SPEECHES & WRITINGS FILE 
A Colored Woman in a white 
World (23)

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were generally interested in the welfare of the race, opinions 
concerning the wisdom of the step taken by the singers differed 
widely.
Some felt that they had missed a glorious opportunity on a 
notable occasion of showing what they had accomplished im music 
and what they could do. But practically all the officers of the 
National Association as well as the thoughtful ones in the group 
felt that the drastic action had been forced upon them by those 
who subjected the race to the humiliation of segregation in the 
National Capital, adding insult to injury by doing so when a large 
number of foreign women was present to witness it.
When it was suggested to have the colored singers appear 
at a colored theatre the Evening Star quotes me as saying: We 
consider the appearance at Howard Theatre as segregation just as 
much as a separate block of seats in the Auditorium. If these 
singers appear in any manner before int Quinquennial it will be 
expressly against our orders and in open rebellion."
The members of the choirs and of the choruses who were to 
appear on the program at the Auditorium said that when the heardhow 
representatives of their own race who had come to hear them were 
being treated, they were too depressed to sing.
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Chapter 38
 Delegate to the International Peace Congress
The following letter which was received one morning about the 
middle of December, 1918 thrilled me with surprise and joy. 
"Dear Mrs. Terrell", it read, "It gives me real pleasure to inform 
you that at a meeting of the Executive Board of the Woman's Peace 
Party, which is the section for the U. S. A. of the International 
Committee of Women for Permanent Peace, held in New York City 
November 24, you were elected as one of thirty delegates and 
alternates   to the International Congress of Women which it was arranged
at the end of the War." The letter stated that it was likely the 
meeting would be held either at Paris or the Hague and the time 
might be either the first week in February or early in May. 
 "We realize," the letter concluded, "that this is not an easy 
journey which we are inviting you to take under crowded conditions 
in winter, to war-worn countries. But we sincerely hope that your 
love of human welfare will minimize the difficulties and that you 
will be able to go with us. Faithfully Yours, Alice Thacher Post, 
Secretary of Delegates from the U. S. A."  Mrs. Post was the wife 
of Mr. Louis Post who was then Assistant Secretary of Labor under 
President Woodrow Wilson.
 I was working for the War Camp Community Service at the time 
and was in the South trying to induce some of the Committees of the 
large cities to sanciton the establishment of centers for colored 
women and girls, as has already been mentioned. After completing 
the summary of the conditions which obtained in these cities I 
sent it to Headquarters and asked for a leave of absence to go as 
a delegate to the Peace Congress which would soon be held in Europe. 
This was granted in the following letter: "My dear Mrs. Terrell: 
Thank you for the summary; it is a fine piece of work and the 
classification workers are delighted with it. It will help us materially 
in understanding the problems of the cities you visited. We wish 
to express our appreciation of the devoted service you have given 
the W. C. C. S. through the past months, and willingly grant you the

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leave of absence to enable you to make the important trip abroad. 
Wishing you success in you new undertaking, Very sincerely yours, 
George Dickie, Director Field Department."

Miss Jane Addams, president of the Women's International 
League for Peace and Freedom, Mr. Moorfield Storey, president of 
the N. A. A. C. P. and other were genuinely interested in having 
me go abroad and assisted in making the voyage possible. 

For three or four years I was a member of the Executive Committee 
of the United States Section of the W. I. L. and several 
times I attended meetings in the residence of Mrs. Lucy Biddle Lewis 
the chairman, who lived in a delightful, old-fashioned home in the 
midst of spacious grounds a few miles from Philadelphia.

Securing a passport to go abroad shortly after the armistice 
was signed was no easy matter. It was especially difficult to get 
one for France. The State Department refused to give passports to 
the 30 delegates and alternates to the Peace Congress, as originally 
planned, and reduce the number to 15. Under the circumstances it 
would have been very easy to leave the colored delegate out. There 
were many women who had been deeply interested in the peace movement 
who had contributed literally to the cause and were financially able 
to go. For that reason I felt a signal honor had been conferred upon 
me by the Peace Party, when my name was retained as a delegate.

I had worked for the War Camp Community Service till the last 
minute and I had only a few days in which to prepare for the voyage 
after I reached home from New York. Having secured my passport in 
Washington, I had to have ample time for the visas in New York. 
Some of the visa work had to be done at least 72 hours before 
sailing. But the fates were very kind to me and I went through the mill 
in two days. 

I was fortunate also in securing a fine, large stateroom in 
which there was only one other passenger, a young woman born in 
Holland whose parents had grown rich in Java, one of the Dutch 
Possessions. With a party consisting of Miss Jane Addams, Miss Jeannette 
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Rankin, the first woman to be elected to the Congress of the 
United States, Dr. Alice Hamilton, the first woman who was ever 
invited to lecture at the Harvard School of Medicine and others we sailed 
from New York on the Noordam, Holland-America line, April 9, 1919, 
almost five months to the day after the armistice was signed. All of us 
sat at the Captain's table and received as much attention as is good 
for any human being. Every morning we worked hard in Miss Addams' 
room trying to decide on the resolutions which should be presented to the Congress and in what language they should be couched. 
The necessity of typewriting these resolutions became very apparent - But 
where was a typewriter to be found? Nobody could answer that question 
And who could type them if haply we could locate a machine? I guaranteed 
to get a typewriter and type the resolutions, confessing that 
I had never taken a prize as an expert typist and had little hope 
of reaching that stage of proficiency. 

The purser cheerfully consented to lend me his machine a short 
while each morning, and I used it. Framing some of the resolutions, 
so that every body in the deldgation approved of them was by no 
means easy and considerable gray matter was consumed in that 
operation.

We reached Paris Easter morning and experienced some difficulty 
in securing suitable quarters, because all the hostelries were full. 
It was finally decided to go to the Hotel Continental. We remained 
in Paris several weeks and paid a pretty penny for the rooms we 
occupied. After much discussion, it was decided to meet in Zurich, 
Switzerland from May 12, to the 17th. 

