[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 696 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 696

Expressing support for the designation of September 23, 2023, as ``Mary 
Church Terrell Day'', and calling on Congress to recognize Mary Church 
Terrell's lasting contributions to the civil rights and women's rights 
                               movements.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 18, 2023

 Ms. Norton submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
             the Committee on Oversight and Accountability

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing support for the designation of September 23, 2023, as ``Mary 
Church Terrell Day'', and calling on Congress to recognize Mary Church 
Terrell's lasting contributions to the civil rights and women's rights 
                               movements.

Whereas Mary Church Terrell was born on September 23, 1863, in Memphis, 
        Tennessee, to former enslaved persons;
Whereas Mary Church Terrell's father, Robert Reed Church, was a successful 
        businessman and one of the South's first African-American millionaires;
Whereas Mary Church Terrell attended the Antioch College laboratory school and 
        Oberlin College;
Whereas Mary Church Terrell was one of the first African-American women to 
        attend college;
Whereas Mary Church Terrell's belief in the importance of education led her to 
        the District of Columbia in 1887;
Whereas Mary Church Terrell taught at M Street Colored High School, now known as 
        Paul Laurence Dunbar High School;
Whereas Mary Church Terrell was the first African-American woman to be appointed 
        to a school board;
Whereas Mary Church Terrell believed that the end to racial discrimination could 
        be achieved through education, work, and community activism;
Whereas Mary Church Terrell's activism was sparked by the lynching of an old 
        friend, Thomas Moss, in 1892;
Whereas Mary Church Terrell used her position to fight racial and gender 
        discrimination;
Whereas Mary Church Terrell participated in antilynching campaigns alongside Ida 
        B. Wells-Barnett;
Whereas Mary Church Terrell led the fight to desegregate eating places in the 
        District of Columbia;
Whereas District of Columbia laws of 1872 and 1873 required all restaurants ``to 
        serve any respectable, well-behaved person regardless of color'';
Whereas Mary Church Terrell was age 86 at the time she launched the campaign to 
        enforce these civil rights laws;
Whereas Mary Church Terrell and several colleagues entered Thompson Restaurant 
        in the District of Columbia on February 28, 1950;
Whereas the group was refused service on the basis of their race;
Whereas John R. Thompson Co., Inc., was prosecuted for violating these laws;
Whereas Mary Church Terrell continued her fight through boycotts, picketing, and 
        sit-ins at restaurants around the District of Columbia;
Whereas, on June 8, 1953, three years after the information charging the 
        restaurant was filed, the Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. John 
        R. Thompson Co., Inc., held these laws were enforceable;
Whereas Mary Church Terrell also actively fought for women's suffrage;
Whereas Mary Church Terrell was president of the National Association of Colored 
        Women;
Whereas Mary Church Terrell was one of the founders and charter members of the 
        National Association for the Advancement of Colored People;
Whereas Mary Church Terrell persuaded the National Association of University 
        Women to admit Black members;
Whereas the Mary Church Terrell House is a National Historic Landmark located at 
        326 T Street, N.W., in the District of Columbia, and is open to the 
        public; and
Whereas September 23 would be an appropriate day to designate as Mary Church 
        Terrell Day: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) supports the designation of ``Mary Church Terrell 
        Day''; and
            (2) calls on Congress to recognize Mary Church Terrell's 
        lasting contributions to the civil rights and women's rights 
        movements.
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