Engaged Alumna
1890s
Upon graduation, Terrell and her classmates Ida Gibbs and Anna Julia Cooper were in high demand for teaching positions at “colored” schools, and Adelia Field Johnston, Principal of the Ladies Department, wrote Terrell such a glowing letter of recommendation that Terrell lamented having lost her copy. Indeed Johnston thought so highly of Terrell that she offered her a faculty position as registrar at Oberlin College in 1891. Terrell wrestled with the decision but declined, choosing to remain in D.C. to marry Robert as they had planned (CWWW 103).1900s
Terrell returned to campus in June 1900 for a class reunion and participated in the program of events as a respondent to the welcoming addresses, one of which was given by Johnston.A visit to her alma mater in the spring of 1904 coincided with a speaking engagement by Booker T. Washington, leader of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The Oberlin Review notes that Washington, Oberlin College President Henry Churchill King, and Terrell spoke at the Second M. E. Church, on Tuesday, May 10, 1904, and that “the speeches of all were highly appreciated.” The following day Terrell delivered what was known as the “Thursday Lecture,” a regular monthly event; her talk was “The Bright Side of a Dark Subject,” and she spoke before the largest audience for a Thursday lecture of that year.