Attending this Congress was as interesting, as illuminating 
and as gratifying an experience as it falls to the lot of the average 
woman to enjoy. In the first place, we were a group of women 
meeting to advocate peace after a war in which the major portion of 
the civilized world had engaged. I was about to say that women from 
all over the world were present. But on sober second thought it is 
more truthful to say that women from all over the white world were 
present. There was not a single delegate from Japan, China, India, 
or from any other country whose inhabitants were not white.

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For the second time in my life it was my privilege to represent 
not only the colored women of the United States but the whole 
continent of Africa as well, since I was the only one present in 
that meeting who had a drop of African blood in her veins. In fact, 
since I was the only delegate who gave any color to the occasion 
at all, it finally dawned upon me that I was representing the women 
of all the non-white countries in the world. 

I shall not attempt to give a detailed account of the subjects 
discussed or the measures proposed or the work actually done by the 
International Congress of Women which met in Zurich soon after that 
awful World War. No group of human beings could have made more 
earnest or conscientious efforts to help solve the problems of 
reconstruction and readjustments incident to the great World War 
than did the women who took part in that Congress. A striking, 
never-to be forgotten feature, was the good feeling existing between 
the French and the German women who were present. Owing to France's 
hostile attitude toward the Peace Congress some of the French 
women who wished to attend as delegates were unable to secure 
passports. But the letters and sentiments exchanged between the women 
of those two hostile countries showed their breadth of view, their 
sincerity of purpose and their determination to heal the breach 
between them beyond question or doubt. 

On the third day of the Congress Miss Addams called me to her 
and told me that the American delegation had voted unanimously to 
have me represent them the next night, Thursday. Although the 
notice of such an important effort was short, I decided immediately 
to deliver my address in German, since Zurich is in German 
Switzerland and I wanted as many as possible to understand what I 
had to say. Everybody connected with the Congress was as busy as 
a bee. The resolutions and the other important papers which came 
before the delegates were all translated into three languages, 
French, German and English, so I knew it would be difficult to get 
one of the official translators to help me. 

However, I finally found a young woman who said she would 
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assist me a little that afternoon at three o'clock. She had to leave 
to take a new position, she said, so that we would have to work 
quickly. I had been allotted only fifteen minutes and I knew it 
would require more time to express myself in German than it would 
in English. It was difficult for me to decide, therefore, what to 
include in my talk and what to omit. By six o'clock, however, I had 
definitely made up my mind what to say and with the assistance of 
the clever, obliging Swiss girl it had been translated into German. 

Wednesday night I did nothing but read and reread and study 
that German speech till nearly dawn. I was obliged to attend the 
meeting Thursday morning, for I had been notified that my resolution 
would be called for that session. Nothing but serious illness 
or death could have kept me from that morning meeting, not even the 
desire to appear well the same evening, so eager was I to be present, 
when my precious resolution was read to the delegates. I had written 
rewritten and then done it all over again many times on the steamer 
before it was acceptable to the whole delegation. 

After the other delegates on the Noordam had presented all the 
resolutions which they cared to offer, I told them I wanted to 
submit one in which I was very much interested. I then offered one 
protesting against the discriminations, humiliations and injustices 
perpetrated not only upon the colored people of the United States, 
but upon the dark races all over the world. Several members of the 
delegation objected to mine and thought they could improve upon it, 
but none of them exactly expressed the thought which I wished to 
convey. It was finally agreed to let me present the following 
resolution to the Congress: "We believe no human being should be 
deprived of an education, prevented from earning a living, debarred 
from any legitimate pursuit in which he wishes to engage or be 
subjected to humiliations of various kinds on account of race, color or 
creed." Anent this resolution an amusing incident occurred. Just 
before it was to be read to the delegates Miss Emily Balch, formerly 
a teacher at Wellesley College and then an officer in the W. I. L.,

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came to me to tell me my resolution had been changed a little. I 
expressed surprise and regret that this had been done without notifying 
me, but she told me it was too late then to discuss the 
matter, for the resolution which had been substituted for mine had 
already been translated into German and French and there was nothing 
left for me to do but go up stairs to the office of the translators, 
get it and read it when the time came. I did as I was 
directed, feeling very much depressed, not knowing what change had 
been made in the original. But, when I glanced at the German and 
French copies which were given to me by the translators I could 
scarcely believe that I was seeing aright, for there before my 
very eyes was my own dear resolution in which no change had been 
made at all. The translator had misunderstood the instructions 
given her and instead of translating the substitute resolution, 
she had translated mine. 

It was a proud and gratifying moment in my life when I read 
that resolution in person in Zurich Switzerland to the Women's 
International Congress for Peace and Freedom. The only delegate 
present who represented the dark races of the world had a chance 
to speak on their behalf. 

I delivered my address that same night. It was the first 
large meeting of the congress. The previous sessions at night had 
been held in lecture rooms of the University of Zurich where 
comparitively few could be accommodated. But this Thursday night 
meeting was staged in a magnificent old cathedral in which women 
had never been allowed to speak before. We stood in a pulpit that 
was high over the heads of the audience and looked down upon the 
people, as we spoke. That wonderful old St. Peter's Cathedral 
was packed and jammed, for the citizens of Zurich were immensely 
interested in that Peace Congress.

There were six speakers on the program. Addresses had been 
delivered in French, German, Italian and English, when I was finally 
introduced to the audience as the last speaker, just after 
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Mrs. Philip Snowden, the well-known English woman and the wife of 
a former Chancellor of the British Exchequer, had spoken. When 
Miss Addams presented me she mad a slight reference to the Race 
Problem in the United States, She declared that the American delegation 
was glad to have a representative of the colored group with 
them and concluded by saying "Although Mrs. Terrell speaks English 
at home, she is going to speak German to night." That German audience 
gave unmistakable evidence of the fact that this bit of information 
pleased it. 

When I finished there went up such an outburst of approbation 
as I had not heard since I addressed the International Congress of 
Women which had met in Berlin fifteen years previously almost to 
the month. No matter where I went after that women and men, too, 
would grasp my hand cordially and compliment me upon what they called 
my "faultless German" and upon my speech. 

