"Through the Eyes of Mary McLeod Bethune"

Through the Eyes of Mary McLeod Bethune is a play put on by San Jose Multicultural Artists Guild and Tabia African American Theatre Ensemble, including youth and young adults from San Jose. The play is a vivid depiction of the epic march of blacks from slavery to freedom. 

Mary McLeod Bethune

"Born on July 10, 1875, in Mayesville, South Carolina, Mary McLeod Bethune was a child of former slaves. A scholarship to Scotia Seminary in North Carolina in 1888 launched her career as educator and activist. Believing that education provided the key to racial advancement, she founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute, which later became Bethune-Cookman College."- Biography.com Mary McLeod Bethune Biogrpahy

Mary McLeod Bethune is an educator and a civil and women's rights activist.  She is a child of former slaves and began her life picking cotton.  She strongly believed that education provided the answers to racial advancement.  The character of Ms. Bethune served as the narrarator of the entire play introducing other civil rights activists such as Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglas, Billir Holiday, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman and many others.  Each character came out and performed either a scene, song or poem of how they played a role in fighting for equal opportunities among African Americans.


I enjoyed the play a lot.  I loved that it was primarily youth who performed and took on these powerful, influential roles of our past African American leaders.  I was one of very few non-blacks in the audience.  I think more than anything, the African American community was surprised but delighted to see people from other communities attending this play.  I found the play to be educational as well.  It refreshed my mind of how important these figures are to our history and how much of an impact they have made.  One thing that I really enjoyed during the play was the use of the drums. The drums were used throughout the entire play, in between scenes and during scenes.  From the beginning, the character of Ms. Bethune addressed the use of the drums how how important they were for slaves to communicate and how important they were to Ms. Bethune personally. I never knew how important music and drums were to African American slaves. Slaves would send each other messages and communicate through song and music.  This was a form of resistance as well as a way to communicate, since slaves were not even given the freedom to talk among one another.  

“For I am my mother’s daughter and the drums of Africa still beat in my heart. They will not let me rest while there is a single Negro boy or girl without a chance to prove his worth.”- Mary McLeod Bethune