United States
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Mary Church Terrell
Memphis (Tennessee), United States
Archival Overview
Pioneering civil rights and women's suffrage champion who served as the first national president of the National Association of Colored Women, co-founded the NAACP, and won the landmark 1953 Supreme Court case desegregating restaurants in Washington, D.C.
Biographical Record
Mary Church Terrell (1863–1954) was one of the first African American women to earn a master's degree (Oberlin College, 1888). In 1896, she became the first president of the National Association of Colored Women, adopting the immortal motto 'Lifting as We Climb' to fight for educational, economic, and anti-lynching justice.
A brilliant linguist who addressed the 1904 International Council of Women in Berlin in fluent German and French, Terrell fought lifelong segregation. At age eighty-six, cane in hand, she led picket lines targeting segregated lunch counters in Washington, D.C., winning the unanimous 1953 Supreme Court ruling (District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co.).
Key Life Milestones
First President of the National Association of Colored Women
Unified national Black women's clubs under the historic motto 'Lifting as We Climb'.
Supreme Court Victory Desegregating Washington, D.C.
Led the civil rights legal victory desegregating public dining establishments in the nation's capital.
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Final Resting Place
Perpetual MemorialSuitland (Maryland), United States