Our Seat at the Table (continued) institution that was founded by his colleague and friend, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune. Dr. Bethune served on the board of Edward Waters College, located in Dr. A.L. Lewis’ hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, where he was a major financial supporter and a member of the board of trustees. Dr. Bethune was a co-founder of the United Negro College Fund, (UNCF) and Dr. A.L. Lewis was a consistent contributor to UNCF. They both viewed contributing financially to institutions and organizations that support Black people as one way that individuals can contribute to positive change in their communities, their nation, and their world. Dr. Bethune and Dr. A.L. Lewis spoke about and wrote about the necessity to improve the economic stability of Black people as an important means to their liberation. That is what led my great grandfather and six other Black men to found the Afro-American Life Insurance Company in 1901. Dr. Bethune worked at this insurance company in her early years and went on in her later life to serve on its board. They were both instrumental in founding and participating in a number of Black organizations that advanced the political and economic status of Black Americans. Dr. A. L. Lewis and Dr. Bethune also believed in the kind of direct action that the NAACP espoused, and they were both active members of this organization. One of many expressions of the close collegial relationship and friendship between Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune and my great-grand father is that at Dr. A.L. Lewis’ funeral, it was Dr. Bethune who delivered the eulogy. My sister and I were certainly the beneficiaries of their close relationship. Indeed, it was the reason why, when my mother would drive us to Daytona Beach, Florida, if Dr. Bethune was on campus and in her office, we would have the privilege of visiting with her and being strongly influenced by her words and her very presence. As members of the National Council of Negro Women and the C.L. Franklin Associates, we are the inheritors of the social justice activism of race women like Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune and Dr. Dorothy Irene Height, and race men like Dr. A. L. Lewis and Dr. Charles L. Franklin. That is why, if lawmakers do not understand why voting matters to us – we must show them. If anyone does not understand why we cannot wait any longer for economic justice, we have a solemn duty to explain it and to work to gain it. And it is because we stand on the shoulders of African American social justice activists that whenever the lives of Black women, men and children are unjustly threatened or harmed, we must continue to demand justice for them. Indeed, in the longstanding tradition of the National Council of Negro Women, we must be social justice activists in the interest of freedom and equality for all. Onward! Johnnetta Betsch Cole, Ph.D.
CONNECTING TODAY’S BRIGHT MINDS
WITH A BETTER TOMORROW. Proud to support the National Council of Negro Women, Inc.