But there was nothing remarkable about that speech. It pleased 
the people because I told them a few facts which they did not 
know. It was presented by a human melange such as they had/rarely 
seen in that part of the moral vineyard. That was all. 

In the first place I thanked the broad-minded white women of 
the United States for inviting me to the Congress, making it 
possible for me to come and for giving me an opportunity to speak. In 
dealing with less favored groups, I said, if people everywhere had 
been imbued with the breadth which they had displayed in this 
instance, race problems and a few others would long ago have 
disappeared from the world. It was my duty and my pleasure to state, I 
declared, that ever since slavery had been abolished in the United 
States, thousands of white people had helped with money and by 
personal efforts both to educate the emancipated slaves and their 
descendants and to lift them to a higher plane.

Then I reviewed briefly the marvellous progress which the group 
had made along all lines of human endeavor in spite of the almost 
insurmountable obstacles in certain sections, referred to the fearful 
injustices of which we are often the victims and reminded my 
audience that the thousands of colored soldiers who had crossed the

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sea "to make the world safe for Democracy" had fought in Europe 
for a freedom for others which in many sections of their own 
country they themselves did not enjoy. 

I appealed for justice and fair play to all the dark races of 
the earth. "You may talk about permanent peace till doomsday," 
I predicted, "but the world will never have it till the dark races 
are given a square deal." I expressed regret also that at the 
Peace Conference in Paris the two most highly civilized and "the most 
Christian nations" in the world had denied racial wquality to Japan 
which she had a right to demand. It was a great opportunity to enlighten 
the people of Europe on conditions confronting colored people 
in the United States and I tried to avail myself of it as best I 
could.

For once in my life I was satisfied with my effort. I have 
always been a harsh critic of myself and I have suffered many times 
after I had tried my level best to reach a certain standard, because 
I have felt that I did not attain unto it. As a result of that effort 
in Zurich I had many invitations to speak in various parts of Europe, 
but I did not accept them because I felt it would be wrong for me 
to remain away from home any longer. 

While I was in Switzerland I wanted very much to revisit Lausanne, 
where, as a young woman, I had spent so many happy profitable 
days in school. I hoped to find the family with whom I had stopped 
so many years ago.  I went to the post office, therefore, and asked
official if either Mlle. Sarah or Mille. Celie Gowthorpe still lived 
in Lausanne. He told me they did, gave me their address in a jiffy 
and in a few minutes I was standing before the door of their apartment. 
Although we had not seen each other for thirty years, Celie 
who answered the bell, recognized me immediately. "Mlle. Church", 
she exclaimed. Then came dear Sarah of whom I was especially fond 
and we had a soulful reunion for a whole afternoon and evening reviewing 
old times. 
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friends, a widow, which came from the second story of the house 
across the street.

Mr. Arthur Spingarn, a member of the National Association for 
the Advancement of Colored People, came from New York to secure some 
facts concerning the riot and asked me to go with him on a tour of 
inspection. As we walked along You Street near 13th, on which many 
colored people lived, one of my friends told me that the feeling 
against white people was running so high on account of the brutal 
manner in which they had beaten, shot and otherwise maltreated 
colored people, it was not safe for us to be seen together and 
advised me to return home. But we continued our way till we 
reached the 8th precinct, because we wished to ask the captain whether the 
report was true that colored men had been arrested by policemen 
and had been badly beaten after they were placed in the cells at 
the station house. Reluctantly he admitted that such an outrage 
had occurred several time. 

In some cities of the South colored soldiers were lynched 
simply because white people objected to having them wear the 
uniform of the United States soldier.

In spite of the exhilaration and enjoyment derived just from 
being in Paris there was one feature of my sojourn there which made 
my stay decidedly unpleasant. It harrowed my soul to see how 
cruelly the horses were treated. As far back as I can remember, 
I have loved animals intensely and nothing stirs me to the depths 
more than to see them suffer unnecessarily. The drivers in Paris 
have no mercy on their horses. They ply their whips vigorously 
in season and out. It made my heart ache to see the heavy loads 
which the poor animals had to carry. Rarely did I spend an entire 
day in Paris without remonstrating on the street with some 
Frenchman about his cruelty to a horse. I tried to be tactful, 
of course, so as not cause an friction and I rarely got into trouble. 
The only exception to that record was an effort I made to prevent 
an unusually cruel driver from beating his horse, because it could 
not pull a heavy load up a steep hill. In Italy, it seemed to me, 
horses were treated worse than they were in France.

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      The remarks made by men in my own group in the United States
who were explaining to me why they had to beat their horses have
often been very amusing. When I have begged them to desist they
have always justified their cruelty by imputing to the horse the 
malice, the craftiness, the desire for revenge and the diabolical
determination to do all the evil in their power of which nothing
but a master human criminal could be capable.
      My husband always feared I would get into serious trouble
some day, because I would insist upon talking to men who ere mis-
treating their horses. But I never did. Once when I was out near
the middle of the street talking with a driver who was unmercifully
belaboring a pitiable specimen of a horse, whom should I see coming
down Pennsylvania Avenue but Robert. H. Terrell who, I thought, was
in his Court. When I see a horse whose head is held too high, I 
let the check rein down. By long practice I have grown to be an ex-
pert at this. I can run out to the curb and snatch the rein off
the little hook so quickly that I can hardly detect myself.
      During a lecture tour many a time an otherwise enjoyable trip
has been spoiled, because I saw a dog in the neighborhood chained,
either panting in the hot sun without water or shivering with the
cold.
     While I was in Paris a big, allopathic dose of race prejudice
[was] administered to me by Government officials stationed there. I
wanted very much to take a trip through the devastated sections of
France which was offered citizens "in good standing" by the Govern-
ment and arranged by the Visitors Bureau. Nearly all the delegates 
to the Peace Congress with whom I had crossed the ocean had taken
the trip. I had not been invited to go with the party, not because
they probably took it for granted that the discrimination against
colored people in the United States under similar circumstances
would quite likely be displayed by its citizens in France. In other
words, a taboo on anything which might be twisted to mean "social
equality" for colored Americans would undoubtedly "follow the flag."

