Mary Church Terrell, Civil Rights Pioneer

Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954), a distinguished African-American educator, author and early civil rights proponent, jockeyed for a position in President Coolidge's administration. She wanted to head a "colored women's section" in either the Women's Bureau or the Children's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor. The Coolidge Papers case file Mary Church Terrell, 1924-25 offers a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes response to her effort to obtain appointment to the federal government. (INTRO NOTE African Americans)

It should be noted that Terrell was president of the Women's Republican League, on whose letterhead she wrote some of the correspondence in this case file, and that she supported Coolidge in the 1924 presidential campaign. The case file should be of significant interest to scholars following Terrell's career.