Mary Church Terrell

Mary Church Terrell (1863 – 1954) 

As you read…

Mary Church Terrell had a sensitivity to racism and an awareness of its ‘social construction’ in that she was light skinned (Parker, 2010).  She was an activist against lynching and occasionally worked with Ida Wells Barnett on the subject.  Terrell was a close personal friend of Susan B. Anthony and worked with her professionally throughout her life, until Anthony died.

Biography

Mary Church Terrell was one of the first black women to become educated, graduating from Oberlin College.  Terrell believed strongly in higher education for women as a way to improve conditions for her race.  Her parents were self-employed, her mother running a hair salon and her father various real estate holdings and a saloon.  Terrell spoke German and French in addition to English.  While overseas a white German man proposed to her but Terrell realized she was dedicated to equal rights.  She believed it was her duty to return home and improve conditions.   Terrell recognized that she would be “happier trying to promote the welfare of [her] race,” than living overseas free from racism.    After an 1892 murder (lynching) of a black male friend, Terrell was moved to work on an anti-lynching campaign.  In 1904 she published “Lynching from a Negro’s Point of View.”  Terrell argued that “black women were the victims of rape…and black men were lynched not because they were rapists but due to race hatred.”  Terrell was actively involved in the woman suffrage movement working closely with Susan B. Anthony.

Contributions to Feminism

Mary Church Terrell got involved in woman’s suffrage as a means to advocate for temperance (prohibition).  When she began, Terrell saw herself as an ‘outsider’ in the woman suffrage movement.  There was an incident in which she wanted to speak out for universal suffrage but she was not recognized by Susan B. Anthony because she had just attended meetings but was not a member.  That soon changed and Terrell became close to Anthony both personally and professionally.  Terrell leaned towards the beliefs of Frances Watkins Harper, and thought that the focus should be on universal suffrage; that white women need to be more aware of the struggles of black women; and that federal legislation was the favored political strategy.  Terrell’s advocacy for universal suffrage manifested itself through her service on the Board of Education for the District of Columbia.  Terrell was the first black woman on the board.  

In 1896, Terrell became the President of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW).  Terrell wanted to use the term “colored” to reflect that there were black women of mixed race and that other terms didn't capture that fully.  NACW was formed because of the racism Terrell and others found in the activist clubs that were run by white women.  The NACW was very active and made great strides in woman suffrage.  Parker (2010) argued that Terrell was critical in gaining “support for a constitutional amendment for woman suffrage among rank-and-file members of the NACW.”  Parker asserted Terrell became “one of the most prominent woman suffrage proponents in the black community in the late 1890’s and early twentieth century.”

In 1908, Terrell gave two speeches highlighting suffrage at the 60^th Anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention.  Terrell spoke about Frederick Douglass who helped garner black men the right to vote and on “The Justice of Woman Suffrage.”  In addition, she published an article of the same name in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in their 1912 magazine.  Terrell dealt with the issue of black men believing black women didn’t need the right to vote.

Although Terrell is not represented in the movie Iron Jawed Angels, she was one of the women who picketed in front of the White House for woman suffrage.  Terrell did live to see the passage of the nineteenth amendment in her lifetime, unlike Frances Watkins Harper.  Terrell continued to be engaged in activism and worked for civil rights after women gained the right to vote. 

Discussion Questions

1.       Why are the activities of the white women in the woman suffrage movement the focus of the history books? 
2.       Why is there a Susan B. Anthony coin and not a coin for one of the black woman suffragettes?
 
References
National Women's History Museum. (2007). Rights for women: The Suffrage movement and its

leaders.   African American women and suffrage.  Retrieved from:

https://www.nwhm.org/onlineexhibits/rightsforwomen/Terrell.html.

Parker, A. (2010). Articulating rights. Nineteenth century American women on race, reform, and the
state. Dekalb, IL:  Northern Illinois University Press.
Terrell, M. (1995). Progress of colored women. In B. Guy-Sheftall, Ed. Words of fire: An anthology of
African-American feminist thought. [Kindle version].  Retrieved from Amazon.com.