The Unfinished: Digging Deeper to Give More
Mary Church Terrell
Watching CBS Sunday Mornings is a weekend ritual for Greg and me. We find the reporting thoughtful and the stories engaging. One of yesterday’s pieces, by correspondent Mo Rocca, resonated with a portion of the Juneteenth program I am producing for Healing of the Nations Foundation at Carnegie Hall. Mo Rocca’s piece focused on people he calls “rocktogenarians”—those in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and even 90s making new contributions and achieving new heights. Rocca highlighted the storied careers of Rita Moreno, Diana Nyad, Norman Lear, and others who felt they still had more to accomplish.
My surprise came when I heard Rocca mention Mary Church Terrell, a lesser-known civil rights activist, who at eighty-seven stepped back into the struggle to help desegregate restaurants and lunch counters in Washington, D.C.
The following is a portion of the script I’ve written for the Juneteeth Celebration at Carnegie Hall. This segment of the program, called Juneteenth Legacy Tributes, acknowledges those unsung individuals who paved the way in the fight for freedom and justice. Mary Church Terrell is one of two women to whom we will pay tribute on June 19th. Our Master of Ceremonies Norm Lewis will narrate the text below with the New Jersey Youth Symphony performing Florence Price’s “Adoration.” (Price, born in 1887, was the first Black American woman composer to have a composition performed by a major American symphony, the Chicago Symphony).
Mary Church Terrell (center) protesting segregated lunch counters ad restaurants
Juneteenth Legacy Tributes
We’re here this evening, in this Hall, because of the individuals who fought for freedom and paved the way to the Civil Rights Movement. We honor those who lived each day in a time of unbearable hardships and undeniable degradation, and yet found the strength to persevere.
Those who stood in defiance of the injustices levied against man, woman, and child, stepping forward boldly to assert their rightful place in the fabric of this nation.
Those who stood strong for the very principles of democracy, lauded from sea to shining sea, but denied to them based on the color of their skin.
Those who stood for the fullness of their humanity and did not cower in their determination to carve a better life for themselves, their families, and community.
An abiding faith and belief in equality and justice molded their resistance and perseverance into an armor of resilience. So, we honor those little known or recognized individuals who ignited the flames of an ever-smoldering struggle.
Last year’s Juneteenth Legacy Tribute honored Marie Miller Stewart and Norris Wright Cooney.
Tonight, we pay tribute to Mary Church Terrell, a social and civil activist and educator, was born in 1863, the year of the Emancipation Proclamation. Daughter of formerly enslaved, Terrell’s activism was ignited when her friend and business owner Thomas Moss was lynched because his business was competing with white businesses in Memphis. She joined her friend Ida B. Wells in anti-lynching campaigns.
Terrell was one of the first Black American woman to earn a bachelor's degree and a PhD from Oberlin College. In 1896, she was the first president of the National Association of Colored Women and a co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Terrell was one of the few Black women in the National American Women Suffrage Association.
“Lifting as we climb” was Terell’s motto and it was the mindset she believed would be needed for Black Americans to raise themselves up through the power of equal opportunities.
In 1950, at age 86, she challenged segregation in public places in Washington, DC. She was victorious in 1953, when the Supreme Court ruled that segregated eating facilities were unconstitutional, a major breakthrough in the civil rights movement.
When we believe our time to contribute has run its course, perhaps we can take a lesson from individuals who pushed themselves to give even more. What spurred them on? More than likely, the same things that would have any of us dig a little deeper—determination, curiosity, passion, and the sense that something is unfinished. From this we can draw inspiration and motivation.
