The History of NAUW

The College Alumnae Club was organized March 1910 by Mrs. Mary Church Terrell, Dr. Sara Brown, Dr. Fairfax Brown, and Miss Mary Cromwell in Washington, DC. Twenty university graduates joined elected officers and planned a program. The new Club desired to stimulate young women to attain professional excellence, to exert influence in various movements for the civic good, and to promote a close personal and intellectual fellowship among professional women.

In 1919 the Club invited the first group of university graduates, who lived outside the District, to organize. Baltimore accepted the invitation. Through the efforts of the College Alumnae Club seven branches were organized in cities where college women desired the affiliation with the founding group.

On April 6-7, 1923 representatives of the newly organized branches met in Washington, D.C. to consider the foundation of a national organization. A temporary National Association of College Women was formed. It was at the next conference on April 25-26, 1924 that the permanent organization was established and in November of that year it was incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia.

On August 9, 1974 at the biennial convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Association accepted its updated Charter and became known as the National Association of University Women (NAUW). The Association from its inception is a service and educational organization. In the beginning, the women of NAUW were proactive regarding the education of women, their living conditions on campuses, the need for a dean of women who would be an advocate for women students and the training of teachers. As the years progressed, the organization raised its voice regarding major civic and national issues such as business opportunities for African-Americans, mental health and child welfare, and the improvement of interracial and international relations.

The Association has cooperated with national and local social and economic programs and is affiliated with the National Council of Negro Women, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, United Negro College Fund, the National Coalition for Literacy, and the American Council on Education.

Twenty women have served as National Presidents:

*Dean Lucy D. Slowe (1924-1929)

*Mrs. Juanita H. Thomas (1929-1933)

*Mrs. Vivian J. Cook (1933-1936)

*Mrs. Helen B. Grosley (1936-1939

*Dr. Hilda A. Davis (1939-1944), (1957- 1961)

*Mrs. Alice Taylor Chandler (1944-1949)

*Dr. Flemmie Kittrell (1949-1951)

*Mrs. Inez B. Brewer (1951-1953)

*Mrs. Thelma Taylor Williams (1953-1957)

*Mrs. Lillian W. McDaniels (1961-1965)

*Miss Portia C. Bullock (1965-1969)

Mrs. Odessa Wright Farrell (1969- 1974)

*Mrs. Margaret Una Poche (1974-1978)

*Mrs. Nettie S. Manning (1978-1982)

Mrs. Rhebena T. Castleberry (1982-1986)

*Mrs. Carrie A. Haynes (1986-1990)

*Mrs. Ruth R. Corbin (1990-1994)

Mrs. Phyllis J. Eggleston (1994-1998)

Dr. Ezora J. Proctor (1998-2002)

Dr. Lenore Gall (2002-2006)

Mrs. Ollie D. Johnson (2006-2010).

*Deceased

Mary Eliza Church Terrell for more than sixty-six years was an ardent champion of racial and gender equality. A graduate of Oberlin College she received an A.B. in 1884, later an A.M. and took a teaching position at Wilberforce University. One year later she was teaching at the M Street High School in Washington D.C. She lived in Europe two years and returned as an advocate of racial elevation. She became the founder and first president of the National Association of Colored Women in 1896. Symbolizing unity among Black women, this self-help organization offered sisterly support for its members and created programs that addressed racial problems through the elevation of Black women.

She was one of the women activists who played a large part in the early development of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People founded in 1909. She spoke three languages fluently, was an invited speaker here in the United States and abroad. She wrote articles and short stories where she sought to further interracial understanding by educating white people about the realities of black life. Mrs. Terrell was a member of the Board of Trustees of the public schools and of the Board of Education in Washington, D.C. Terrell also served on the Board of Trustees of Howard University. It was in the home of Mrs. Terrell in March 1910 that the meeting to establish a College Alumnae Club was held. Mrs. Terrell served one year as the first president.

Dr. Sara W. Brown, 1894 while a teacher of English at the Normal School in the District of Columbia took a leave of absence from Cornell University. Upon her return she taught science at the prestigious M Street School and enrolled at Howard University's medical department from which she later graduated. While advancing in her career as an educator, she took advanced courses, in pathology and physiology at Howard and maintained a part-time medical practice for twenty-five years.

She was a pioneer in health education for women and girls; was a member of the "flying squadron" of fifty women physicians appointed by the Women's War Work Council; was appointed by the American Red Cross to do relief work in flooded areas of Mississippi and Louisiana in 1927. Dr. Brown was elected four times alumni trustee of Howard University. She was one of the medical officers appointed to accompany the Gold Star War Mothers to France in 1930. Dr. Brown was the fifth president of the College Alumnae Club.

Mary E. Cromwell earned her A.B. degree from the University of Michigan and her M.A. degree from the University of Pennsylvania and additional graduate work at Columbia University. She taught mathematics in Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. Miss Cromwell was keenly interested in social problems and served as the first secretary of the National Association of College Women in 1924.