College library named for civil rights pioneer

Oberlin College has announced they will be naming their main library after a civil rights activist and alumnus.

The library, which is located in the school’s Mudd Center, 148 W. College St., will be named for 1884 graduate Mary Church Terrell.

Alexia Hudson-Ward, director of libraries, told The Morning Journal the story of the library’s lack of a name to this point is an interesting story that stretches back before her fairly recent appointment.

“I think there was always this idea that when we became the Mudd Learning Center back in the 70s when the building was erected and dedicated, that the main library by default took on that name,” Hudson-Ward said. “But

it had never been named. There had never been a philanthropist who said ‘I want my name on that particular building.’”

Hudson-Ward said she believes this may be due to the history of the college and the reverence the school has for its library.

“We think that administrations of the past did not want to, kind of, commoditize this really dynamic and collaborative academic and social space,” she said. “So, I really do think it was deliberate that it didn’t have some philanthropist’s name tacked onto it.”

Hudson-Ward also believed that with the recent public discourse on the naming of buildings at institutions of higher learning and the ethical issues that arise with many older universities and colleges with facilities named after individuals who are no longer socially acceptable, may have added to the issue.

“It came to the attention to the previous administration and our board of directors that we really weren’t celebrating the powerful women who are Oberlin graduates,” she said. “That there were people who literally went on from this institution and did remarkable things in this world and what were we doing institutionally to really cement their legacy beyond just simply, kind of, occasionally mentioning them.”

Hudson-Ward said in 2016, there was a symposium on the campus examining the life and legacy of Terrell, who was one of the first black women to receive a four-year college degree.

“She’d descended from a family that are, arguably, among America’s first African American millionaires,” Hudson-Ward said. “She has this incredible story and many people don’t know she graduated from Oberlin.”

Terrell is considered one of the founders of the modern civil rights movement, according to a news release.

She was born in 1863 to mixed-race, formerly enslaved parents.

After graduating from Oberlin College, Terrell went on to be a teacher, feminist and activist.

She was a founding member of the National Association of Colored Women and a signer of the charter establishing the NAACP, the release said.

Terrell also is known for her writing which furthered her beliefs in matters of society and politics.

Her autobiography, “A Colored Woman in a White World,” was published in 1940 and detailed the struggles she faced with gender and race discrimination, the release said.

Hudson-Ward credits the symposium with “setting the wheels in motion” to name the building after Terrell.

After Carmen Ambar was named president of Oberlin College, the decision was made for the naming to coincide with the inaugural weekend this year.

Hudson-Ward said the naming of the library is in line with the school’s motto of learning and labor.

“What we’re doing in the context of this naming ceremony, is really elevating and celebrating this powerful woman’s leadership,” she said. “One of the informal mottos of Oberlin is ‘Think one person can change the world? We do.’

“So, Mary Church Terrell, in this time and in this moment in history, really does exemplify how one person, one young woman coming from the south, graduate of this institution, really did change the world and really challenged us to be our better selves through inclusivity and equity for all.”

A date for the actual naming ceremony has not yet been set.

Mary Church Terrell