Mary Church Terrell (1863–1954), an educator and advocate for women’s and civil rights, was born in Memphis into a prosperous family. A graduate of Oberlin College, in 1895 she became the first black woman appointed to the District of Columbia Board of Education. In 1896 she founded the National Association of Colored Women. She was also active in the National American Woman Suffrage Association.  Her husband, Robert Terrell, owed his appointment as the first black municipal court judge in Washington, D.C., to Booker T. Washington. Although she was a Washington sympathizer, Terrell was stunned by his response to the Brownsville Affair because of his refusal to publicly criticize President Theodore Roosevelt for dishonorably discharging the companies without a court martial. She accepted W. E. B. Du Bois’s invitation to form the NAACP. Terrell served as a board member and vice president of the Washington, D.C., branch.