MCLEOD BETHUNE and Entrepreneur by Bethune-Cookman University staff Photos courtesy of Bethune-Cookman University Archives 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
Dr . Mary McLeod Bethune after she received an honorary doctorate degree from Rollins College president Hamilton Holt
OCTOBER 2021 | 31 |