Welcome to the History Tricks where any resemblance to a boring old history lesson is purely coincidental.

Hello and welcome to the show. This year is the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote.

And here on this 20th official all-state participation Martin Luther King Day.

It's very complicated history.

We decided we would present to you a woman whose life intersects both things.

She was a civil rights activist and a proponent of women's suffrage.

We couldn't think of anyone more perfect to bring to you on this day.

And so on with the show.

And here's your 30-second summary.

Mary Terrell was one of the very first African-American women to graduate from college and rose to prominence during the battles for universal suffrage and civil rights.

The poor heart might have been made of gold. Her will was made of iron with speeches that were full of fire and a push in the back for all of us to get out there and do some good.

We have a responsibility to lift each other up as we climb, she said, in order to make the world a better place for everyone.

The end.

Let's talk about Mary Church Terrell.

But first let's drop her into history. In 1892, Alice Island opened as a US immigration station.

The first public basketball game was held. The modern escalator, the closed dryer, the toothpaste tube, and the matchbook were all patented.

Conservation organization the Sierra Club was founded.

The first macadamia nut trees were planted in Hawaii.

Lizzy Borden may or may not have taken an axe and given her father and stepmother many wax.

Chekhovsky's nutcracker suite debuted and John Philip Susa resigned from the US Marine Corps to start his own band, one that combined military, beer hall and orchestra music.

And in 1892, a lynching in her hometown sent Mary Church Terrell into a life as a civil rights activist and suffragist.

Mary Eliza Church was born on September 23rd, 1863 in Memphis, Tennessee, the first of the two children of Robert Reed Church and Louisa Iyer's Church.

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