Meet Mary Church Terrell

An illustrated lecture by Alison M. Parker

Mary Church Terrell, later in life — Mary Church Terrell

Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954) was an unrelenting feminist, humanitarian, and civil rights activist. Her nine decades of life spanned the great social changes that
took place in our nation from the end of slavery to the birth of the modern
civil rights movement.

Ms. Terrell’s Accomplishments
Mary Church Terrell’s long list of distinctions included being one of the first
women of color to earn both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree. She was also
the first African American woman on the District of Columbia’s Board of
Education. She helped organize the National Association of Colored People
and organized and became the first president of the National Organization of
Colored Women. She was also the first African American to address an
international convention in Europe — which she did in French and German.

Ms. Terrell and the AAUW

Terrell fought to become a member of the Washington, D.C. branch of the AAUW, which had been established in 1882 as a network for white women to promote
academic and professional opportunities.

Presentation by Ms. Terrell’s Biographer

ALISON M. PARKER

Book Cover for Unceasing Militant, The Life of Mary Church Terrell
.

Chair of the History Department, University of Delaware, Prof. Parker is the author of the critically acclaimed Unceasing Militant: The Life of Mary Church Terrell (University of North Carolina Press, 2020), the first complete biography of Ms. Terrell. Using newly discovered documents, Parker weaves together the struggles and achievements of Terrell’s a public and private life, not widely known, but deeply inspiring.