Unceasing Militant, Second Edition: The Life of Mary Church Terrell

Born into slavery during the Civil War, Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954) would become one of the most prominent activists of her time, with a career bridging the late nineteenth century to the civil rights movement of the 1950s. The first president of the National Association of Colored Women and a founding member of the NAACP, Terrell collaborated closely with the likes of Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, and W. E. B. Du Bois. Unceasing Militant is the first full-length biography of Terrell, bringing her vibrant voice and personality to life. Though most accounts of Terrell focus almost exclusively on her public activism, Alison M. Parker also looks at the often turbulent, unexplored moments in her life to provide a more complete account of a woman dedicated to changing the culture and institutions that perpetuated inequality throughout the United States. This new edition includes a new preface in which Parker reflects on the resurgence of public interest in Terrell and discusses the newly available digitized files of Terrell’s papers at the Library of Congress.

Alison M. Parker is professor of history and women and gender studies at the University of Delaware.