Lillian Anderson Turner Alexander

Lillian Anderson Turner Alexander (1876–1957) was an educator, social worker, civil rights activist, and club woman active in St. Paul, Minnesota, and New York City. Before 1918, she was known as Lillian A. Turner with her first husband's surname. After 1918, she used her second husband's surname and was known as Lillian A. Alexander.

Lillian Anderson Turner Alexander
Born	Lillian Anderson (1876-05-02)May 2, 1876 Yellow Springs, Ohio
Died	September 12, 1957(1957-09-12) (aged 81) New York City, New York
Occupation(s)	Educator, civil rights activist, and club woman
Spouses	Val Do Turner ​ ​ (m. 1896; div. 1918)​ Dr. Ernest Alexander ​ ​ (m. 1918)​

Biography

Lillian Anderson was born in Yellow Springs, Ohio, on May 2, 1876. She was the daughter of Sanford and Polly Anne Anderson. She had two brothers, Henry Anderson and Charles Anderson.

In 1896, she married physician Val Do Turner, and in 1989 they moved to St. Paul, Minnesota. By 1918, Turner and Val Do Turner had divorced. Turner moved to New York City to work for the National Urban League. Turner was listed on the 1920 census in New York as divorced and working in social work.

Education

Turner attended high school in Springfield, Ohio.

Turner worked as an educator in a variety of contexts, including school teacher, Sunday school training teacher, and volunteer social worker. Her Sunday school training included five years teaching officers, teachers, and students from colored Protestant denominations. She also traveled to Florida in winter 1913 to train teachers, visit schools, and organize women's and girls' clubs for community improvement. She attended special Chicago University courses.

During her time in Florida, she traveled with Margaret Murray Washington on her speaking tour across the state.

In 1914, Turner was inspired by attending the commencement ceremony of Fisk University. She joined the Fisk Club and was the only member to not be enrolled at Fisk or married to someone enrolled, and thus the club members dubbed her their "mascot."

She enrolled at the University of Minnesota in 1914 where she studied sociology and anthropology. She was the first student of color to receive Phi Beta Kappa recognition at the university. The last half year of her program conducting research at Wilberforce University and other areas around Ohio, focusing on Physical Anthropology. Turner graduated in February 1918 with honors, after only 3.5 years.

Activism and club work

Turner was involved in the women's club community. She was honorary president of the Minnesota Association of Colored Women's Clubs. In 1909, she was president of the Colored Women's State Federation of Clubs. In 1909 she was celebrated by the group and led three talks called "The Work of Women in the Uplift of the Race." Additionally, she was district club organizer of the Northwestern states. In 1914, she was the secretary of the St. Paul chapter of NAACP.

Turner volunteered as a social worker through the club, and was a social service worker for the Juvenile Court of St. Paul. She was there for seven years and handled widows' pensions and children's work. She received accolades for her work placing Black children into good homes. This inspired her to pursue higher education, as she felt she needed a wider understanding of the scope of social work and the social history of Black people in order to relate to the time's problems.

Turner used her skills towards women's suffrage. Her work, "Votes for Housewives," was published in the August 1915 edition of The Crisis and it was seen as a witty and clever piece. In 1919, she wrote another piece for The Crisis that explained the work done by the National Urban League. Eventually, she became the treasurer of The Crisis Publishing Company.

The National Urban League of New York City recruited Turner, now Alexander, upon her graduation in 1918, and she moved to pursue the job. She became the assistant to Eugene Kinckle Jones. She continued to travel and speak with groups on topics such as "Women now in Industries." When the National Urban League expanded its facilities to conduct more research, the new Department of Research came under the charge of Turner.

Alexander was one of the earliest life members of the NAACP and sat on its board of directors from 1924 to her death. She was a member of the Committee of Management of the West 137 Street Branch of the YWCA for 35 years, and served on the board of directors for the YWCA of the City of New York.

In 1934, Governor Herbert H. Lehman appointed her to the Commission on Urban Colored Population.

She was a member of the board of governors of the Warwick State Training School for Boys and the National Housing Conference. She also was a member of the Board of Management of the Columbus Hill Day Nursery.

Alexander founded Club Caroline, a cooperative housing project in Harlem for working girls, sponsored by the Association for the Proper Housing of Girls.

Remarriage

On June 10, 1918, Lillian Turner married Dr. Ernest R. Alexander. He was a well-known physician at Harlem Hospital, and the couple lived in the Sugar Hill area of Harlem. They hosted an exclusive annual picnic at Green Lake, New York where attendees were known for being the "in" crowd. Attendees included Ethel Ray Nance and Regina M. Anderson.

Death and legacy

Lillian A. Alexander died on September 12, 1957, at Tuxedo Memorial Hospital in New York. She was 81 years old and was survived by her husband and her brothers.

Name confusion

In his autobiography, Roy Wilkins wrote about Sally Alexander, "an old friend from St. Paul," who has several details that match Lillian Turner. In 1931, the Alexanders hosted a black-tie dinner for Wilkins and his wife Aminda "Minnie" Badeau. Wilkins describes her as a formidable woman with a fierce interest in the NAACP, who had become a close friend and ally of W. E. B. Du Bois. It is possible that Sally Alexander is Lillian Turner using her second husband's surname.

See also

• African-American women's suffrage movement
• Black suffrage in the United States
• The Crisis