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     I have often observed that very broad-minded white people who
have no prejudice against colored people at all cause trouble un-
wittingly by raising the issue themselves, because they ask ques-
tions about the colored people whom they have invited to accompany
them somewhere. If they want a colored person to take a meal with
them at a restaurant or at a hotel, for instance, they feel in duty
bound to go to the proprietor beforehand to inquire whether he will
serve colored people or not. This very question raises the ugly
issue which he has never had to face before and which promptly
scares him out of a year's growth. In a sort of paroxysm of fear
he quickly states that he can not serve colored people in his place.
In ninety nine cases out of one hundred the probability is that if
the white individual had asked no questions about the policy pursued
by the proprietor with reference to colored people and had gone
calmly into the dining room with his colored friend, his swarthy
guest would have been served. It seldom happens that a colored per-
son accompanied by a white friend is excluded from a dining room in
the North, East or West.
     I do not know whether or not the other delegates to the Peace
Congress asked the officials in the Visitors Bureau in Paris wheth-
er there would be any objection to having a colored woman accompany
them on the trip and were told there would be. I simply know I
was not invited to go with them when they went.
    I wanted very much to avail myself of the opportunity of seeing
the devasted sections of France, but I did not so express myself to
the party. They had gone without me, so I carefully concealed my
feelings from my companions. The evening they were scheduled to 
return from their trip I had a nice, little lunch waiting for them,
because I thought they would be too tired to order a meal for them-
selves, and I listened to a report of what they had seen without
showing how disappointed I was that I had not been invited to go.
     I made up my mind, however, that I would do my level best to 
get a chance to go. Suiting the action to the though about the 
last of April I went to the Visitor's Bureau to prefer my request.


A friend employed there told me he felt certain I could go at the Government's expense just as the others had done. I presented my credentials to a red-headed young man who asked for them and who seemed very favorably impressed with me indeed, I gave him the original letter written to me by Mr. George Dickie, Field Director for the War Camp Community Service, in which he complimented my summary of conditions in some southern cities I had been sent to visit. The young man took it and made two copies of it, giving me one and retaining one himself. Captain Platt, one of the Higher Ups in the Visitor's Bureau, came in person to the Hotel Continental and not finding me there wrote me a note telling me to be ready to take the trip to the devasted section the following Thursday, May 1st.

But late Thursday afternoon, when I had packed a few things and was already to start, I received a telephone message saying the trip had been given up and that I would hear from the Visitor's Buerau later. But nary a word from the Vistors' Bureau did I hear. This was a great disappointment to me. I had remained at the Hotel Continental a whole week -- rather an expensive procedure at that time -- so as to be in Paris long enough to go on that trip. Soon afterward I was obliged to leave Paris to go to Zurich to attend the Peace Congress.

When I returned to Paris after the Congress had adjourned, I resolved to try once more to go to the devastated section, feeling reasonably sure I would be granted that privilege, since Captain Platt had intimated, when he broke his first promise with me, that I might take the trip later on. It is barely possible that the Captain might have thought that after I left Paris I would not return, so there would be no "later on" pledge to come back to teaze him. Presenting myself at the Visitor's Bureau again I saw the same red-headed young man who had received me so cordially when I made my first appearance before him. I would not refer to the color of the young man's hair, if I knew his name or was certain what position he held. I might add that I like red hair very much.

How this young man's attitude toward me had changed! O, what a fall, my countrymen! or words to that effect. The moment I began to talk with him I knew the awful secret had leaked out. Either he was using his own eyes more effectively than he had at first, or he had learned from others the damning fact of my African descent. When I first appeared at the Bureau and my racial identity was not suspected I was most cordially received by the young man with the lurid locks. He was eager to have me take the trip and was courteous indeed. Now, after the great light had dawned up him, he was positively rude. He told me very sternly that they did not intend to arrange for any more trips.

I replied that Captain Platt had definitely promised I could do so and that I had remained a whole week at the Hotel Continental expecting every day that I would be notified I could go, but had been disappointed. "Well, we are not taking any more people, I tell you," he said angrily. "You are discriminating against me, because I am a colored woman," I replied. "We dont stand for any such accusations against this office," he snapped, glaring at me fiercely, trying to intimidate me. "And I dont stand for any such treatment," I said. "You are discriminating against me, because I am a colored woman," I repeated. "I dont care what you think," he said, as he raised his voice and grew so red in the face that his complexion matched his hair exactly. Then he strode angrily out of the room and entered what was evidently a private office. I did not see him any more.

After I had waited a very long time, another young man entered the office and asked innocently "Are you being attended to?" I want to see Captain Platt," I replied. "Well I dont know whether Captain Platt is here or not," he said doubtfully, "but I'll try to find him." Pretty soon Captain Silsby who acted and talked like a gentleman, came into the room and asked me very courteously what I wanted. I related the conversation between the young man and myself. "Captain Platt will be here very soon, I think," he said reassuringly.

In a short while CAptain Platt really arrived. He was very dignified and stern, when I told him he had definitely promised to let

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me take the trip which the Government had given others and that I had come to request him to do so. "We are not sending anybody else on these trips," he said icily. "Then you mean to say," I replied "that although you promised to let me take the trip which has been given so many other Americans, you now refuse to do so." "You can not go," he said. "Well, so let it be," I replied, scarcely above a whisper in a tone tense with indignation and feeling. Then I quickly left the room. I must confess I should not like to describe the emotions which surged within me, when I left Captain Platt.

The following day I saw Captain Boutte', a colored officer stationed in the Visitors' Bureau, who spoke French fluently, and he told me I would hear definitely the next day whether I could take the trip or not. Since Captain Platt had stated positively that I could not go, I was very much surprised to learn that there was even a remote possibility that this decision would be reverse. The stern captain evidently relented, for the trip was arranged and Captain Boutte' was designated as my guide. Thus it was, that I was the devastated sections of France, the terrible destruction of the villages and towns, the miles upon miles of the wicked barbed wire with which the fields had been interlaced and the beautiful, age-old structures which had been shot to pieces. It was pathetic, but heartening, to see the wonderful industry and the fixed, grim determination of the French who had already started to repair the awful destruction which had been wrought.

