We are in our second year now telling the remarkable stories of Black Women in America. Many of these women are well-known; many have been forgotten. All of them deserve to be remembered.
Last month – Black History Month – we honored four female African American activists. The brave actions of these women were responsible for changing laws and attitudes in America to make life better for black people.
First Week: Harriet Tubman – Moses for her people (1820-1913)
Second Week: Ida B. Wells – Tireless Crusade against Lynching (1862-1931)
Third Week: Rosa Parks – Mother of the Civil Rights Movement (1913-2005)
Fourth Week: Rev. Addie Wyatt – Fighting for Justice– (1924-2012)
This month we will continue to explore the stories of those black female activists who accomplished much beginning with Mary Church Terrell – The Struggle for Racial Justice in the Nation’s Capital (1863-1954).
Mary Church Terrell – Educator, Writer, Gender and Social Justice
I will be 90 on the 23rd of September and will die happy that children of my group will not grow up thinking they are inferior because they are deprived of rights which children of other racial groups enjoy.[1] Mary Church Terrell
This was Mary Church Terrell’s comment after the decision was made by the Supreme Court in 1953 against the John R. Thompson restaurant for not serving black people. There was a statute in Washington D.C. that said that businesses must not refuse service based on race, but the laws were routinely ignored. Black people did not have the right to sue, so they could be refused service without consequences to the businesses. Mary sought and succeeded in getting this injustice changed.
Mary Church Terrell was born on September 23, 1863, in Memphis, Tennessee to parents who were freed from slavery. Mary had one brother. Her parents, Robert Reed Church and Louisa Ayers became successful businesspeople. Robert became one of the South’s first African American millionaires. Louisa Ayres Church owned a hair salon. Both parents believed in the power and efficacy of education. Mary and her brother both went to school. Mary did not waste these advantages.
Though her parents divorced, her father remained an influence and was supportive of Mary’s education. Mary lived with her mother and started to attend school in Memphis. But the schools for “colored” children[2] were poorly run so in 1871 Louisa sent Mary to Yellow Springs, Ohio for her education. Mary attended the Antioch College-associated Model School for four years. This great education would set the foundation for her life, including education, writing, and activism. Even at this school, Mary was faced with racial discrimination, but she overcame the problem with resoluteness and strength of character. An example of her valiant spirit is demonstrated by one time at school when she was first confronted with racial discrimination; “It dawned on me with terrific force that these young white girls were making fun of me, were laughing at me, because I was colored…I ran to the door, stopped, turned around, and hurled back defiantly, ‘I don’t want my face to be white like yours and look like milk. I want it nice and dark just like it is.’”[3]
This feistiness would last throughout Mary’s life. Her good education, public speaking ability, and desire to make life better for women and blacks served her well as she fought for equal rights and opportunities for all.
Mary went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Classics at Oberlin College. She was often the only woman, white or black enrolled in this field which was mostly made up of white men. She also earned a master’s degree, and by 1888 she was one of the few black women in the United States to hold both degrees. After graduating she taught at Wilberforce University for two years and later at the M Street High School in Washington, D.C. This was where she met her future husband, Robert Herberton Terrell. They married in 1891. Sadly, she had trouble with her first three pregnancies and lost those children early in their marriage. They were blessed later with one surviving daughter, Phyllis, and later adopted their niece, Mary.
Other influences in Mary’s life included her lifelong friend, Frederick Douglas and W.E.B. Dubois who made Mary a charter member of his organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909. She and her husband also knew Booker T. Washington, who invited Mary to his school commencement and possibly used his influence to get Robert Terrell a judgeship appointment.
She associated with Susan B. Anthony who allowed Mary to speak at suffrage meetings. Mary saw this as a way to raise the status of all women, including black women. She fought for women’s suffrage and civil rights because she belonged “to the only group in this country that has two such huge obstacles to surmount…both sex and race.”
In 1892, Mary’s activism was ignited when an old friend, Thomas Moss, was lynched in Memphis by white men who did not like the business competition. Mary joined with Ida B. Wells (see our post February 14, 2923) in her anti-lynching campaigns. Both women were involved with many campaigns to help black people. Mary helped to found the National Association of Colored Women (NACW). She was their president from 1896 to 1901. In 1910 she cofounded the College Alumnae Club, later renamed he National Association of University Women.
