Minneapolis DFLer Seeks Nellie Stone Johnson Bust

A Minneapolis state legislator wants a bust of a Minnesota civil rights pioneer at the State Capitol.

 

 

 

 

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A Minneapolis state legislator wants a bust of a Minnesota civil rights pioneer at the State Capitol.

State Rep. Joe Mullery has introduced a bill seeking to bestow the honor on Nellie Stone Johnson.

Born in Lakeville in 1905, Johnson began decades of political and union activism in the 1920s while a student at the University of Minnesota.

Johnson went on to organize for the hotel and restaurant workers union in Minneapolis and work with the local NAACP chapter.

She became a mentor to Hubert Humphrey on civil rights, before he became one of the Democratic Party's national leaders on the issue.

Johnson became the first black person to hold city-wide office in Minneapolis when she was elected to its library board in 1945.

She died in 2002.

 

AP

   

© 2012 KFGO-AM  |  1020 S. 25th Street Fargo, ND 58103