Mary Church Terrell
Pioneering Women
Her parents, formerly enslaved, became wealthy in business and valued education. She was one of the first African-American women to earn a college degree. She taught at the first black public high school and at Wilberforce University.
She became an activist when a black friend was lynched by a group of white business owners over a business dispute. She advocated for racial equality through social justice and educational reform.
She campaigned for women’s right to vote. Finding black women excluded, she cofounded the National Association of Colored Women.
I belong to the only group in this country that has two such huge obstacles to surmount…both sex and race.
She cofounded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and College Alumnae Club (National Association of University Women).
After women won the right to vote, she focused on broader civil rights, protesting segregation into her 80s.
Lifting as we climb, onward and upward we go…With courage, born of success achieved in the past…we look forward to a future large with promise and hope…we knock at the bar of justice, asking an equal chance.