Those who saw the Argonne Forest right after the world War must have been impressed with the fact that the Germans felt absolutely certain they would win it. They had converted it into a regular town with cemented houses, some of them prettily decorated. There was a grand stand in which the soldiers could listen to band concerts and a regular tiled bath room for a Royal Highness. The little spades and pewter spoons left by the Germans were still to be seen lying here and there on the ground where the owners left them, and I took the trouble to bring several of them home with me.

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In the Argonne forest I plucked a piece of ivy which grew near the grave of an American soldier and although I carried it about with me a long time for many miles from pillar to post,  several pieces of it survived, so that in two places I have living things to remind me constantly of France--a French ivy vine which climbs up the front wall of my resident in Washington and one which clings to the front of my summer home near Annapolis on the Chesapeake Bay, where the Naval Academy is located.

I was glad I had struggled against the exhibition of race prejudice shown by my countrymen in France and finally had an opportunity to see for myself what it would have been a tragedy for me to miss and to gain invaluable information which I could have received in no other way. Incidentally, it was an object lesson in the horrors of war which I can never forget. 


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Chapter 40
A Week End Visit with Mr. and Mrs. H. G. Wells. Meet Other Distinguished People in England.

One morning while I was in the Hotel Continental in Paris, before I had started for the Peace Congress at Zurich, I received a letter from Mrs. H.G. Wells extending me a cordial invitation to be her guest after I returned from Switzerland on my way to the United States. The newspapers had given the delegates a great deal of publicity, so that it was not difficult for anybody who wished to communicate with us to get our address. If there had been the slightest suspicion in my mind that the invitation to visit her was merely perfunctory, or that it had been extended just for the sake of politeness, it would have been dispelled when I reached Zurich, for there I found another letter from Mrs. Wells. Fearing that the first one might not reach me while I was in Paris she  had sent me the second one in care of the American Express Company there which she knew would forward it to the correct address in Zurich. 

She instructed me to notify her, as soon as I reached London after the Congress adjourned, for she wanted very much to have me come out to see her. Consequently, the first thing I did after reaching London was to write Mrs. Wells requesting her to command me when she wanted me to come.. By return mail I received a reply stating that Mrs. Wells wished me to be at a certain station between London and Dunmow on a certain Saturday afternoon in June.

To an American unaccustomed to travelling in England conditions are bewildering in a huge station like the Liverpool, when she tries to buy a ticket for a small place at which trains stop only by request. After finding the right coach, one has to keep a sharp look out to avoid going several stations beyond the one which she wishes to reach, for nobody calls out small stations in England. But the fates were with me and when I left the train I found Mrs. Wells waiting for me. Lithe and willowy of form, gracious, vivacious, smiling and charming in manner Mrs. Wells looked younger than she did in a photo of herself and her two little sons which she 

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had sent me fifteen years previously. Mrs. Wells greeted me cordially and said, "We will wait a few minutes, for I am expecting two other guests on this train." Just then a young man on crutches with a young woman by his side approached us. And I was introduced to Mrs. St. John Ervine and her husband who was already a well-known, promising, young English playwright and novelist whose plays have enjoyed merited success both in England and in the United States. He had lost his leg in the World War, but apparently it had not affected his spirit in the least.

After her guests had seated themselves in the automobile Mrs. Wells proved herself to be a first class chauffeur and she whisked us to her home in the twinkling of an eye. When Mrs. Wells opened the gate through which the auto passed I saw we were entering a typical English estate covering I don't know how many acres of land which I learned later had been leased from the Countess of Warwick. I shall not attempt to give an extended or an accurate description of the house in which Mr. and Mrs. Wells were then living except to say that it contained everything which comfort and good taste could suggest. But I do want to refer to the library. I could gush like a school girl about that.

It was literally a dream--a thing of beauty and a joy forever. It was an unusually large room extending half way across the wide house, having at least three doors and I don't know how many windows through which the light streamed in floods. As soon as one stepped into the hall and entered Mr. Wells' home, one saw this most inviting, alluring room with tufted divans, big and little chairs artistically upholstered plus books and magazines galore. But a great disappointment awaited a guest who expected to find any of Mr. Wells' books lying around handy. They were conspicuous by their absence. After casting about with the determination to find one at least, I finally discovered a small one in which my famous host-author described a trip to Mars.

Mr. Wells did not arrive from London until fifteen minutes before dinner. It was hard to believe I was actually looking at a man who had won such fame as a writer and about whom I had been

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hearing for such a long time. Please dont ask me to tell you how
the English people keep looking so young! But they seem to find
the fountain of youth somehow and never grow old. There was
H. G. Wells in the flesh, beaming upon his guests, extending them
a most cordial welcome to his home, grasping their hands warmly,
as ruddy, as lively and as approachable as a man could possibly
be. Without doubt Mr. Wells is the most unaffected, the most human
and the most unassuming man in the world.
We had tea on the lawn when Mr. Wells arrived with Mrs.Lamont,
wife of Mr. Thomas Lamont, who had just bought the New York Evening
Post from Oswald Garrison Villard. Mr. Lamont was also the European
representative of J. Pierpont Morgan's firm and was a valued member
of President Woodrow Wilson's party in the Paris Conference on the
League of Nations. After hearing Mr. Lamont relate some of the
difficulties encountered by this international effort to establish
universal peace, I felt that I had acquired aliberal education in
its purposes and aims.
I shall never cease to regret that I had not learned stenography
before I became a member of that house party, so that for my own
sake I might have recorded some of the clever remarks and bonsmots of
those interesting, well-informed and delightful people gathered for
three days and nights under one roof, at one table and then after
dinner in a sort of family circle for the whole evening. I would
not publish them broad cast to the world, of course, but it would
be a comfort and a joy to refresh my memory in the sear and yellow
leaf and live those delightful hours over again.
Mr. Wells was as fine an example of perpetual motion as one
could meet in a day's march. He will never grow old. He seemed
never to tire and was never happier than when he was engaged in some
kind of physical exercise. I saw him play the game of ball described
in "Mr. Brittling Sees It Through" an entire morning, then later
on he played tennis on the Countess of Warwick's estate the whole 
afternoon without showing the slightest signs of fatigue. While he
was playing the game of ball, Mr.Wells would take one guest as his