Mary was active in the suffrage movement, even picketing the White House during the Wilson administration. After the 19th amendment passed, she focused on broader civil rights issues. She had helped white women get their suffrage passed only to be disappointed with the lack of support for black women, even though “colored women need it more”. For African American women the Voting Rights Act of 1963 finally removed the barriers to voting for black women. (Mary did not live to see this; she died in 1954.)
In 1940, Mary published her autobiography, A Colored Woman in a White World. [4] In 1948, she became the first black member of the American Association of University Women. This was only after she won her battle against the discrimination of the AAUW who contested her membership for three years. In 1949, the national chapter agreed to accept black women, but Mary’s local chapter seceded rather than admit her.[5]
You might think a woman in her eighties would slow down, but here’s where her story gets super-exciting for me (and you, I hope!). In 1950 at the age of 86 this indomitable woman walked into a restaurant in Washington, D.C. just a few blocks from the White House and asked for service. Mary and three responsible and respectable compatriots, Reverend William Jernagin, Geneva Brown, and David Scull went to Thompson’s restaurant on January 30, 1950, and sought service.[6] They were rebuffed. The manager of Thompson’s informed them that they could not eat there because they were “colored”.
There were statutes that said that they should be served, but many businesses ignored them, mainly because black citizens were not empowered to press charges on their own. The business owners could then try and curry favor with whites by just refusing service to blacks knowing there was no “teeth” in the laws.
Then began a three-year battle in the Supreme Court for justice for black citizens. Eventually in June 1953 the Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co., Inc. invalidated the segregation of restaurants in the nation’s capital. This was a landmark decision and a capstone for Mary’s life.
Mary had many advantages as a black woman including influential friends and a supportive husband. She suffered from the same prejudice as other black people, yet she maintained a lifelong revulsion against injustice. She fought racism right up until her death. She died (July 24, 1954) only a few weeks after Brown v. Board of Education (May 17, 1954). Her work was pivotal in the fight for equality, giving impetus to the racial movement. Several years later Rosa Parks would refuse to go to the back of a bus (See post February 21, 2023). Within 10 years the sit-in movement would get the attention of the many remaining segregated counters in the South.
Mary deserves an important place in the history of the civil rights movement, not just for racial issues but also for gender issues. She was intelligent, kind, hardworking, and faithful. I can’t wait to meet her when I get to Heaven.
[1] Joan Quigley. Just Another Southern Town: Mary Church Terrell and the Struggle for Racial Justice in the Nation’s Capital. (Oxford University Press, 2016) page 228.
[2] As I have mentioned in all my posts, I will use the historica references for African Americans. If nothing else, looking at how the terminology has changed shows us how far we have come in respecting black people more.
[3] Madison Good, “Mary Church Terrell”, January 5, 2022. https://www.ohiohistory.org/mary-church-terrell/
[4] Still available on Amazon and other bookseller sites.
[5] I guess white women can be just as prejudiced as white men.
[6] Joan Quigley. Just Another Southern Town: Mary Church Terrell and the Struggle for Racial Justice in the Nation’s Capital (Oxford University Press, 2016) page 143.
Black Women Activists – Addie L. Wyatt
February 28, 2023 by mylordkatie
Black Women in America – Part 31
We are in our second year now telling the remarkable stories of Black Women in America. I thought this series would take 1 year, but actually I could go on for many years. So, I am focusing on Black Female Firsts. We began during Black History Month in 2022 with the stories of African American women in the field of education including the first black women to earn PhD’s and the first to found schools and make other changes in education. Our series continued with black female writers, artists, scientists, doctors, inventors, athletes, and entertainers. Now in this second year, we will look at the stories of activists, political leaders, religious leaders and many more.
This month – Black History Month – we are honoring four African American activists. The brave actions of these women changed things in America for the better.
First Week: Harriet Tubman – Moses for her people (1820-1913)
Second Week: Ida B. Wells – Tireless Crusade against Lynching (1862-1931)
Third Week: Rosa Parks – Mother of the Civil Rights Movement (1913-2005)
This Week: Rev. Addie Wyatt – Fighting for Justice– (1924-2012)
Reverend Addie Wyatt – Fighting for Justice
Addie Wyatt believed in a universal, God-given human equality, inclusive of freedom from racial oppression, discrimination, sexism, and poverty, which denied human beings access to their full potential.[1]
In our series on African American firsts, Addie Wyatt is important as a leader in many movements – labor, civil rights, women rights, and religious commitment. Addie believed in a holistic gospel – every area of life is connected – and we can see from her life that she practiced her faith. Addie worked tirelessly in all these areas to achieve justice for all no matter their station in life.
