Mary Church Terrell

Mary Eliza Church Terrell

1863-1954

• Civil rights and women's rights activist
• Born in Memphis, TN
• Terrell's parents were ex-slaves who later became wealthy
• Attended Oberlin College in Ohio, earning a bachelor's degree in 1884 and a master's degree in 1888
• Became active in the suffragist movement, founding the Colored Women's League in 1892
• In 1896 the Colored Women's League merged with the National Federation of Afro-American Women to become the National Federation of Colored Women
• Church Terrell was the first president of the National Federation of Colored Women
• In 1895 she became the first African-American woman appointed to the District of Columbia Board of Education
• A charter member of the NAACP, she was a popular lecturer on equal rights for women and blacks
• She served as a delegate at various international women's rights congresses and a prolific writer on social issues
• She received honorary doctorates from Howard University, Wilberforce College, and Oberlin College