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题目材料：
American educator and civil rights leader Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) devoted her life to advancing African American equality and became one of the most important African American women in American political history. Yet despite her multiple political activities, Bethune has not been recognized as a political leader. This lack of recognition is attributable in large part to the traditional definition of political activity: political activity encompasses the actions of individually elected officials and the workings of government. It also rests upon a conventionally accepted and gender-biased idea of a leader as a "spokesman," and of politics as voting, electioneering, and office holding. Women such as Bethune, who fought for substantive reform while remaining grounded in networks of kin, church, and community, were left out of political history.
As feminist historians have become more interested in political history,they have worked to redefine politics as "activity[that] includes all community work which is oriented to change through multifaceted goals including service, support, public education and advocacy." Using this definition, Bethune and other Black women who worked through voluntary associations and community organizations are political leaders because they brought particular issues to the attention of politicians and the public.They fought for equal opportunity for African Americans at a time when America had neither the will nor the desire to make a commitment to equality.
However,even the few historians who have given passing attention to Bethune's political accomplishments have misinterpreted the means and techniques she employed in pursuing equality.When examined individually,her choices often appear contradictory,unless we understand that Bethune had one foot in the nineteenth century and one in the twentieth.She was a transitional figure.Initially grounded in the nineteenth-century belief that advancement would come through changing individual behavior, Bethune in the twentieth century came to recognize that inequality was deeply rooted in American institutions. She began to see that the focal point for African Americans should no longer be on changing individual attitudes and behaviors but rather on changing social, economic,and political institutions that shape collective opinions. She worked diligently to transform local community groups into political power bases and promoted the formation of a national coalition that would work to alter social,economic,and political institutions. In these efforts,she used two conceptually distinct levels of activism. In some instances, Bethune based her activism on informal political activities that were distinctly nonconfrontational and designed to quietly undermine racial and gender stereotypes. Yet,when dealing with egregious incidents involving institutional inequality, Bethune often engaged in formal political action that publicly challenged the basic principles of the American democratic system.She astutely gauged her activism to fit the particular circumstance.
As feminist historians have become more interested in political history,they have worked to redefine politics as "activity[that] includes all community work which is oriented to change through multifaceted goals including service, support, public education and advocacy." Using this definition, Bethune and other Black women who worked through voluntary associations and community organizations are political leaders because they brought particular issues to the attention of politicians and the public.They fought for equal opportunity for African Americans at a time when America had neither the will nor the desire to make a commitment to equality.
However,even the few historians who have given passing attention to Bethune's political accomplishments have misinterpreted the means and techniques she employed in pursuing equality.When examined individually,her choices often appear contradictory,unless we understand that Bethune had one foot in the nineteenth century and one in the twentieth.She was a transitional figure.Initially grounded in the nineteenth-century belief that advancement would come through changing individual behavior, Bethune in the twentieth century came to recognize that inequality was deeply rooted in American institutions. She began to see that the focal point for African Americans should no longer be on changing individual attitudes and behaviors but rather on changing social, economic,and political institutions that shape collective opinions. She worked diligently to transform local community groups into political power bases and promoted the formation of a national coalition that would work to alter social,economic,and political institutions. In these efforts,she used two conceptually distinct levels of activism. In some instances, Bethune based her activism on informal political activities that were distinctly nonconfrontational and designed to quietly undermine racial and gender stereotypes. Yet,when dealing with egregious incidents involving institutional inequality, Bethune often engaged in formal political action that publicly challenged the basic principles of the American democratic system.She astutely gauged her activism to fit the particular circumstance.
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