Labor
Addie L. Wyatt (then Cameron) was born on March 8, 1924, in Brookhaven, Mississippi as the eldest of 8 children. Her mother gave them a Christian upbringing, taking them to church and even encouraging her children to be involved. When Addie was only 3 years old, she gave her first recitation. This was a foreshadow of her five-decades long speaking career. The family moved to Chicago in 1930. When she was only 17, Addie married Claude S. Wyatt, Jr.
In 1941, Addie began working in the meatpacking industry. She wanted to work as a typist, but black women were denied clerical positions. She took a job canning stew for the army. She actually made more money working on the packinghouse floor than she would have made as a typist. In 1942 she joined the United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA). This union was seen as one of the most progressive allowing memberships to many blacks and females.
Addie agreed with the non-discriminatory view of the UPWA and became active in the organization. In 1953 Addie was elected vice-president of the local chapter. In 1954 she became the First woman president of the local chapter and later the international representative. She remained in this position for many years. She also became the First black female international vice-president in the history of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen. Later she served as the Director of Civil Rights and Women’s Affairs of the 1.5-million-member United Food and Commercial Workers (one of the largest in the then AFL-CIO).
In 1975 in honor of her work, she was named one of the twelve most influential woman in America and her picture appeared on Time Magazine. Ebony Magazine also listed her as one of the 100 most influential Black Americans from 1980-1984, Addie was the highest ranked woman of the organized labor movement when she retired in 1984. An Addie L. Wyatt Award was established in 1987 by the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. Addie as inducted into the Department of Labor’s Hall of Honor in 2012.
Civil Rights
In 1974 Addie became the director of the Women’s Affairs Department in the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen. Addie was one of the founders of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the only national union for women at the time. She delivered a keynote address to 3200 participants. Addie was also a founding member of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.
Addie joined Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in civil rights marches. She participated in the march on Washington and the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and a major demonstration in Chicago. She helped found Operation Breadbasket. She raised fund for those left without a job during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. (See last week’s story on Rosa Parks.)
Eleanor Roosevelt appointed Addie to serve on the Labor Legislation Committee of the Commission on the Status of Women. Addie also served on the Protective Labor Legislation Committee of President John F. Kennedy’s Commission on the Status of Women in 1962. Addie worked toward the Equal Rights Amendment and advocated for better medical care for women, equal pay for women, and access to quality childcare.
Religious Commitment
Addie and Martin Luther King, Jr. developed a close relationship not only as civil rights activists, but as spiritual leaders. They agreed that involvement with the working class was crucial, and they supported each other’s efforts. Dr. King was a Baptist and Addie was an ordained minister in the Church of God but they both believed in the social gospel. Like Jesus, they believed in words and actions and that the two must go hand in hand.
In 1955, Addie and Claude founded the Vernon Park Church of God on the south side of Chicago. At first the congregation was small, but it grew over the years and the members were always willing to support civil rights activities and labor-based campaigns in the city. The church became known for its work among homeless people, seniors, and youth.
In 1968 Addie was ordained in the Church of God. She was one of the few women who sought ordination, but she wanted women to be able to participate fully in what had been traditionally male-only roles. Her husband, Claude believed that individuals are directly accountable to God, and he supported her as a co-pastor. Addie would address hundreds of audiences around the country over the rest of her life on what she believed to be important for the transformation of societal thought on gender roles. She found the basis for equality in the Bible (Proverbs 31, Galatians 3:26-28). Addie believed the Scriptures taught the humanity and dignity of all people.
“What shaped Wyatt’s theology was the combination or intersectionality of her life’s experiences – her faith and family history in the Church of God; her personal experiences with poverty, racism, and sexism; and her movement activism and leadership.”[2] The thread that held her activities together was her spiritual faith and a belief in racial, gender, and economic equality.
Throughout the 1990’s and early 2000’s Addie’s speaking engagements lessened, but she remained well-known as a national activist in labor and racial and women’s rights. Addie suffered a stroke and along with her arthritis was confined to a wheelchair. Claude developed Alzheimer’s. Thankfully because of their many years of service to others, family and friends were able to provide the daily care that they both needed. Only April 10, 2010, Claude passed away. On March 28, 2012, Addie, age 88, joined him in Heaven.
[1] Marcia Walker-McWilliams. Reverend Addie Wyatt: Faith and the Fight for Labor, Gender, and Racial Equality. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2016) page 2.
[2] Ibid., page 155
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