Mary Eliza Church Terrell
1863-1954 - Civil rights and women's rights activist
- Born in Memphis, TN
- Terrell's parents were ex-slaves who later became wealthy
- Attended Oberlin College in Ohio, earning a bachelor's degree in 1884 and a master's degree in 1888
- Became active in the suffragist movement, founding the Colored Women's League in 1892
- In 1896 the Colored Women's League merged with the National Federation of Afro-American Women to become the National Federation of Colored Women
- Church Terrell was the first president of the National Federation of Colored Women
- In 1895 she became the first African-American woman appointed to the District of Columbia Board of Education
- A charter member of the NAACP, she was a popular lecturer on equal rights for women and blacks
- She served as a delegate at various international women's rights congresses and a prolific writer on social issues
- She received honorary doctorates from Howard University, Wilberforce College, and Oberlin College
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