Terence Alphonso Todman (March 13, 1926 – August 13, 2014) was an American diplomat who served as the U.S.

His mother worked as a house maid and laundress, and his father was a grocery clerk.

Todman graduated from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico summa cum laude.

He joined the State Department and, the following year, passed the Foreign Service Examination.

[5] His appointment as ambassador to Costa Rica in 1974 represented the first African American to be given the title in a Spanish-speaking country.