Elna Virginia Bridgeforth Spaulding ( Bridgeforth; January 23, 1909 – January 7, 2007) was an American civic leader and politician. She served on the Board of Commissioners for Durham County from 1974 to 1984, the first African American woman to do so.

Early life and education

Elna Virginia Bridgeforth was born on January 23, 1909, at

Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was de ...

Tuskegee, Alabama Tuskegee () is a city in Macon County, Alabama, United States. It was founded and laid out in 1833 by General Thomas Simpson Woodward, a Creek War veteran under Andrew Jackson, and made the county seat that year. It was incorporated in 1843. ...

. She was the daughter of

George Ruffin Bridgeforth George Ruffin Bridgeforth (October 5, 1873 – January 30, 1955) was an American farmer and educator. He was the first African American to attend the University of Massachusetts Amherst (then Massachusetts Agricultural College), graduating in 190 ...

, a dairy farmer on the faculty of Tuskegee, and Datie Bridgeforth ( Miller). Bridgeforth attended Trinity High School in

Athens, Alabama Athens is a city in and the county seat of Limestone County, Alabama, Limestone County, in the U.S. state of Alabama; it is included in the Huntsville-Decatur-Albertville, AL Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 c ...

, graduating in 1926, and earned the

Bachelor of Music Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of prescr ...

degree from Talladega College in 1930. After graduating from Talladega, Bridgeforth moved to

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

in 1930 to teach music in Durham's

public schools Public school may refer to: *State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government *Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England and ...

. She taught for a year before she became the head of the music department at Winston-Salem Teachers College from 1931 to 1933. Bridgeforth married Asa T. Spaulding Sr. in 1933.

Women-in-Action for the Prevention of Violence and its Causes

In September 1968, Spaulding founded Women-in-Action for the Prevention of Violence and its Causes, a

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

, inter-racial organization in Durham. She served as the organization's first president until 1974, when she ran for the Durham County Board of Commissioners. The organization worked to ease racial tensions in the community and its work led to court-ordered

school integration School integration in the United States is the process (also known as desegregation) of ending Race (human categorization), race-based Racial segregation in the United States, segregation within American public and private schools. School segreg ...

in 1970. In 1991, Women-in-Action established the annual Elna B. Spaulding Founder's Award. The award's second recipient was Spaulding's fellow Durham county commissioner

Josephine Dobbs Clement Josephine Ophelia Dobbs Clement ( Dobbs; February 9, 1918 – March 23, 1998) was an American politician, teacher, and civil rights activist. She served on the Board of Education of Durham, North Carolina, the first Black woman to do so. Edu ...

Durham County Board of Commissioners

Spaulding was first elected to the Durham County Board of Commissioners in 1974. Spaulding received the most votes out of the five Democrats and four

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

in the race; the top five vote getters were elected to the board. She was the first African American woman elected to the board. Spaulding was re-elected for four additional two-year terms to the Board of Commissioners, serving until her retirement in 1984.

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

honored Spaulding with the William C. Friday Award in Moral Leadership in 2001.

Personal life and legacy

Elna Bridgeforth and Asa T. Spaulding were married on June 24, 1933. They had four children: Asa T. Jr., Patricia Ann, Aaron Lowery, and Kenneth Bridgeforth. Asa Spaulding Sr. died in 1990. She died on January 7, 2007, in Durham, at the age of 97. One of her grandchildren is blogger, columnist, and activist Pam Spaulding. The Elna B. Spaulding Conflict Resolution Center in Durham is named for her.Elna B. Spaulding Conflict Resolution Center
Bull City Online Resource Guide.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spaulding, Elna 1909 births 2007 deaths African-American activists Activists for African-American civil rights African-American people in North Carolina politics County commissioners in North Carolina People from Tuskegee, Alabama Talladega College alumni 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women Spaulding family