A Colored Woman in a White World
Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954)
Draft pages for
A Colored Woman in the White World
Page 2
Typescript pages
Manuscript Division
Gift of Mary Church Terrell (96.3a,b)
|
Mary Church Terrell was born on the outskirts of Memphis, Tennessee,
during the Civil War. Well-educated, schooled in foreign languages,
Terrell traveled widely and was much in demand as a speaker, lecturer,
and writer. She was the first president of the National Association
of Colored Women and the first African-American female member
of the District of Columbia Board of Education. Criticized by
some for her "upper-class ways," Terrell was a vocal critic of
lynching and a strong proponent of woman suffrage. Terrell led
picket lines to desegregate DC restaurants and lunch rooms in
the 1950s. Her autobiography A Colored Woman in the White
World, published in 1940, details her remarkable life.
|