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Mary Church Terrell Mary Eliza Church was born in Memphis, Tennessee on September 23, 1863 to Louisa (Ayres) Church and Robert Church, both former slaves. The Church family, however, soon settled into the black middle-class. After the Civil War, Robert opened a money making saloon and during the yellow fever outbreak of 1878-79 he, unlike many of Memphis residents, did not abandon his property. Rather, he bought as much land and property as he could and became …

…define the era between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of desegregation. Church Terrell, the constant meddler, was given honorary doctorates from Howard University, and Wilberforce and Oberlin Colleges. A school in Washington, DC was named for her and several black women's clubs are named in her memory. Church Terrell died on July 24, 1954, just two months after Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision which ended segregation in America's schools.