partner, till that guest was tired out, and then he would go for
another, until that one was exhausted too.
Strolling through his spacious grounds was another kind of recreation
which Mr. Wells thoroughly enjoyed. He took pleasure in
showing his guests the rose garden which happened to be in bloom
the beautiful Sunday morning in June that he showed it to me and we
afterwards went to his vegetable garden while we were walking through
the grounds. It was during this stroll that I confided to Mr. Wells
my intention of writing the story of my life and calling it "The
Confessions of a Colored Woman." I like the title," he said immediately.
"It will be widely read in England. But write it dispassionately."
I have tried to follow the advice of this distinguished
author, as best I could.
While I was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. H. G. Wells, the Countess
of Warwick, whom I had met in London fifteen years previously when I
was returning home from the International Congress of Women in
Berlin and whom I met later on while she was lecturing in the United
States, invited us all to tea Sunday afternoon. The baby who was
only three months old when I first met the Countess had grownto be a
beautiful, young woman and one of the pleasantest experiences of my
visit was playing a rather excited game of ball with this little
Lady Mercy Greville in Mr. H. G. Wells' gymnasium one morning.
The Countess asked me to sit beside her at the big, round table
while the delicious refreshments were being served and without doing
anything which smacked of patronizing her swarthy guest she showed
she was genuinely interested in me.
On the Countess of Warick's estate was a cage of monkeys of
which their mistress was very fond. she sometimes went into their
cage, she said, and they knew her very well. The Countess was also
very fond of dogs and carried a favorite pekinese in her arms where
ever she went. Being fond of dogs myself I felt this made the bond
stronger between us.
On several occasions I met Sir Harry Johnston, the noted explorer

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explorer-author, painter and pioneer in British colonization in Africa.
I heard him speak when he presided at a dinner given by the African
Society of which he was president. I prize very highly a pamphlet
entitled "The Africa of the Immediate Future," which Sir Harry
wrote and presented to me with the following note on the cover:
"Mrs. Mary Church Terrell from the Author. When you get back to the
States you should read my novel "The Gay Dombeys,' published by
McMillian and Co. New York."
For several years Mr. John Harris, the parlaimentary secretary
of the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society, had been sending
me valuable pamphlets on conditions in Africa which that organization
had issued. As its name indicates, this society is organized
to secure justice for the Africans. When I went to thank him for
his kindness he informed me that the African Society would give a
dinner the next night. He feared all the places had been taken, he
said, but he would try to arrange to have me go. He did so. The
dinner cost $5 a plate, but that seemed very cheap to me, when I 
thought what a wonderful opportunity I would have to come into direct
personal contact with all those fine Africans of whom I felt sure
that African Society was composed. With such great expectations in
my mind imagine my surprise, when I reached the banquet hall, to see
nothing but lords and ladies of high degree--the ladies arrayed in
the latest creations and sparkling with gems.
About 250 sat down that that dinner and not more than five had a
drop of African blood in their veins including myself. So far as I
can recall, there was only one full-blooded African in the large room
and I had the pleasure of sitting at the same table with him. I met
Sir Hugh Clifford, who was Governor of the Gold Coast and Lady
Clifford, both of whom were cordial to the African representative from
the United States. After I returned home Lady Clifford sent me a
book which she had written.
Mrs. Philip Snowden, whom I had met at the Peace Congress in
Zurich and whose husband later became Chancellor of the Exchequer

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for the Labor Party, invited me to lunch with her club, and I
gained much valuable information from her, as I listened to her
opinions concerning conditions in England. Interesting people
attended the reception given by the Lady Courtney of Penwith whose
names have long ago escaped me, but whose personalities I shall not
forget. Since I happened to be in London at the same time with
Miss Jane Addams and several other members of the delegation to the
Peace Congress, together with them I was invited to some social
functions given by people of distinction at which I met men and
women prominent in important activities in England.
It was a rare privilege and a genuine pleasure to spend an
afternoon with Mrs. Coleridge-Taylor and her two interesting children
at their home in Croyden after a separation of fifteen years.
Each of the children has inherited the talent and taste for music
from both of their parents. Here was an illustration of what unusual
heredity does in some cases, at least. The father was a 
genius and the mother an accomplished musician also. Both before
and after her marriage Mrs. Coleridge-Taylor, who had a voice of
sweetness and power, often sang in recitals accompanied on the 
piano or violin by her famous composer-husband.
On my previous visit Coleridge-Taylor himself contributed
greatly to my pleasure and now that he was no longer with us in the
flesh I could not help thinking about the unspeakable loss sustained
by the world on general principles and by people of African descent
in particular.
From the people who do the work of the world I have learned a
lot. I like to talk to them to get an insight into the real life
of the country I happen to be visiting. A conversation with a
London bobby from whom I inquired a direction one day revealed to
me the pittance on which some of Great Britain's servitors then 
lived. He told me that a short time before the World War he had
received a sum equivalent to $27 per month. He was then getting
only $50 per month, on which he was helping to support his mother
and sister, and , for that reason he could afford to only a happeny's

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worth of milk and biscuit between the afternoon and midnight.
The Government had promised to pay the policeman $75 a month later
on, he said.

