Mary Church Terrell

Mary Church Terrell
Born	Mary Church September 23, 1863 Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
Died	July 24, 1954(1954-07-24) (aged 90) Annapolis, Maryland, U.S.
Other names	Euphemia Kirk
Occupation(s)	Civil rights activist, journalist
Known for	One of the first African-American women to earn a college degree Founding member of National Association of Colored Women Charter member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Robert Heberton Terrell ​ ​ (m. 1891; died 1925)​
Children	5 (one adopted, three died in infancy) including Phyllis
Parent(s)	Robert Reed Church Louisa Ayres

Mary Terrell (born Mary Church; September 23, 1863 – July 24, 1954) was an American civil rights activist, journalist, teacher and one of the first African-American women to earn a college degree.^[1] She taught in the Latin Department at the M Street School (now known as Paul Laurence Dunbar High School)—the first African American public high school in the nation—in Washington, DC. In 1895, she was the first African-American woman in the United States to be appointed to the school board of a major city, serving in the District of Columbia until 1906. Terrell was a charter member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (1909) and the Colored Women's League of Washington (1892). She helped found the National Association of Colored Women (1896) and served as its first national president, and she was a founding member of the National Association of College Women (1923).