IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 583 

Expressing support for the designation of September 23 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 24, 2019 

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

Committee on Oversight and Reform 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing support for the designation of September 23 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 slaves; 

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; 

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


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•HRES 583 IH 

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 the M Street Colored 

High School, now known as Paul Laurence Dunbar High 

School; 

Whereas Mary Church Terrell was the first African-American 

woman in the United States 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 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; 

Whereas the group was refused service on the basis of their 

race; 


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•HRES 583 IH 

Whereas John R. Thompson Co. 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 lawsuit was 

filed, the Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. John 

R. Thompson Co., 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 NW 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 

4 (2) calls on Congress to recognize Mary Church 

5 Terrell’s legacy of civil rights and women’s rights. 

Æ 


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