Title: Mary Church Terrell Papers, 1884-2004, 2009

ID: RG 30/438

Extent: 7.46 Linear Feet

Predominant Dates: 1884-1953

Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954)

Mary Church Terrell, born Mary Eliza Church, was a writer, educator, and activist. Born in Memphis, Tennessee on September 23, 1863, her mother, Louisa Ayres Church, owned a hair salon, while her father, Robert Reed Church, was the first black millionaire in the South due to his business and real estate dealings. Terrell’s parents, both former slaves, divorced when she and her brother, Thomas, were young. Their father eventually remarried.

At the age of six, Mary Church’s parents enrolled her in elementary school at the Antioch College laboratory school in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She attended both the Oberlin Academy and Oberlin College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Languages in 1884. She earned a Master's degree from Oberlin four years later. From 1885 to 1887, Terrell taught at Wilberforce College (now Wilberforce University) in Ohio. She then moved to Washington, D.C. to join the faculty at M Street Colored High School (later the Dunbar High School), where she met Robert Heberton Terrell, chairman of the school’s language department. In 1888, Mary Church traveled to Europe for two years to study French, German, and Italian. After returning to Washington, she and Robert H. Terrell were married in 1891.

In 1892, she learned that Thomas Moss, a close friend from Memphis, had been lynched, and this inspired her to become a social activist. She helped form the Colored Women’s League in Washington to address social problems facing black communities. Four years later, Terrell helped create the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), and became its first president. The NACW adopted the motto, “Lifting As We Climb,” and promoted racial uplift through education and community activism. During her tenure as president of the NACW, from 1896 to 1901, Terrell became a well-known speaker and writer in the United States and overseas. Terrell served on Washington’s Board of Education in an unpaid position from 1895 to 1901, and again from 1906 to 1911. In 1909, Terrell signed the charter that established the National Association for the Advancement for Colored People (NAACP).

In 1910, Mary Church Terrell became one of the founders of the College Alumnae Club, which was later named the National Association of University Women (NAUW). Created to promote and encourage professional achievements among women and participation in civic issues, the organization continues to work nationally and internationally on matters related to education, women’s rights, child welfare, and healthcare.

In addition to founding and chairing numerous organizations, Terrell also used her writing to advance her social and political interests. Her scholarly articles, poems, and short stories about race and gender appeared in numerous journals and magazines. In 1940 she published her autobiography, A Colored Woman in a White World, which details her own battles with gender and race discrimination in the United States. After World War II, Terrell joined the burgeoning efforts to end legal segregation in Washington, D.C. She lived to see the desegregation of eating facilities in the capital city, which occurred in 1953. One year later, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

Mary Church and Robert Terrell had one daughter, Phyllis, and later adopted Church’s brother’s daughter, Mary Louise. Both daughters briefly attended Oberlin College during the 1913-14 academic year. Mary’s brother, Thomas, also attended Oberlin College (see the separate biographical sketch).

Mary Church Terrell died in Highland Beach, Maryland, on July 24, 1954. She was 90 years old.

Thomas Ayers Church (1867-1937)

Thomas Ayers Church, the brother of Mary Church Terrell, was born in 1867 to Louisa Ayers Church and Robert Reed Church. His parents sent him from his birthplace, Memphis Tennessee, to study at the Oberlin College Preparatory School from 1881 to 1884. After completing his preparatory coursework, Church traveled with his mother to visit his sister in Europe, where she was studying French, German, and Italian. He returned to the United States to enroll in Marietta College, from which he received an A.B. degree in 1890. He then attended Columbia University where he received an LL.B. degree in 1894, followed by an A.M. in 1895. Church was employed by the New York City Magistrates’ Court in the positions of Assistant Court Clerk, Police Clerk Assistant, and Clerk’s Assistant. He was the author of several books, including, The Roller; concerning its health, habits and happiness; its feeding, breeding and training (1921), which he wrote and illustrated.

