[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 29, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1853-E1854]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        RECOGNIZING THE BIRTHDAY OF THE LATE MARY CHURCH TERRELL

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                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 29, 2010

  Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the birthday of 
the late Mary Church Terrell, a scholar, political activist and woman 
of compassion. Mary Church was born in Memphis, Tennessee to Robert and 
Louisa Church on September 23, 1863, the same year President Abraham 
Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
   Knowing the importance of an education, Ms. Church attended Oberlin 
College in Ohio, the first institution to admit women and one of the 
first to admit minorities. Upon her graduation in 1884, Ms. Church 
became one of the first African American women to graduate from 
college. She then went on to receive her Master's degree from Oberlin 
in 1888.
   After graduation, Ms. Church moved back to Memphis and traveled to 
Europe before moving to Washington, DC where she married attorney 
Robert Herbert Terrell in 1891. During this time Mrs. Terrell took an 
active role in social reform and volunteer work. She befriended Susan 
B. Anthony and was active with the suffragist movement, working at the 
National American Woman Suffrage Association and several other black 
women's suffragist organizations.
   Mary Church Terrell broke barriers by becoming the first African 
American woman to be appointed to the District of Columbia Board of 
Education from 1895-1906. She was also active in multiple black women's 
organizations, all of which strove to terminate both gender and racial 
discrimination. She was the architect of the merger of these clubs, 
forming the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) in 1896, 
becoming the organization's first president. She served as president 
until 1901 when she was named the honorary president for life.
   In 1909, Mary Church Terrell, along with Ida B. Wells, befriended 
W.E.B. DuBois and later became a charter member of the National 
Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In 1910, Mrs. 
Terrell founded the National Association of College Women in 1910 and 
in 1913 assisted in the formation of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority 
Incorporated where she wrote the sorority's creed. In 1933, Oberlin 
College recognized her as one of its one hundred outstanding alumni 
during their centennial celebration. Oberlin conferred upon Mrs. 
Terrell the honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in 1948.
   Mary Church Terrell passed away at age 90 on July 24, 1954, two 
months after the monumental Brown vs. Board of Education decision. From 
the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation to the Brown vs. Board of 
Education decision, Mary Church Terrell was here to witness great 
social reforms for African Americans. Hers was a life well lived.

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