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

Hello and welcome to the show. Today we'll continue our coverage of Mary Church Terrell, who was an activist, author, and suffragist.

We recommend that you go back and listen to part one of her story, but to summarize.

Both of Mary's parents had been enslaved people who had worked hard to build businesses and a mass significant fortunes.

Mary therefore grew up with every material luxury and also an extensive education.

That was rare enough for any woman of her day, but nearly unheard of for a woman of color.

She began a teacher and then she married a lawyer whose name was Robert Terrell and turned her energy into helping form organizations to help colored women.

Primarily the National Association of Colored Women that was a group designed to help African Americans through education and community support.

That was getting her life of activism going.

She was the first African American woman to serve on the Board of Education for Washington, D.C., she was a popular lecturer, writer, and when we left her, she was standing on a stage with Susan B. Anthony.

She had just given a fiery speech called the progress of colored women on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Sena Kofal's in front of an audience of white people to great acclaim.

This opportunity had come to her because she stood up out of turn in a previous meeting and called them on having excluded colored women from their proposals.

So as the satellite sisters podcast says, stay noisy.

It works. So now we are all caught up and let's proceed with the rest of her story.

Mary is 34 years old. She and Robert have been married for almost eight years, although they had three miscarriages and five years.

They were still trying to have a family. What we didn't know in the last episode is that when she was standing on that stage to that thunderous applause, she was seven months pregnant.

How exciting.

So we are happy to report that little Phyllis Terrell was born healthy and happy at last.

Oh, happy day. Phyllis was named after Phyllis Wheatley, who was an enslaved woman, published poet,

much beloved of royalty and the subject of episode 119 of our podcast. We will give you a link.

Mary Terrell threw her connections to Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, the various colored women's organizations throughout the country, her lectures and articles and her association with Susan B. Anthony was two degrees of Kevin Bacon, if you know what I mean.

From anyone who was anyone in the United States, even the president's and I find it completely strange how little she is known these days because during her time on earth, she was so well known.

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