Mary Church Terrell

Mary Church Terrell, for whom Terrell Place is named, was a teacher, writer, and civil rights activist who championed equal rights throughout her life locally, nationally, and internationally. From 1951 to 1952, at the age of 88, she led a campaign to end segregation at the lunch counter of Hecht's Department Store as part of a larger effort by the Coordinating Committee for the Enforcement of the DC Anti-Discrimination Laws to desegregate restaurants throughout Washington. As chair of the committee, Terrell organized boycotts, picket lines, and sit-ins, participating in many herself with a cane in one hand and a protest sign in the other. The campaign convinced over 40 restaurants, including Hecht's lunch counter, to stop discriminating. On June 8, 1953, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that pre-existing anti-discrimination laws, the Lost laws of 1872 and 1873, were still valid, officially ending segregation in restaurants across the city.

Washington, District of Columbia · United States