Thomas Church had one daughter, Mary Louise, who was adopted by his sister in 1905. He later married Anna Tanal, and they had one son, Thomas Jr., who was born in 1927. Thomas Jr. went on to become a prominent immigration lawyer in the state of New York.

Thomas Ayers Church died in 1937.

Author: Archives Staff

Forms of Material (links to similar genres)

Languages of Materials

Administrative Information

Scope and Contents:

The Mary Church Terrell Papers document her life and achievements as a writer, educator, and activist whose work contributed greatly to the fight against discrimination on the basis of race and sex. The collection consists of biographical information, a modest amount of correspondence, documents associated with organizations in which Terrell was involved, legal and financial documents, diaries, printed matter, speeches, writings, artifacts, and photographs.

The strengths of the collection are in Terrell’s diaries, speeches, and writings. The diaries provide rich accounts of Terrell’s life and work, including lesser-known events of her life, that nonetheless illustrate her dedication to the fight for justice. For example, in diary entries from January 1921, she writes of visiting and speaking to a district attorney involved in the case of Clara Johnson, a black woman accused of killing a police officer during a race riot, and later describes attending the trial. Terrell’s speeches, though small in number, provide examples of her success as an orator, a skill that allowed her to give lectures all over the country. Terrell’s writings, which span the years of 1898 to 1953, illustrate her development as a writer of fiction and nonfiction. The people and events she chose to write about demonstrate her interests as a writer and an activist. Some writings include drafts, which further enrich the collection.

Also included are the writings of Thomas Ayers Church, the brother of Mary Church Terrell. Thomas worked in the New York Magistrates’ Court, and wrote on many legal subjects, specifically criminal law, but like his sister, also wrote short stories. His Columbia University thesis on the Original Judiciary Act of 1789 is also included in the collection.

The Mary Church Terrell Papers are organized in eleven series.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Series I. Biographical File, 1891, 1901-2004, 2009, n.d. (0.4 l.f.)

This series provides biographical information primarily about Mary Church Terrell, though there is a small amount of material related to her husband, Robert H. Terrell. The biographical sketches and timelines provide concise accounts of Mary Church Terrell’s accomplishments, while the articles, writings, and pamphlets include more detailed descriptions of specific events in her life. Also included are her passports and a travel itinerary for an extensive European tour. The file containing ephemera comprises Mary Church Terrell’s business card from her work with United States Representative Ruth Hanna McCormick, a small card naming Terrell as an “Honorary Life-Time Member of the United Cafeteria and Restaurant Workers Local Union No. 471,” ten miniature postcards printed by C.T. Photo-Finish of buildings on the Oberlin College campus, and other memorabilia. The 2009 issue of the U.S. Commemorative Postage Stamp featuring Terrell and Mary White Ovington is included in this series.

Series II. Correspondence, 1908-2003, n.d. (0.2 l.f.)

This series consists primarily of letters sent to and from Mary Church Terrell, including letters sent between Terrell and her family members and friends, letters to newspaper editors, and other communications related to her work as an activist. The series is also organized by topic. Letters written by Terrell and her daughter, Phyllis Terrell Langston, pertaining to the donation of Terrell’s papers to the Library of Congress and Howard University, and those regarding A Colored Woman in a White World, are housed in separate folders. There is a small amount of unidentified correspondence.

Series III. Diaries and Appointment Calendar, 1916-1952 (0.4 l.f.)

The seven diaries and one appointment calendar contain entries recorded by Mary Church Terrell. They provide insight into her daily life, including personal and professional events, and some entries related to Oberlin College. The diaries are kept consistently at times, and at others more sporadically. The diary dated 1916 and 1922 contains timelines and short descriptions of important events in Terrell’s life from 1875 to 1920.

Series IV. Legal and Financial Documents, 1908-1998 (0.1 l.f.)

