An Oberlin College graduate, Terrell was part of the rising black middle and upper class who used their position to fight racial discrimination. The daughter of former slaves, Terrell was born on September 23, in Memphis, Tennessee.
Her mother, Louisa Ayres Church, owned a hair salon. She had one brother. There she met, and in , married Heberton Terrell, also a teacher. The Terrells had one daughter and later adopted a second daughter.
Her activism was sparked in , when an old friend, Thomas Moss, was lynched in Memphis by whites because his business competed with theirs. Terrell joined Ida B. It was a strategy based on the power of equal opportunities to advance the race and her belief that as one succeeds, the whole race would be elevated. She was NACW president from to As NACW president, Terrell campaigned tirelessly among black organizations and mainstream white organizations, writing and speaking extensively.
In , Terrell was among the founders and charter members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Following the passage of the 19 th amendment, Terrell focused on broader civil rights. In , she published her autobiography, A Colored Woman in a White World , outlining her experiences with discrimination. In , Terrell became the first black member of the American Association of University Women, after winning an anti-discrimination lawsuit.
