IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 696 

Expressing support for the designation of September 23, 2023, as ‘‘Mary 

Church Terrell Day’’, and calling on Congress to recognize Mary Church 

Terrell’s lasting contributions to the civil rights and women’s rights 

movements. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2023 

Ms. NORTON submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Oversight and Accountability 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing support for the designation of September 23, 

2023, as ‘‘Mary Church Terrell Day’’, and calling on 

Congress to recognize Mary Church Terrell’s lasting contributions to the civil rights and women’s rights movements. 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell was born on September 23, 

1863, in Memphis, Tennessee, to former enslaved persons; 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell’s father, Robert Reed Church, 

was a successful businessman and one of the South’s first 

African-American millionaires; 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell attended the Antioch College 

laboratory school and Oberlin College; 


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•HRES 696 IH 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell was one of the first AfricanAmerican women to attend college; 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell’s belief in the importance of 

education led her to the District of Columbia in 1887; 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell taught at M Street Colored 

High School, now known as Paul Laurence Dunbar High 

School; 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell was the first African-American 

woman to be appointed to a school board; 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell believed that the end to racial 

discrimination could be achieved through education, 

work, and community activism; 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell’s activism was sparked by the 

lynching of an old friend, Thomas Moss, in 1892; 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell used her position to fight racial and gender discrimination; 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell participated in antilynching 

campaigns alongside Ida B. Wells-Barnett; 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell led the fight to desegregate 

eating places in the District of Columbia; 

Whereas District of Columbia laws of 1872 and 1873 required all restaurants ‘‘to serve any respectable, well-behaved person regardless of color’’; 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell was age 86 at the time she 

launched the campaign to enforce these civil rights laws; 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell and several colleagues entered 

Thompson Restaurant in the District of Columbia on 

February 28, 1950; 


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•HRES 696 IH 

Whereas the group was refused service on the basis of their 

race; 

Whereas John R. Thompson Co., Inc., was prosecuted for 

violating these laws; 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell continued her fight through 

boycotts, picketing, and sit-ins at restaurants around the 

District of Columbia; 

Whereas, on June 8, 1953, three years after the information 

charging the restaurant was filed, the Supreme Court in 

District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co., Inc., held 

these laws were enforceable; 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell also actively fought for women’s suffrage; 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell was president of the National 

Association of Colored Women; 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell was one of the founders and 

charter members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell persuaded the National Association of University Women to admit Black members; 

Whereas the Mary Church Terrell House is a National Historic Landmark located at 326 T Street, N.W., in the 

District of Columbia, and is open to the public; and 

Whereas September 23 would be an appropriate day to designate as Mary Church Terrell Day: Now, therefore, be 

it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) supports the designation of ‘‘Mary Church 

3 Terrell Day’’; and 


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•HRES 696 IH 

1 (2) calls on Congress to recognize Mary Church 

2 Terrell’s lasting contributions to the civil rights and 

3 women’s rights movements. 

Æ 


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