Nellie Johnson, 96; Labor, Rights Activist
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Nellie Stone Johnson, 96, an influential force in civil rights and labor movements in Minnesota, died Tuesday of natural causes at an elder care facility in Minneapolis.
Born in Lakeville, Minn., the daughter of politically active farmers, Johnson grew up near the town of Hinckley in that state and moved to Minneapolis in the 1920s.
She ran a small tailoring and alterations shop and became focused on jobs and housing issues in the city.
In 1944, she joined Minneapolis Mayor Hubert H. Humphrey in forming the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
The next year she was the first black person elected to citywide office in Minneapolis, serving on the library board.
A lifelong member of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, Johnson was also at the forefront of the civil rights movements in the 1950s and ‘60s.
She was also on the board of what is now the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system until she was 90.
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