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Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955)
On December 5,
1935 at the 137th Street branch of the YMCA in New York City,
Mary McLeod Bethune founded the National Council of Negro
Women. Delegates from 14 organizations attended the founding
meeting, and for this reason NCNW is called an organization
of organizations. Since its inception, NCNW has grown to represent
more than 39 national and over 200 community affiliations with
over 4 million women associated with NCNW. It has consultative
status at the United Nations and headquarters on Pennsylvania
Ave. The mission of NCNW is "to advance opportunities
and the quality of life for African American women, their
families and their communities." As a voluntary, non-profit professional organization, NCNW works to achieve
their mission through advocacy and community-based programming
in the United States, Egypt, Senegal, and Zimbabwe. Programs
included the Black Family Reunion Celebration, The Dorothy
I. Height Leadership Institute, and Excellence in Teaching
Awards Program.
Mary Mcleod Bethune has
said her reason for establishing NCNW is because she saw, "the
need for a united organization of women to open doors for
our young women so that when it speaks its power will be felt."
In efforts to fulfill this need, the University of Michigan
Chapter of NCNW was re-established in 2001 by Tiffany
Buckley and Ebonie Byndon. NCNW-UM Chapter has become a well developed organization on the U of M campus, bringing together strong women of all races. It has held programs such as the Detroit Core City Neighborhood, Sexual Health Informational, HIV/AIDS awareness Dialogue, BLACK, and Voter Education. In efforts
to promote unity on this campus NCNW-UM has collaborated on
events such as the Black Men/ Black Women dialogue with H.E.A.D.S., and DCCN with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
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