Mary McLeod Bethune
My Last Will and Testament

If I have a legacy to leave my people, it is my philosophy of living and serving.

Here, Then, is My Legacy...

I leave you love.
Love builds. It is positive and helpful.

I leave you hope.
Yesterday, our ancestors endured the degradation of slavery, yet they retained their dignity.

I leave you the challenge of developing confidence in one another.
This kind of confidence will aid the economic rise of the race by bringing together the pennies and dollars of our people and ploughing them into useful channels.

I leave you thirst for education.
Knowledge is the prime need of the hour.

I leave you a respect for the uses of power.
Power,intelligently directed, can lead to more freedom.

I leave you faith.
Faith in God is the greatest power, but great, too, is faith in oneself.

I leave you racial dignity.
I want Negroes to maintain their human dignity at all costs.

I leave you a desire to live harmoniously with your fellow man.

I leave you, finally, a responsibility to our young people.
The world around us really belongs to youth; for youth will take over its future management.