t although not unrelated reasons: He wanted to use their ideas to try to remedy the racism of the country and he simply valued their intelligence, their experience, and their opinion on a wide number of issues, including but never limited to race (Poole, 1994, p. 27).
The diversity of the members of this informal cabinet helps exemplify the range of issues that Franklin could consult with them about. Bethune û probably the best known now of all of these figures û was the daughter of former slaves who, after graduating from Scotia Seminary in Concord, North Carolina, in 1893, and from the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago in 1895 became a teacher.
In 1904 Bethune moved to the east coast of Florida, where lived a large African-American population, and established a school of her own, the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls. Having virtually no assets with which to start, she worked tirelessly to build a schoolhouse, solicit help and contributions, and enlist the goodwill of both the African-American and white communities while also serving as a teacher (Poole, 1994, p. 63).
Bethune's efforts on behalf of education and of improved racial relations brought her to national prominence, and in 1936 Roosevelt appointed her as the administrative assistant for Negro affairs (a title changed in 1939 to director of the div
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