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campus tobe turnedon. This shouldbedone, she said, “so they’ll knowthat we’re home!” Frightened students ran from room to room following her instructions. Within a matter of moments, Bethune and her staff could clearly observe the actions of the white-robed men in the glare of the campus spotlights. The Klan’s tactics had been reversed. The vigilantes now had eyes watching them while the school’s students and teachers were shrouded under a blanket of darkness. Suddenly, a strong, loud voice rang out amid the panic. “Be not dismayed whate’er betide,” sang one of Bethune’s students, “God will take care of us.” Soon, a chorus of voices—nervous at first, then imbued with the strength and force of numbers—echoed the sentiment. The Klansmen, realizing that their intimidation tactics had been unsuccessful, left the campus and disappeared into the night. Bethune went to the polls the following morning and saw two signs posted outside the election site: One sign indicated where whites were to line up to vote; the other sign indicated where black voters were to stand. The signs meant that she and the other blacks would have to wait until all of the white voters had filed in and out. Undeterred, Bethune spent the entire day walking up and down the line of registered black voters, making it a point to talk with themand quiet their fears. They were finally called in to cast their ballots just before closing time. She later reported, “I was standing at the polling place at 8 o’clock with a line of Negros behind me. They kept us waiting all day, but WE VOTED!” When the votes were counted, the candidate whom the Klan supported had been defeated. Bethune’s unrelenting campaign for equal education had helped pave the way for the first public high school for blacks in Daytona Beach. As with many of her other triumphs over ignorance and racial injustice, stirring victories such as this one over the Klan enabled her to deliver a prized message to all black Americans. “We are making progress,” she told them. It was a message that Mary McLeod Bethune worked all her life to fulfill.

CH A P T E R 1 : TA R G E T O F T H E K L A N

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