Dr. Mary Church Terrell: July 24, 1954

Jet, July 25, 1994

July 24,1954 --

Dr. Mary Church Terrell, tireless fighter for human rights, died on this day in Annapolis, MD, at age 90. Dr. Terrell, who for more than sixty years dedicated her life to campaigning against racial discrimination, was responsible for many victories in the field of civil rights. Dr. Terrell was born in Memphis, TN, the same year of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation (1863). She was one of the first women to graduate from Oberlin College. In 1895 she became the first Black woman and one of the first women to be appointed to the District of Columbia School Board. She was one of the organizers of the NAACP and a charter member. One of her most noted achievements was the Thompson Restaurant Case, in which Dr. Terrell, along with two other persons, sued when refused service in a restaurant in 1950. Three years later the fight ended in a victory which opened the doors of restaurants to Blacks in the nation's capital. Her autobiography, A Colored Woman in a White World, was published in 1941.