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To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision, the Sarasota North County Library and WSLR Community Radio are co-sponsoring a free educational event, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Comes to Life, on Thursday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m. at the Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center in Sarasota. Bethune (1875-1955) was the founder of Bethune-Cookman University, a news release points out. She served as a New Deal govern- ment official — in one of the 20 highest-level offices held by women in the Franklin Roosevelt administration and the highest held by an African-American woman. She also was the founder of FDR's "black cabinet"; served as president of the National Association of Colored Women; and founded and served as president of the National Council of Negro Women, the news release says. The Feb. 20 program will focus on Bethune in May 1954 and share "fascinating stories of her extraordinary contribution to democracy," the release says. Bethune will be portrayed by Ersula Knox-Odom, an author and reporter with approximately 100 articles to her credit, work- shop leader and motivational speaker, the release continues. She "has the uncommon ability to successfully address multi-genera- tional and multi-cultural audiences by sharing life experiences from rural life, college life, corporate management, motherhood, entre- preneurship, sales, self-publishing and genealogy," the release says. Knox-Odom is a member of African American Historical & Genealogical Society and Zeta Phi Beta. A graduate of Eckerd College, she lives in the Tampa Bay area. The Florida Humanities Council provided funding for the program, the release notes. % DR. MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE TO BE FOCUS OF FEB. 20 PROGRAM Mary McLeod Bethune (second from left) and Eleanor Roosevelt (center) greet people at the opening of a residence hall built by the Public Buildings Administration. Photo courtesy National Archives and Records Administration via Wikimedia Commons Sarasota News Leader February 14, 2014 Page 84