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Chapter 41
In Ruth Hanna McCormick's Campaign
When Mrs. Ruth Hanna Mc Cormick asked me to assist in her campaign
for election to the United States Senate I jumped at the
chance. I cannot say truthfully that it was the realization of a 
long-cherished dream. In the wildest flight of a lurid imagination
I had never dared to presume to dream that the opportunity of assisting
the very first woman in the country who had courage enough
to try to break into the United States Senate on her own merit
would come to me.
I was engaged by Mrs. McCormick in May 1929, to begin my
work for her in the Fall. During the summer my son-in-law,
Dr. L. A. Tancil, of Chicago motored with his wife, my daughter
Phyllis and myself through Canada. Dr. Tancil said he wanted to
get as far from civilization as possible, and he succeeded admirably.
We went through some of the sparsely-settled sections and saw the 
great open spaces of that vast domain. The dilapidated houses
falling into ruins in villages long since deserted were depressing.
One could picture the enthusiasm and visualize the energy of those
who founded them and see their defeated ambitions and their blasted
hopes when they finally realized they were fighting a losing
game.
It was not an unusual experience for us to see a deer, or
a pretty black and white skunk or some other little wild creature
scampering across the road when we traveled at night. Of all the
Canadian cities we visited Quebec with the antiquity of some of
its sections and the frenchiness of the whole fascinted me most.
Shortly after we returned to Chicago from our motor trip I started
my new job in earnest. I asked Mrs. Mc Cormick to give me
the names of the women in our group who were her best friends, so
that I might be sure to bring them strongly into the political
picture. But my chief refused to do so, saying that she wanted
me to dig out all the facts for myself. She did give me the
name of one woman, however, and that helped to lay the foundation
on which an effective organization was soon built.

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For a while nobody but two or three women to whom I had confided
the secret knew I why I was in Chicago. Then when it finally
leaked out, a few held a meeting at which they drew up resolutions
protesting against Mrs. McCormick's bringing an "outsider" to
Illinois to "head up" her campaign, as they expressedi t. They
warned her they would not vote for her if she persisted in this
course. The first time Mrs. McCormick spoke to a group of colored
people after these resolutions were forwarded to her she touched
upon several thing s for which she had been criticized and explained
them away.
"And Mrs. Terrell is here," she said. "Mrs. Terrell is my
friend. All her life she has worked for black women and she has
worked for white women too. She has lived at the seat of Government
and has been interested in politics for years. She knows
better than some of you why a woman is needed in the Senate. I
am prouder of having brought Mrs. Terrell to Illinois than anything
I have ever done in my life."
An Executive Committee was formed of which Mrs. McCormick
made me Chairman. It consisted of 36 women living in different
parts of the State. At my request two women were appointed in
Chicago to assist in the office. Mrs. McCormick granted my request
to have a breakfast for the members of the Executive Committee.
Although the call was sent out only two days previously thirty
women were present. Seven of those were out of town guests who
paid their own expenses to and from Chicago.
Then I began to speak all over the State. Letters were written
to women notifying them that I would arrive in their respective
cities on a certain date and requesting them to arrange a
meeting for me in a private residence. I explained to the women
when I arrived that Mrs. McCormick was allowed to spend onlya certain
sum in her campaign, so that she dared not rent churches
and halls in which to hold meetings. But in several cities the
people themselves rented places in which I could speak, when it
was possible for me to remain long enough for them to do so. I

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was amazed at the rapidity with which a large and successful meeting
could be arranged when the people were interested and wanted
to hear a cause presented.
When the thermometer registered 19 degrees below zero I
traveled just the same. I was so interested im my work I did not
even get cold. I talked to the people by day, going from house
to house to tell the leaders about Mrs. McCormick's qualifications
for the office she was seeking. But if I had ever entertained a
notion for running for office, my experience in Mrs. McCormick's
campaign would have cured me completely. It is hard to understand
how falsehoods about a candidate get started in the first place
and still harder to comprehend why people whO are supposed to be 
honest and sane can believe them. Nothing is easier than to start
a barefaced falsehood about a candidate and nothing is harder than
to stop it.
It was a thrilling experience to listen to the returns as
they came in at Mrs. McCormick's Headquarters on Michigan Avenue
the night of Primary election day. She rolled up a plurality of
200,000 votes, and received a larger majority than that ever given
any candidate for the Senate in the State of Illinois. There were
many reasons why Mrs. McCormick failed to be elected to the United
States Senate. But it is certain that the votes given to her
Democratic opponent were not cast against her but against the conditions
which prevailed in her party at that time. It was hard for
me to become reconciled to her defeat. By nature, education, training
and experience she was so well qualified to discharge the duties
and obligations which as a member of the Senate she would have
been obliged to perform.
The last of June 1930 several months after my service with
Mrs. McCormick had terminated my daughter Phyllis and I sailed
for Europe. Seeing my daughter catch her first glimpse of Europe
rejuvenated me. Again the Countess of Warwick and Mr. H. G. Wells
entertained me and once again I saw some of the friends whom I
had met when I was studying abroad.
Shortly before Mrs. McCormick's term as a Congressman at Large

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was terminated she sent me the following letter: My dear Mrs.
Terrell: Before completing my Congressional duties in Washington,
I want to make grateful acknowledgement of the many services performed
by you in my behalf. I shall always feel that I was fortunate
in having your assistance in the Illinois Senatorial primary
campaign of 1930. You performed a double duty in that compaigh,
having been active as an organizer of Colored groups in Chicago
and throughout the state. In this connection you also organized
meetings in various towns and cities, and the press reports that
came to our office showed that you had been able to interest
large audiences. So successful were you in the down State localities
that requests came in from county managers to have you return
to make speeches.
Your work required the greatest industry, judgemnt, tact and
loyalty, and you generously fulfilled all those requirements.
If I knew of anybody, Mrs. Terrell, who was in need of the
services that I know you are so perfectly qualified to perform,
I should regard it as a pleasure to commend you to them. Although
our official relations are at an end we shall both be interested
deeply in various matters relating to public service, and I
hope to thus continue the very pleasant association that we have
had.
With kindest personal regards, believe me
Very sincerely yours,
Ruth Hanna McCormick

