Twentieth century Negro literature : $b or, A cyclopedia of thought on the vital topics relating to the American Negro
History
Twentieth century Negro literature : $b or, A cyclopedia of thought on the vital topics relating to the American Negro
African Americans -- History
She graduated at Oberlin College in 1884 with the degree of
A. B. In 1888 she received the degree of A. M. from Oberlin.
She was for a while a teacher at Wilberforce University at
Xenia, Ohio. In 1887 she was appointed teacher of languages
in the Colored High School at Washington. She went abroad
for further study and travel in 1888 and remained in Europe
two years, spending the time in France, Switzerland, Germany
and Italy. She resumed her work in Washington in 1890. In
1891 she was offered the registrarship of Oberlin College,
being the first woman of her race to whom such a position
was ever tendered by an institution so widely known and of
such high standard. This place was declined because of her
approaching marriage. In 1891 she was married to Mr. Robert
H. Terrell, who is a graduate of Howard College and who was
recently appointed by President Roosevelt to a Federal
Judgeship in the District of Columbia, being one of the two
colored men first to receive this high distinction. Mrs.
Terrell has a daughter whom she has named Phyllis, in honor
of Phyllis Wheatley, the black woman whose verses received
the commendation of George Washington and many other
distinguished men of her time.
Mrs. Terrell is now engaged by a lecture bureau. She has
traveled extensively in the West, speaking before large
audiences and everywhere her talks have received the highest
praise. The Danville, Ill., "Daily News," speaking of her
address before the Chautauqua of that town, says:
"Mrs. Terrell's addresses are the pure gold with less dross
of nonsense than any lecturer that has come upon the stage
at this Chautauqua. From the first word to the last she has
something to say, and says it as a cultured lady in the best
of English, which has no tinge of the high falootin or the
sensational. Such speakers are rare. She should be paid to
travel as a model of good English and good manners."
Mrs. Terrell's eloquent utterances and chaste diction make a
deep impression, which must have influence in the final
shaping of the vexed problems that confront the Negro race
in this country. Her exceptional attainments and general
demeanor are a wonderful force in eradicating the prejudice
against colored women. She is making an opening for her
sisters as no one else is doing or has over done.
Should any one ask what special phase of the Negro's development makes
me most hopeful of his ultimate triumph over present obstacles, I
should answer unhesitatingly, it is the magnificent work the women are
doing to regenerate and uplift the race. Judge the future of colored
women by the past since their emancipation, and neither they nor their
friends have any cause for anxiety.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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