Mary Church Terrell, 1863 - 1954

At age 89, leaning on a cane, she marched to de-segregate a five-and-ten store in Washington, the city where she had served as high school teacher, principal and school board member.

She wrote about a society where,

"Not only are colored women with ambition and aspiration handicapped on account of their sex, but they are everywhere baffled and mocked on account of their race... Desperately and continuously they are forced to fight that opposition, born of a cruel, unreasonable prejudice which neither their merit nor their necessity seems able to subdue."

Mary Church Terrell, "The Progress of Colored Women," February 18, 1898. African-American Perspectives, 1818-1907.

To remedy the situation,she established parallel institutions. When black women were excluded from planning for the 1893 World's Fair, Terrell helped found and lead the National Association of Colored Women. When black women college students couldn't form chapters of traditional sororities, Terrell helped organize Delta Sigma Delta. She prodded these women's groups to advocate for the rights to vote and to live in an un-segregated society.

Medium : 1 photographic print

Created/Published : Sometime in the 1880s

Creator : Not attributed

Housed in the Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 weeks.

Product #: machte