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Chapter 42
Carrying ON
Whenever a call comes I am still carrying on, as I have been
doing for forty years. Several times recently I have appeared before
Committes in Congress to urge the necessity of passing the
Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill to prevent and punish the crime of lynching.
I told the Committee that I had come to speak in the interest of
white women as well as colored. We all believe in heredity. There
is no escape from that. More than once white women in the South
have applied the torch to burn colored men to death. These women
are being brutalized by the crimes in which they themselves participate.
Their children will undoubtedly inherit brutal instincts from
their mothers, and it will be more difficult to stop lynching on
that account.
Not long ago at a hearing before the Committee on Public Buildings
and Grounds, I urged Congress to appropriate a sum of money 
with which to buy a site and erect a building in which colored people
may have some place where they can give tangible evidence of
their contributions to the growth and prosperity of this country, as
well as furnish proof of the marvellous progress which they have
made themselves. The colored soldiers have fought with a patriotism
and died with a courage surpassed by none. The first blood spilled
for the independence of this country was shed by a colored man.
It was Crispus Attucks, a colored man, who first led the American
patriots against British troops, and who fought desperately for the
independence of the colonies till the enemy laid him low.
Yet, there is not a public building in the capital of the Nation 
for which Crispus Attucks fought and died in which his statue or that of any
other hero of African descent may be placed. In not a single building
of the Federal Government may colored people hang a picture or place a
statue or bust of the representatives of their group who have distinguished
themselves in science, literature, music, art or industry
or in amy other field of human endeavor.
During the Sesquicentennial Exposition held in Philadelphia in
1926, I took part in a pageant which was given in the auditorium
which seated 16, 000 people. Every seat was occupied and scarcely

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standing room was left. "Loyalty's Gift" was undoubtedly one of
the finest evidences of the progress made by the colored people
of this country which has ever been witnessed. With appropriate
costumes and music the history of the African was presented from
the beginning--his enslavement in this country--and his progress
since he was emancipated from bondage.
The idea on which it was based was set forth in the following
invitation extended to me. "Persons who have achieved special
distinction or who have been pioneers in race movements or progress,
are metioned in Scene7, the Achievement Scene, of this
episodic drama. You are included in the group of Distinguished
Citizens. This letter is to ask if you will appear in person with
your group, when the roll is called."
My heart beast faster and my pulse was considerably quickened
when I received a letter dated January 14, 1926 from my Alma Mater.
"For this year's HI-O-HI which is published in May," it read, "we
are using as a motif the contribution of Oberlin's alumi to the
world. Your name is on a list of one hundred famous alumni, some
of whose pictures we are planning to work into one section of the
book. Would it be possible for you to send us a photograph of
yourself? As it is rather late and near the closing time for our
engraving copy, we would appreciate it greatly if you could give
attention to this soom.
Thanking you in advance for your courtesy, I remain,
Yours very truly,
Margaret L. Heimbach, Alumni Editor.
The National Association of Colored Women held its 32nd anniversary
in Washington from July 27, to August 3rd, in 1928. The
opening meeting was held in the church in which the organization
was born and in which I was elected its first president. I was
invited to preside over a part of that session. I raised my heart
in gratitude to God that my life had been spared so long, that
I had lived to see the organization reach such wonderful proportions.

-384-
porportions. Its development and growth for which I had worked so hard
seemed like a miracle of modern times, as I listened to the reports
of some of the things which the women had done.
In writing the story of my life I might have made a great
many more confessions than I have, showing my discouragementand
despair at the obstacles interposed and the limitations placed upon
me, because I am a colored woman. Several times I have been
desperate and wondered which way I should turn. I have purposely
refrained from entering too deeply into particulars and emphasizing
that phase of my life. I have given the bitter with the sweet predominating,
I think. While I have presented the barriers raised
against my entering certain pursuits and the difficulties encountered
in an effort to buy a home which we needed and appealed
to our taste, I have also given a faithful account of the opportunities
afforded me to develop what talent I may have possessed.
Some people will probably feel that I have dwelt altogether too
much on the bright side of my life. They will feel, perhaps,
that I have reveled too much in the fact that I have been able to
accomplish so much as I have in spite of the prejudice encountered
both because of my race and my sex.
But, if I had failed to relate the success I have been able to
achieve largely because the dominant race gave me a chance to make
good, I should have been accused of ingratitude. Now that I have
done so, some will call me a conceited prig. It is impossible to
strike the golden mean.
I have not refferred to the attacks made upon me several
times by white men who were angry with me and who were determined
to punish me for some fancied offense. I shall relate just two
of these experiences.
I boarded a street car one day with my arms full of bundles.
I was on my way to a little summer resort near Winchester Virginia
to join my small daughters. There was ample space for me to sit
between two white men, but neither one of them would move an inch.
I requested them politely to do so, but they refused to budge.

385

Then I seated myself in the space any way.  Both became very angry
and one of them talked loudly about a “nigger woman daring to sit
by him,” and said he had a good mind to slap me.  He was about to do
so when a colored woman with whom I was not acquainted remonstrated
with him and warned the men they would get into a lot of trouble if
they struck me.  Then they desisted.  But there was not a man in 
that car who came to my defense.  I am sure that if an Indian woman
or a Japanese woman or a woman of any other dark race had been bullied
in that way by two men, some gentlemen in the car would have 
come to her defense.
     On another occasion I was in a car alone and rang the bell to
stop it.  It passed the corner, however, and I rang again.  Just
before I reached the door of the car to leave it, the conductor
caught hold of me, and my dress was badly torn, as I tried to loose
his hold.  In some parts of the South I would have been arrested
for disturbing the peace or for disorderly conduct, fined perhaps,
or sent to jail.  This is one of the reasons statistics showing the
number of colored people arrested and convicted are so much larger
than are those for other groups.
     My daughter and I, accompanied by a fine musician, went to 
hear a concert in the Scottish Rite Temple, which is considered one
of the sights of the Capital.  An unusually fine pipe organ was to be
used for the first time and we were all eager to hear it.  After
the concert the audience was invited to inspect certain parts of
the temple which were thrown open to the public.  As we were about
to enter one of the rooms, an attendant rudely ordered us away.  I
told him I thought the public had been invited to inspect the temple.
He caught hold of me and would have pushed me down a long
flight of stone steps in front of the building, if I had not wrenched
myself from his grasp with a strength born of fright and desperation,
just before he had dragged me to the edge.
     Several months ago—in November 1930 to be exact—I attended
the Child Welfare Conference which was called by President Hoover
and held in Washington.  Two of my friends came from the South as

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