Carolina QuotesDespite many crushing burdens and handicaps, I have risen from the cotton fields of South Carolina to found a college, administer it during its years of growth, become a public servant in the government of our country and a leader of women.
Mary McLeod Bethune
Carolinian
Source
"My Last Will and Testament," Ebony, August 1955; text via the Florence County Museum, Florence, South Carolina
- form
- essay
- work
- My Last Will and Testament
- year
- 1955
Cite this record
“Despite many crushing burdens and handicaps, I have risen fr…” Mary McLeod Bethune. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-A99A07257A. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/a99a07257a
More from Mary McLeod Bethune
The Freedom Gates are half-ajar. We must pry them fully open. If I have a legacy to leave my people, it is my philosophy of living and serving. As I face tomorrow, I am content, for I think I have spent my life well. I pray now that my philosophy may be helpful to those who share my vision of a world of Peace, Progress, Brotherhood, and Love.
As the years have gone on the Negro woman has touched the most vital fields in the civilization of today. Wherever she has contributed she has left the mark of a strong character. The educational institutions she has established and directed have met the needs of her young people; her cultural development has concentrated itself into artistic presentation accepted and acclaimed by meritorious critics; she is successful as a poet and a novelist; she is shrewd in business and capable in politics, she recognizes the importance of uplifting her people through social, civic and religious activities, starting at the time when as a "mammy" she nursed the infants of the other race and taught him her meagre store of truth, she has been a contributing factor of note to interracial relations. Finally, through the past century she has made and kept her home intact-humble though it may have been in many instances. She has made and is making history.
Faith is the first factor in a life devoted to service. Without faith, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible. Faith in God is the greatest power, but great, too, is faith in oneself.