Selma Hortense Burke, Bust of Mary McLeod Bethune

Burke’s bust is a study for a larger portrait of civil rights activist Mary McCleod Bethune, the founder of Bethune-Cookman College and a lifelong advocate for educational, political, and economic equality. The sculpture was a gift from the artist to noted historian Charles L. Blockson, who established the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple University. Blockson, in turn, gave the sculpture to Woodmere.