The First Ladies
by Marie Benedict
Contents
Chapter 11
Overview
Mary travels by segregated train to attend President Hoover’s White House Conference on Child Health and Protection. Along the way, she reflects on her grandmother’s prophecy and her own educational beginnings, encourages a young girl displaced by the crash, and confronts a demeaning conductor. The episode affirms Mary’s national stature and her insistence on dignity amid Jim Crow.
Summary
In November 1930, Mary boards a segregated train in Daytona Beach, determined to remain impeccably dressed as she travels to Washington for President Herbert Hoover’s White House Conference on Child Health and Protection. Forced through the “Coloreds Only” entrance and into a filthy car, she contrasts the reality of Jim Crow with “separate but equal.” She centers herself with memories of her grandmother Sophie’s belief in her destiny and the veil at her birth.
As the train lurches forward, Mary chats with a young girl heading to New York to see her grandmother and possibly attend school. The child’s hope is shadowed by hardship after the Wall Street crash, and Mary quietly offers encouragement, wishing New York will bring the girl opportunity denied in the South.
The ride prompts Mary to recall her first train journey in 1887 to Scotia Seminary. The Mayesville community supplied clothing and Miss Wilson secured her scholarship and ticket. That train was spotless and buoyed her belief that anything was possible, highlighting the contrast with her current conditions.
When the conductor arrives, he repeatedly addresses Mary as “Auntie.” She refuses to respond, reading Langston Hughes instead, until she pointedly asks which of her sisters’ boys he is, drawing laughter and forcing him to meet her gaze. After he finally takes her ticket, Mary states her name—Mrs. Mary McLeod Bethune—framing the exchange as an educator’s lesson in respect, and hoping it endures.
Who Appears
- Mary McLeod BethuneEducator traveling to a White House child-health conference; reflects on destiny, mentors a girl, and confronts a disrespectful conductor.
- Young girl on the trainHeaded to New York to see her grandmother; hopes to attend school amid Depression hardships.
- Train conductorYoung white man who repeatedly calls Mary “Auntie” until she asserts her name and dignity.
- Grandma SophieMary’s grandmother who foretold her purpose; the memory fortifies Mary on the journey.
- Miss WilsonMary’s teacher who arranged her scholarship and first train trip to Scotia Seminary.
- President Herbert HooverInvites Mary to the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection, prompting her journey.
- StationmasterGreets white passengers warmly, then scowls at Black travelers, embodying daily Jim Crow indignities.