In September 1935, Mary McLeod Bethune arrives in Washington after segregated travel to assume a federal advisory role with the National Youth Administration, an opportunity seeded when Eleanor Roosevelt sent Josephine Roche to hear Mary’s NAACP speech and recommend her.

Pressed for time by discriminatory taxi lines, Mary reaches the building late and strides into the wrong conference room, asserting her right to be there before discovering the meeting is one floor below. She exits chastened, noting the lesson that not every refusal is rooted in bigotry.

In the correct room, Mary is warmly greeted by NYA executive director Aubrey Williams, Josephine Roche, and Dr. Mordecai Johnson of Howard University. Williams outlines a mandate: ensure NYA programs serve all youth, especially Black youth, and seek capable state directors—ideally Black appointees in the South. They note one key appointment in Texas, Lyndon B. Johnson, and plan introductions.

Mary and Mordecai present priorities: reaching the poorest rural children and strengthening support for Negro colleges and universities. As the meeting ends with plans for biannual sessions, Mary privately commits to far more frequent engagement, intending to expand her seat at the New Deal table into broader influence.