{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://norton.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/norton-reintroduces-mary-church-terrell-day-resolution-honoring-the-0", "Norton Reintroduces Mary Church Terrell Day Resolution, Honoring the Life of Civil Rights Activist and Suffragette", "2020-09-28", "2020", "2020-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "DC", "Eleanor Norton", "N000147", "norton.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) reintroduced a resolution that would designate September 23rd as Mary Church Terrell Day, recognizing Mary Church Terrell's lasting contributions to the civil rights and women's rights movements. Mary Church Terrell, the daughter of freed slaves, moved to the District of Columbia in 1887 to become a teacher at M Street Colored High School, later known as Dunbar High School (Norton's alma mater).\nTerrell's parents encouraged her to pursue education, beginning her journey to become one of the first Black women to graduate from college and later to become the first Black woman appointed to the D.C. board of education. As a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Association of Colored Women, Terrell she spent her life working to advance the status of African American women as a civil rights activist and suffragette.\nMary Church Terrell is well known for the battles she fought in the District of Columbia to demand a more equal America for Black women, Norton said. Her education empowered her to speak against the flaws of segregation and voter suppression. Our history books are littered with the accomplishment of men, but not enough of women who, like Mary Church Terrell, have worked to change the world.\nThe text of the resolution is below.\nExpressing support for the designation of September 23, 2020, 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.\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell was born on September 23, 1863, in Memphis, Tennessee, to former slaves;\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell's father, Robert Reed Church, was a successful businessman and one of the South's first African-American millionaires;\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell attended the Antioch College laboratory school and Oberlin College;\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell was one of the first African-American women to attend college;\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell's belief in the importance of education led her to the District of Columbia in 1887;\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell taught at the M Street Colored High School, now known as Paul Laurence Dunbar High School;\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell was the first African-American woman in the United States to be appointed to a school board;\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell believed that the end to racial discrimination could be achieved through education, work, and community activism;\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell's activism was sparked by the lynching of an old friend, Thomas Moss, in 1892;\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell used her position to fight racial and gender discrimination;\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell participated in antilynching campaigns alongside Ida B. Wells-Barnett;\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell led the fight to desegregate eating places in the District of Columbia;\nWhereas District of Columbia laws of 1872 and 1873 required all restaurants to serve any respectable, well-behaved person regardless of color;\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell was 86 at the time she launched the campaign to enforce these civil rights laws;\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell and several colleagues entered Thompson Restaurant in the District of Columbia on February 28, 1950;\nWhereas the group was refused service on the basis of their race;\nWhereas John R. Thompson Co., was prosecuted for violating these laws;\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell continued her fight through boycotts, picketing, and sit-ins at restaurants around the District of Columbia;\nWhereas, 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;\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell also actively fought for women's suffrage;\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell was president of the National Association of Colored Women;\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell was one of the founders and charter members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People;\nWhereas Mary Church Terrell persuaded the National Association of University Women to admit Black members;\nWhereas 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\nWhereas September 23, 2020, would be an appropriate day to designate as Mary Church Terrell Day: Now, therefore, be it\nResolved, That the House of Representatives\n(1) supports the designation of Mary Church Terrell Day; and\n(2) calls on Congress to recognize Mary Church Terrell's legacy of civil rights and women's rights.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://norton.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/norton-reintroduces-mary-church-terrell-day-resolution-honoring-the-0"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.948829110711813, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}