Born into slavery during the Civil War, Mary Church Terrell (1863–1954) would become one of the most prominent activists of her time, with a career bridging the late nineteenth century to the civil rights movement of the 1950s. The first president of the National Association of Colored Women and a founding member of the NAACP, Terrell collaborated closely with the likes of Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, and W. E. B. Du Bois. Unceasing Militant is the first full-length biography of Terrell, bringing her vibrant voice and personality to life. Though most accounts of Terrell focus almost exclusively on her public activism, Alison M. Parker also looks at the often turbulent, unexplored moments in her life to provide a more complete account of a woman dedicated to changing the culture and institutions that perpetuated inequality throughout the United States. This new edition includes a new preface in which Parker reflects on the resurgence of public interest in Terrell and discusses the newly available digitized files of Terrell’s papers at the Library of Congress. “Extraordinary. . . . Parker’s biography will likely stand as the definitive work on Terrell for many years.”— American Historical Review “Parker’s achievement is in crafting a comprehensive, compelling account of a successful change agent, a passionate feminist and a respectable radical. Historians and librarians will rely on it as a definitive source and history aficionados will savor it.”— Washington History “Parker’s rich biography of African American activist Mary Church Terrell . . .  illustrates what true intersectional political histories look like.”— Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era “A sweeping and insightful narrative of one of the most accomplished Black women of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. . . . Parker’s deeply researched and gracefully written study offers a compelling narrative and a ground-level perspective of Terrell and the historical context in which she lived.”— Journal of American History “Spotlights the limited opportunities for Black women’s political leadership and recognition for that important work, as well as the economic precarity with which so many Black women lived and struggled while maintaining a commitment to racial and gender justice. . . . Those of us engaged in teaching and researching the long struggle for Black freedom, its organizational and coalitional formations, its culture and personalities, and internal politics and negotiations will greatly benefit.”—Paula C. Austin, Journal of African American History “With access to sources previously held only in private collections, Parker explores new avenues of Terrell’s life…Parker’s deeply researched volume adds to our historical understanding of Terrell’s life and demonstrates how a Black woman’s public interactions in an oppressive system shaped and affected her personal life.”— Journal of Southern History “ Unceasing Militant is an admiring yet fair tribute to activist Mary Church Terrell, whose sustained, determined belief is inspiring.”— Foreword Reviews Extraordinary. . . . Parker’s biography will likely stand as the definitive work on Terrell for many years."— American Historical Review “Fills a vital gap in our knowledge of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Black activism. . . . A must-read for anyone interested in the history of the fight for racial and gender equality in the United States as well as anyone interested in social movements of the Jim Crow era.”— Black Perspectives “Fills a vital gap in our knowledge of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Black activism. . . . A must-read for anyone interested in the history of the fight for racial and gender equality in the United States as well as anyone interested in social movements of the Jim Crow era.”— Black Perspectives Featuring a new preface by the author Alison M. Parker is Chair & Richards Professor of American History at the University of Delaware. She has research and teaching interests in U.S. women’s and gender history, African American history, and legal history. She majored in art history and history at the University of California, Berkeley and earned a PhD from the Johns Hopkins University. In 2017-2018, Parker was an Andrew W. Mellon Advanced Fellow at the James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference at Emory University. Parker is author of Articulating Rights: Nineteenth-Century American Women on Race, Reform, and the State (2010) and Purifying America: Women, Cultural Reform, and Pro-Censorship Activism, 1873-1933 (1997). Parker also serves as co-editor of the Gender and Race in American History book series for the University of Rochester Press. As Chair of the History Department at the University of Delaware, Parker is committed to helping to build a coalition of students, faculty, and staff promoting a wide-ranging anti-racism agenda.