This article was written by Joe Mullery
A long-time Northside resident recently received an enormous tribute at the Minnesota Capitol. A statue of Nellie Stone Johnson became the first new statue of a real person in our Capitol in over a hundred years. There are only four statues of real people and they were all civil war heroes.
Nellie was the leading civil rights leader in state history. But she was also a leader in women’s rights, worker’s and union rights, and farmer’s rights. Additionally, Nellie was a leader in fostering a strong educational and job training system for everyone, as well as equity in employment. Her clarion call was “Everyone deserves an equal opportunity to a good education and a good job.”
In 1997, when I went to the Capitol as a new legislator, I realized that there were no busts or statues of a Black Minnesotan or a woman. Soon after, I realized there was also nothing reflecting the contributions of workers, educators, unions, farmers or regular Minnesotans who contributed so much to our state.
As I thought about how to fix it, I immediately understood that my close friend Nellie was clearly the leading civil rights leader. After more consideration I realized she was sort of an “all-in-one” or an “Everyman,” because she fought for, and contributed to the betterment of, almost all Minnesotans — no matter what their role.
So, I introduced a bill in the legislature to put a bust of her in our Capitol. The bill passed the House but a powerful senator blocked it. I kept trying to pass the bill and it finally was included in the 2014 budget legislation.
Then we had to raise funds for the statue. After that, we went through a long selection process for a sculptor and years of refining the statue so it accurately depicted Nellie.
The culmination of our efforts occurred on November 21, when the new statue was installed in a prominent place in the Capitol and Governor Walz proclaimed “Nellie Stone Johnson Day.”
It took me almost 26 years to accomplish this effort, but it should be a great inspiration to all Minnesotans who should realize what an ordinary non-politician can accomplish, especially female youth and those of color.
Back in the late ‘90s, I was able to convince School Superintendent Carol Johnson that they should name a school after Nellie and that they didn’t have to wait until she was dead. It was one of the first schools in Minnesota named after a living person. Nellie was so happy she was speechless (extremely rare for her) at the school dedication ceremony.
A highlight history about Nellie, which was included in the program for the statue declaration, follows:
Nellie Stone Johnson—Woman of the Century
Through indefatigable hard work, political organizing, fiery oratory, a deep understanding of history and social interaction, and a passion to help common people and those who faced discrimination, Nellie rose from an ordinary citizen to become a champion in Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, Workers and Union Rights, and Education Rights.
As a farm girl of African and European descent, Nellie began her 80+ years of political life at age 13, door knocking for the Nonpartisan League and the Farmer Labor Party. Later, in Minneapolis, she encountered severe racism, sexism, and anti-worker policies. She realized labor unions could overcome these injustices. When she faced anti-worker changes in her job at the Minneapolis Athletic Club, she recruited for the union and soon became one of the first female Vice Presidents and contract negotiators for a union. She was a sought-after speaker all over the state for workers’ rights and minority rights, and soon became a powerful factor as a board member of the Minnesota AFL-CIO and Central Labor Union.
Nellie was a close personal friend of, and advisor to, Hubert Humphrey. She worked with him closely on issues, especially for people of color and women, regarding education, jobs, housing, medical care, etc., as he achieved national leadership on them as Mayor, Senator and Vice President. She provided great help to him in elections by bringing union workers and people of color to his campaigns. Their friendship was instrumental in convincing other leaders of the Farmer Labor and Democratic parties to merge into the DFL. She wasn’t just a founder of the DFL, and a member of its Executive Committee. She later served as Democratic Party National Committeewoman, a founder of its Black Affairs Department, and served on its Agriculture Committee. Nellie was also a close friend of, and advisor to, Senator and Vice President Walter Mondale and worked with him on his national leadership on civil rights. When he travelled in Africa on his Goodwill Tour, he took Nellie as his “right hand man.”
Nellie was the first Black elected to Minneapolis government, and she was the leading crusader for Minneapolis’ nation-leading Fair Employment ordinance and then its Fair Housing ordinance, and later advanced passage of similar laws for Minnesota. She was on the executive committee of the Minneapolis NAACP for 26 years and served on its national committees, and chaired committees for the Urban League as well as other organizations for people of color.
During her many years on the boards for the state universities and colleges systems, she became known as the “voice for the students and faculty”. Then, she established the first scholarship fund for students of color in those schools. In recognition of her efforts for students, St Cloud State University awarded her an Honorary Doctorate of Letters Degree.
Even though she was offered many great jobs, she chose to establish her own alterations business so that she didn’t have to worry about her employer’s thoughts on her political and union activities, and she could leave her work whenever there was a need for her civic activity.
Nellie opposed racism and tribalism no matter where it came from. She emphasized that she didn’t care whether her elected representative was black or white; she just wanted the one who did the best job, especially for “her people”. She stressed that she strongly supported affirmative action but opposed anyone getting a job just because of their race, especially if they weren’t well qualified. Nellie emphasized she wanted minorities to have an equal opportunity for education and training, and to get the job if qualified. Equal opportunity, not equal results. And she wanted to look at the present and future, not the past. She felt the first help should go to African Americans and Natives who face generational poverty. After that, she fought for help for other minorities and even for whites in poverty who hadn’t received an equal opportunity to succeed.
At the age of 74, Nellie recruited and ran the campaign for Van White, who was then elected as the first Black Minneapolis Council member. Even in her 90s she door-knocked for her friend who became a legislator. She received many awards from governments, unions, businesses, minority groups, media etc.