STREAM EXCLUSIVE ORIGINALS

This Day in Black History: Sept. 23, 1863

Mary Church Terrell, civil rights activist and educator, was born in Memphis on Sept. 23, 1863.

Civil rights activist and educator Mary Church Terrell was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on Sept. 23, 1863.
Terrell would go on to become the first Black woman to earn a college degree, graduating from Oberlin College in Ohio and earning a master's degree there in 1888.
She was also active in the women's suffrage movement. In 1896, she helped form the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) and became its first president. Manning picket lines and staging sit-ins, Terrell told of her commitment to equal rights in her autobiography, A Colored Woman in a White World, written in 1940.
Terrell died at age of 90 on July 24, 1954.

BET National News - Keep up to date with breaking news stories from around the nation, including headlines from the hip hop and entertainment world. Click
here to subscribe to our newsletter. 

(Photo: courtesy of Tennessee State Library and Archives)

Latest News

Subscribe for BET Updates

Provide your email address to receive our newsletter.


By clicking Subscribe, you confirm that you have read and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge our Privacy Policy. You also agree to receive marketing communications, updates, special offers (including partner offers) and other information from BET and the Paramount family of companies. You understand that you can unsubscribe at any time.