D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) introduces a resolution Tuesday supporting the designation of Sept. 23, 2024, as “Mary Church Terrell Day” recognizing the late 19th century and early to mid-20th century civil and women’s rights activist’s lasting contributions to the District.
Terrell moved to the District in 1887 to become a teacher at M Street Colored High School, now known as Dunbar High School, Norton’s alma mater. Terrell’s parents encouraged her to pursue education, which started her journey to become one of the first Black women to graduate from college and later to become the first Black woman appointed to the D.C. Board of Education.
As a founding member of the NAACP and a founder and eventual president of the National Association of Colored Women, Terrell spent her life working to advance the status of African American women as an activist. She also persuaded the National Association of University Women to admit Black members.
“Mary Church Terrell is well known for the battles she fought in the District of Columbia to demand a more equal America for Black women,” Norton said. “Her education empowered her to speak against the flaws of segregation and voter suppression. Our history books are filled with the accomplishment of men, but not enough of women who, like Mary Church Terrell, worked to change the world.”
The resolution notes that Terrell was born in Memphis, Tennessee on Sept. 23, 1863, and that her father, a former slave, emerged as one of the South’s first Black millionaires. Terrell attended the Antioch College laboratory school and Oberlin College, uncommon events for Black women at that time.
The resolution noted that Terrell participated in antilynching campaigns alongside crusading journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett and led desegregation campaigns in the District’s public eating places. Terrell’s residence on 326 T Street NW is a National Historic Landmark, the resolution said.