The legal and financial documents include land, insurance, and financial records. The bulk of the series comprises deeds of trust and other property documents from both Robert R. Church and Mary Church Terrell. There are also stockholders account records for Mary Church Terrell and the will of Robert R. Church.

Series V. Organizations, 1899-1970, n.d. (0.1 l.f.)

These materials document only some of the numerous organizations in which Mary Church Terrell was a founder, leader, or active member. The folders for The Coordinating Committee For Enforcement of D.C. Anti-Discrimination Laws and The National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs contain the most materials relative to other organizations in the series. The Coordinating Committee’s materials include pamphlets, fliers, statements, and notices, which document the organization’s work to end segregation by boycotting and picketing D.C. area businesses that refused to comply with anti-discrimination laws. Terrell was a founding member and the first President of The National Association of Colored Women, which later became The National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs (NACWC). The booklets, pamphlets, publications, and correspondence generated by Terrell and the NACWC range in date from 1899 and 1970, and provide information about the members of the organization and their work. The remainder of the series contains printed matter from several of the other organizations in which Terrell was involved.

Series VI. Printed Matter, 1904-2003, n.d. (0.2 l.f.)

These items provide contextual information about the political climate during and after Mary Church Terrell’s life, and chronicle the organizations and events in which she was involved. The programs give insight into the number of events in which Terrell was involved and the many ceremonies honoring her work. The booklets and magazines include information printed by organizations such as The National Committee on Segregation in the Capital, The Philadelphia Cotillion Society, and Ransdell Incorporated Publishers. Also included are copies of lecture and meeting notices featuring Mary Church Terrell, and informational fliers printed by The National Committee to Free the Ingram Family. Invitations filed in this series relate to ceremonies commemorating her life and work. Terrell collected stationary during her travels throughout the country and world; these blank pages are included in the series. Finally, there is a facsimile of the discharge papers of Brister Baker, an African-American soldier who fought during the Civil War, though it is not clear where the facsimile originated.

Series VII. Speeches by Mary Church Terrell, 1906, 1951, 1953, n.d. (0.1 l.f.)

The speeches include remarks made at a farewell reception for Annie Stein, Executive Secretary for The Coordinating Committee For Enforcement of D.C. Anti-Discrimination Laws, a speech given at The Rosenberg Clemency Dinner, a tribute to the principal of Terrell Junior High School, a copy of a speech given at an event for the United Women’s Club, and a handwritten speech on the subject of anti-slavery and noted abolitionists.

Series VIII. Writings, 1893-1953, n.d. (1.7 l.f.)

This series is arranged into three subseries, each of which is organized alphabetically by title. The writings of Mary Church Terrell comprise the first subseries, which is organized by published and unpublished works. In addition to a draft and galley proof of Terrell’s autobiography, A Colored Woman in a White World, the subseries contains short works of both fiction and nonfiction. The writings of Thomas Ayers Church, Terrell’s brother, comprise the second subseries. While Church was a published author, it is not known whether any of these works were published. When it was not possible to distinguish whether the author was Terrell or Church, writings were placed in subseries three.

Series IX. Artifacts, 1884-1954 (1.86 l.f.)

Consists of Mary Church Terrell’s Oberlin College diploma, honorary degree from Wilberforce University, a copper printing plate for a wedding invitation, and a plaque awarded by Mecca Temple No. 10.

Series X. Exhibit Materials, ca. 1917-52 (0.4 l.f.)

These items are duplicate copies of printed materials that exist in the collection and were previously framed for an exhibit. The fliers produced by the Coordinating Committee for Enforcement for D.C. Anti-Discrimination Laws contain Mary Church Terrell’s handwritten revisions. This series also contains framed photographs of Terrell from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Series XI. Photographs, ca. 1880s-1950s (0.6 l.f.)

These photographs of Mary Church Terrell were taken throughout her life, depicting her with family, friends, and colleagues. Of note are photographs and negatives showing Terrell, in her late eighties, picketing a business that refused to serve African-Americans.

Download Box / Folder List (pdf)