Mary Church Terrell Mary Church Terrell (Mary Eliza Church) was born in Memphis Tennessee on September 23, 1863 to Robert Reed Church and Louisa Ayres. Both of her parents were freed slaves with mixed racial ancestry. Her father, Robert Reed Church, was a businessman who invested in real estate. He made his fortune buying property
Mary Eliza Church Terrell, née Mary Eliza Church, (born Sept. 23, 1863, Memphis, Tenn., U.S. died July 24, 1954, Annapolis, Md.), American social activist who was cofounder and first president of the National Association of Colored Women. She was an early civil rights advocate, an educator, an author, and a lecturer on woman suffrage and rights for African Americans. Mary Church was the daughter of Robert Reed Church and Louisa Ayers Church, both former slaves prominent in the growing black community of Memphis, Tennessee. Both parents owned small, successful businesses, and they provided “Mollie” and her brother with advantages that few