Attorney Terri Sewell is running for the open seat in Alabama’s 7^th Congressional District.  If elected, Terri would become the first woman elected to Congress from Alabama as well as the first African American woman elected to congress from the state.  Terri has been a strong advocate for women, including serving as the co-chair of a campaign for female attorneys to fight domestic violence in Birmingham, AL and to fund the first domestic violence court in Birmingham. 

Terri Sewell was raised in Selma, Alabama, where she inherited her family’s legacy of public service. Her grandfather, a Primitive Baptist preacher, offered his homestead to weary travelers on the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. She is the daughter of retired coach Andrew A. Sewell and former city councilwoman and retired librarian Nancy Gardner Sewell of Selma, Alabama. Both her parents held distinguished careers in the Selma public school system, and taught Terri to believe in the power of education.  Terri became the first black valedictorian of Selma High School.

Following in Her Mother’s Footsteps

Terri’s mother was the first black woman elected to the Selma City Council; Terri hopes to follow in her footsteps as the first black woman elected to Congress from the State of Alabama.

Terri graduated with honors from Princeton University receiving various scholarships including a U.S News and World Report scholarship.  During the summers while in college, Terri worked on Capitol Hill for the congressman in the 7^th Congressional District – then Richard Shelby – as well as for then Alabama Senator Howell Heflin. She was a leader on Princeton’s campus serving in various roles including class vice-president, class representative to the Student Union and spearheading the admission office’s effort to set up Minority Student Recruitment office to recruit and encourage more minority students to attend the University. 

Upon graduation from Princeton, Terri was featured on NBC’s Today Show as one of the “Top Collegian Women” and was chosen as one of the “Top Ten College Women in America,” by Glamour Magazine.  Terri was awarded a Marshall/Commonwealth Scholarship and continued her education after college, receiving a Masters degree with first class Honors from Oxford University. At the age of 25, she published her Masters’ thesis into a book on the election of the first black members of British parliament entitled “Black Tribunes: Race and Representation in British Politics”.

Terri attended Harvard Law School with the help of a NAACP Legal Defense Fund scholarship, graduating in 1992. In law school, she served as an editor of the Civil Rights Civil Liberties Law Review  and was published an article about the legal struggles in her hometown  in the Harvard Black Letter Journal entitled, “Selma, Lord, Selma” (vol 8, Spring 1991).

Legal and Economic Experience

Terri began her legal career in 1994 at the prestigious Wall Street law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell, working in New York City and London, England, where she was a successful securities lawyer for more than a decade and gained a strong understanding of finance and capital markets.

Terri was an active part of the New York community, providing free legal services to the homeless, mentoring girls of color in NYC high schools through the program Dreams into Action and serving on the Alumni Advisory Board of Sponsors of Educational Opportunity (SEO), a not-for-profit organization providing education, leadership training and Wall Street internships to students of color.  Through her involvement with SEO, Terri served as the co-chair of the Community Assistance Fund which provided $100,000 of aid and assistance to organizations serving communities of color affected by the events of September 11^th 2001.

Terri returned home to Alabama in 2004 to help care for family members. As the first black female partner in the Birmingham law firm of Maynard, Cooper, & Gale, P.C., Terri has distinguished herself as one of the only black bond lawyers in the State of Alabama.  She currently serves as a bond lawyer helping some of the state’s most underserved public entities, many in the 7^th Congressional district, including City of Selma, Dallas County Water Authority and Lowndes County Board of Education, to raise money for public projects.

Community Involvement

Terri has served as the first co-chair of the Women’s Fund Voices Against Violence inaugural campaign, which promoted women helping women to overcome domestic violence.  The campaign raised more than $70,000 in four months to fight domestic violence in Birmingham, providing funds to establish the first Best Practices Domestic Violence Court in Birmingham Municipal Court.  She has served on numerous boards including: St. Vincent’s Foundation (elected Treasurer of the Board and Chair of its Finance Committee), Girl Scouts of Cahaba Council, the Alabama Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Community Advisory Board for the UAB Minority Health and Research Center, the Governing Board of the Alabama Council on Economic Education, and she is a member of the Corporate Partners Council for Birmingham Art Museum. 

Among her accomplishments, Terri was listed in Alabama Super Lawyer for 2008 & 2009 and was honored with the 2007 Minority Business “Rising Star” award by the Birmingham Business Journal (BBJ).  She was also selected by the BBJ as one of the “Top Birmingham Women” in 2005.  She was a member of the class of 2006-2007 Leadership Birmingham, a member of the YWCA’s Women Leadership MOMENTUM class of 2007-2008. Terri is currently a member of the class of 2008-2009 Leadership Alabama.

To support or contribute to Terri Sewell, visit:  http://terrisewellforcongress.com/