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• 1 2018-10-05T15:14:01+00:00 Club Work 6 plain 2018-10-05T17:20:26+00:00 In the post-Civil War period women's groups sprang up around the country, many starting as literary or educational societies, others forming around goals of community service.  Clubs for "colored" women focused on both education and on the practical matters of helping women manage their homes and care for young children.  By the mid 1890s there were so many clubs all over the country, in both urban and rural areas, that the need for coordination was evident.  Inspired by the benefits of organizing that she observed at woman suffrage meetings, Mary Church Terrell eagerly threw herself into the task of organizing among her fellow "club women."  
  
  In 1896 seven representatives each from the Colored Women's League, which Terrell and fellow Oberlin alumna Anna Julia Cooper had chartered, and the Federation of Afro-American Women, formed by Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin of Boston, met with the purpose of joining forces. From that meeting, the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) emerged, and Mary Church Terrell was the first president, serving until 1901. 
  The Association adopted the motto "Lifting as We Climb" which was emblematic its members' belief that it was the responsibility of the educated to lift up others, women and especially children.  Their work emphasized the importance of the home in advancing the race, as well as suffrage, temperance, and skills for employment.
  
  Terrell, who had been named Honorary President for Life in 1901, was recognized by the Association for her contributions to the field of human rights at a special dinner in 1949.