusively by our race,” the property offered a resort-style setting where blacks could enjoy“ recreation and relaxation without humiliation.”
Dr. Bethune visited the motel frequently with her family. After spending a July 4th holiday at the motel, she wrote,“ On the Fourth of July, we sat here in this beautiful beach motel, which we have called‘ Welricha,’ facing the waters of the great Atlantic Ocean on the one side and the north arm of the Indian River on the other.”
Bethune-Volusia Beach became a popular beach destination for African-American families, annually drawing thousands of visitors from all over the country and remained so until segregation ended in the 1960s.
Today, lots that sold for as little as $ 590 in 1947 are now filled with multi-million-dollar homes.
Investments in Others
Throughout her life, Dr. Bethune saw promise in a myriad of Black business owners and invested in their endeavors accordingly. Among these entrepreneurs was Sarah Breedlove, better known as Madame C. J. Walker, who, like Dr. Bethune, was born to previously enslaved sharecroppers. Madame Walker is credited for developing and marketing a line of cosmetics and hair care products for Black women, thus making her the first recorded, self-made female millionaire.
SEPTEMBER 2025 | 27 |