FL Senate Panel Approves Statue Of Mary McLeod Bethune For D.C. Capitol

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Tallahassee, FL - On Thursday, a Florida Senate panel unanimously approved a plan to replace a statue of a Confederate general with a statue of educator Mary McLeod Bethune in the U.S. Capitol. The proposal, SB 472, is now poised to head for full Senate approval. The proposal would replace the statue of Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith in the National Statuary Hall in Washington with a statue of Bethune. Bethune's Daytona Literary and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls, founded in 1904, is now the historically black Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach.

 (Mary McLeod Bethune)

The panel's decision comes nearly two years after state legislators decided to replace Smith's statue, and The Florida House is also moving forward with a plan backing a Bethune statue. For more on this story, head to WFTV.com. Photo of Bethune and photo of Bethune and her students courtesy of Bethune-Cookman University's website. Copyright Southern Stone Communications 2018.