Mary McLeod Bethune: Building a Better World: Essays and Selected Documents. (Book Reviews).

Mary McLeod Bethune: Building a Better World: Essays and Selected Documents. Edited by Audrey Thomas McCluskey and Elaine M. Smith. (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, c. 1999. Pp. [xviii], 317. $39.95, ISBN 0-253-33626-0.)

In this edited volume of documents, Audrey Thomas McCluskey and Elaine Smith illustrate Mary McLeod Bethune's ability to merge gender and race issues as she promoted civil rights over more than fifty years as an activist. In the introduction the authors contend that although Bethune became a powerful leader in higher education, founded the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), and worked as a top-level administrator for the National Youth Administration, her life and career have received little attention from civil rights scholars. These authors suggest that Bethune's "multiple consciousness" (p. 4), which stemmed from her non-elite agricultural background, limited education, and strained relationship with her husband, helped to situate Bethune at the center of the African American community. For example, she identified with poor African Americans, but she worked for change with elite African American leaders. Moreover, Bethune often recognized the need for pragmatism when dealing with the white community, which sometimes caused the black community to compare her to Booker T. Washington, but throughout her career Bethune remained uncompromisingly committed to the cause of desegregation and equality.

The authors divide the book into six segments, each with an editorial summary that addresses different periods of Bethune's life. McCluskey and Smith choose documents that reflect Bethune's commitment to civil rights, her early development as a leader, and her commitment to create and promote Bethune-Cookman College. The largest section of documents addresses Bethune's womanist activism--her tireless work with the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs and her 1935 founding of the NCNW to fight for racial justice. This book includes sections about Bethune's actions as a political leader in Washington and her desire to continue her legacy in her "retirement" years. The editors include both personal and professional documents, from letters and transcripts of phone conversations to editorials and speeches given to large audiences.

McCluskey and Smith's choice of documents and section summaries help to illustrate Bethune's complexity as a womanist African American leader. The documents show that Bethune fought for equal employment and educational opportunities for working-class African Americans, but she often employed a discourse of respectability that promoted the ability of talented elite women to uplift the race. Throughout the sections, Bethune's belief in herself, God, and democracy to advance civil rights provides a compelling picture of a woman who helped to change race relations at the international, national, state, and local levels.

This book is especially useful for scholars interested in biographical, African American, or women's history. It provides a clear picture of Bethune's beliefs and ideals, as well as her strategies to achieve equality. It will be an excellent addition to undergraduate and graduate libraries, especially those that maintain strong collections in women's history and African American history.

MEGAN TAYLOR SHOCKLEY
Longwood College