She had $1.50, five girls, her son, and a dump. Twenty-three years later, she was sitting in the Oval Office advising the President of the United States.

After campaigning for Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, Mary caught the attention of the President and, more importantly, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The two women became close friends—Eleanor later called Mary “the closest friend in her age group.”

In 1936, Roosevelt appointed Mary to the National Youth Administration. By 1939, she had become Director of the Division of Negro Affairs—the first African American woman to head a federal agency.

At $5,000 annually, she was the highest-paid Black person in government.

In that role, she employed hundreds of thousands of young Black Americans, established the “Negro College and Graduate Fund” supporting over 4,000 students, and fought relentlessly for equal opportunities in education, employment, and military service.

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