Mary Church Terrell
| Mary Church Terrell | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Mary Church September 23, 1863 Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | July 24, 1954 (aged 90) Annapolis, Maryland, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Euphemia Kirk |
| Known for | One of the first African-American women to earn a college degree |
| Parent(s) |
Robert Reed Church Louisa Ayers |
Mary Church Terrell (September 23, 1863 – July 24, 1954) was one of the first African-American women to earn a college degree, and became known as a national activist for civil rights and suffrage; in 1909 she was a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She taught and was a principal at an academic high school in Washington, DC; in 1896 she was the first African-American woman in the United States to be appointed to a school board of a major city, serving in the District of Columbia until 1906. Terrell led several important associations, including the National Association of Colored Women.
Terrell was the daughter of former mixed-race slaves who helped build the black elite in Memphis, Tennessee after the American Civil War. Her father Robert Reed Church became a wealthy business entrepreneur and was widely considered the first African-American millionaire in the South.
Mary Church was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Robert Reed Church and Louisa Ayers, both former slaves of mixed race. Robert Church's mother was daughter of a Malagasy mother and white planter father; and his father was Captain Charles B. Church, a steamship owner and operator from Virginia. His father allowed Church to keep wages earned as a steward on his ship; the younger man bought his first property in Memphis in 1862. He continued to invest in real estate, especially after the city was depopulated following the 1878 yellow fever epidemic, and developed his wealth in real estate as the city recovered. Multiple sources refer to Church as the first black millionaire in the South, although it is now generally accepted that his wealth reached only $700,000.
Both of Mary Church's parents stressed education; when she was six years old, her parents sent her to the Antioch College Model School in Yellow Springs, Ohio, for her elementary and secondary education. Mary, known to members of her family as "Mollie," and a brother were born during their father's first marriage, which ended in divorce. Their half-siblings, Robert, Jr. and Annette, were born during their father's second marriage, to Anna (Wright) Church. Robert Church later married a third time.
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