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Thelma Terry (African-American leader, Santa Monica, CA)
Thelma Terry (née Fletcher, 1907-1979) was an African-American leader who had a passion for serving youth of the Pico Neighborhood of Santa Monica. Terry worked as a recreation leader in Santa Monica for 42 years from 1928 to 1970. She created the first racially integrated youth program in Santa Monica that was characterized as a "one-woman child development program" for largely youth of color. She began her youth program on a vacant lot on 18th Street and Broadway, and later operated out of Memorial Park. For many years, the community referred to Memorial Park as "Miz Terry's Park." She taught children crocheting, tap dancing, and knitting, and also started a young adult club for youth ages 17-22. The youth that came out of her program had a 100% high school graduation rate, and many went on to college. Terry also started a drum majorette squad called "The Terryettes" that performed in parades and competitions throughout the Southern California region.

Terry grew up in the Belmar Neighborhood of Santa Monica, and her family were members of the historic landmark Phillips Chapel CME Church on 4th Street and Bay Street, the first African American house of worship in Santa Monica. One of the Chapel's eleven stained glass windows is dedicated by Terry and her husband, Mr. Thomas Terry, in memory of her late mother, Mrs. [Henry] Fletcher. She attended Santa Monica High School, where she played on the women's varsity basketball team as a center. She then attended Howard University, majoring in Childhood Development. She began working with the City of Santa Monica Parks and Recreation department in 1928 and was hired in 1937 through the WPA Arts Program. In 1939, Terry was dismissed by the WPA as a playground instructor, and was reinstated in 1940 after a public outcry and open letter published in the Bay Cities Informer written by a group of supporters in the Black community of the Pico Neighborhood of Santa Monica. In 1948, she was hired as an assistant in the Department of Parks and Recreation, and became a full-time employee in 1950.

In 1982, the Santa Monica City Council passed a resolution to name the new Community Center building in Virginia Avenue Park the Thelma Terry Building in honor of Terry's work providing access to arts and recreational programs to Black and brown youth in the City of Santa Monica throughout her long career. It was the first City building to be named after an African-American leader. In 2014, a plaque dedicated to Terry was unveiled in front of the Thelma Terry Building.