Nellie Blythe Nicholson Taylor (July 22, 1888 – December 20, 1965) was an African-American suffragist and educator.[1]
Nicholson was a clubwoman, co-founding a local Delaware affiliate, the Women's College Club of Delaware, with Sadie L. Jones.[1] She was a founding member of the Zeta Omega chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.[2] She was also a founding member of the Equal Suffrage Study Club, founded in 1914.[1] The group was organized to study and advocate for Black women's voting rights; they marched as a separate unit in Wilmington's first suffrage parade in 1914.[1] After the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, the group organized to encourage African-American women to register and to vote.[1] Members of the club assisted in supporting the founding of a Wilmington chapter of the NAACP in 1915 and Nicholson was the first press relations staffer.[1]
Personal life and education
editNicholson was born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 22, 1888, to George W. and Charlotte Nicholson.[1] Her father served in the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War.[1] Her mother was a skilled seamstress and dressmaker. Nicholson went to Baltimore Colored Training School for high school and Pembroke College in Brown University for college, receiving a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in 1911.[1][3] After a few years teaching, she later attended the University of Pennsylvania and received a master's degree in Mathematics Education in 1931.[1] She married William H. Taylor in 1928; he was a widower with three children.[1][4] She is buried in Eden Cemetery in Collingdale, Pennsylvania.
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Carey, Helene. "Biography of Nellie B. Nicholson (Taylor), 1888-1965". Biographical Database of African American Suffragists. Alexander Street. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
- ^ "Our History". AKA Zeta Omega Chapter. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
- ^ Brown alumni monthly - Notes. Brown University. March 1931. p. 216. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
- ^ "Take Philadelphia License". The Evening Journal. Vol. 41, no. 8. Wilmington Delaware. June 20, 1928. p. 4. Retrieved 3 January 2021.