Mary Church Terrell: An Original Oberlin Activist

Teaching and Scholarship

Mary Church Terrell has been present in classrooms at Oberlin for many years, in courses taught in the History and Africana Studies departments. A recent intensive study of Terrell by students called "You Can't Keep Her Out: Mary Church Terrell’s Fight for Equality in America (1911-1949)," was completed as part of the Digitizing American Feminisms project led by Carol Lasser, Emerita Professor of History, and Ken Grossi, College Archivist. 


Several of the students who participated in the archival research and writing about Terrell presented their work at a meeting of the Society of American Archivists in Cleveland in August 2015, and at the symposium "Complicated Relationships:  Mary Church Terrell's Legacy for 21st Century Activists" at Oberlin College in February 26-27, 2016.  The title reflects the sometimes contentious nature of the bond between Terrell and her alma mater.  The event celebrated a gift of some of Mary Church Terrell's papers and artifacts to the Oberlin College Archives by Ray and Jean Langston, descendants of Terrell.

The program for the symposium included talks by scholars from around the country, including many Oberlin alumnae.  The keynote address was delivered by Johnnetta Betsch Cole, OC '57, former President of Spelman College and then director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.



At the closing of the event, a commemorative plaque dedicated by the National Association of University Women (NAUW) was placed in the lobby of the Africana Studies Department in Rice Hall.  Terrell founded the College Alumnae Club which was the forerunner of the NAUW.

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