Mary Church Terrell

Hello! My name is Mary Church Terrell, and I want to tell you my story. I was born on September 23rd, 1863, in Memphis, Tennessee. My parents, Robert and Louisa Church, had been enslaved, but after they were freed, they were determined to build a better life for our family. They became successful business owners and taught me that education was the most powerful tool for freedom and success. Because the schools for Black children in Memphis weren't very good, my parents sent me away to school when I was very young. I absolutely loved to learn, and I worked as hard as I could. My hard work paid off, and it led me all the way to a special place called Oberlin College.

At Oberlin College in Ohio, I studied many difficult subjects right alongside men, which was very unusual for a woman at that time. I was so proud when I graduated in 1884, becoming one of the very first African American women in the entire country to earn a college degree. I didn't stop there. I went back to earn my master's degree in 1888. After college, I moved to Washington, D.C., our nation's capital, to become a teacher. I loved helping my students learn and grow. While I was there, I met and married a smart and kind lawyer named Robert Heberton Terrell. I was happy, but a terrible event soon changed the course of my life. In 1892, my good friend, Thomas Moss, was unfairly killed by a mob simply because his business was successful. My heart was broken, and I knew I could not stand by while such injustice happened to my people. I decided then and there to dedicate my life to fighting for our rights.

I knew that to make a real change, we had to work together. So, in 1896, I helped start a very important group for Black women called the National Association of Colored Women, or NACW. I was honored to be chosen as its first president. Our group lived by a special motto: 'Lifting as We Climb.' This simple phrase meant that as we worked to improve our own lives, we had a duty to help lift up others in our community, too. Together, we worked to create better schools and hospitals and to fight for fairness everywhere. I also fought hard for the right of all women to vote. Some people only wanted white women to have that right, but I traveled the country and even the world, speaking out to make sure the voices of Black women were heard. In 1904, I even gave a speech in Berlin, Germany, telling people from other countries about the struggles and strengths of African American women.

My fight for equality didn't stop as I got older. In fact, I think my resolve only grew stronger. In the 1950s, when I was in my 80s, I lived in Washington, D.C., where Black people were not allowed to eat in many restaurants. I thought this was completely wrong. How could our nation's capital, a symbol of freedom, be a segregated city? I decided it was time to do something about it. I led protests, boycotts where we refused to spend money at those businesses, and sit-ins where we sat peacefully at lunch counters. We took our fight for justice all the way to the highest court in the country, the Supreme Court. And in 1953, we won. The court ruled that it was illegal to refuse to serve people because of their race. It was a huge victory.

I lived to be 90 years old, and I spent almost every one of those years fighting for a better, fairer world. I passed away in 1954. Just a few months after my passing, the Supreme Court made another huge decision in a case called Brown v. Board of Education, which said that segregated schools were against the law. It felt like the world was finally starting to listen. I hope people remember me as someone who never gave up on the promise of equality for all. I used my voice to speak for those who were silenced and always believed in our motto, 'Lifting as We Climb.' The work for justice continues, and I hope my story inspires you to lift others as you climb, too.