Julia Bullard Nelson (1842–1914) was an American temperance and women's rights activist from Red Wing, Minnesota. Following the death of her husband and their only child, she went south to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, in 1869, to teach former slaves in U.S. government-backed

Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was an agency of early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South. It was established on March 3, 1865, and operated briefly as a ...

schools. Nelson spent the summers of the 1870s and 1880s in Minnesota, where she emerged as a state and national leader in the movement for

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

and the temperance campaign against alcohol use.

Early life and education

Julia Bullard was born in

High Ridge, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford, Connecticut, Hartf ...

, on May 13, 1842, the daughter of Edward and Angeline Raymond Bullard. Julia Bullard moved to

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

with her family in 1857. She earned a teaching degree at

Hamline University Hamline University is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1854, Hamline is known for its emphasis on experiential learning, service, and social justice. The university is named after Bishop Leonidas Lent Hamline o ...

, which was then located in Red Wing, around 1862.

Adult life and career

Family tragedy

On September 1866, Bullard married former classmate Ole Nelson. Tragedy struck the Nelson family when their infant son, Cyrus, died in August 1867. Just five months later, Ole died. Newly widowed, the twenty-six-year-old teacher decided to put her teaching skills to use for a greater cause by educating newly-freed slaves in the South.

Social activism

In 1869, Nelson traveled to Texas, which was a perilous endeavor, where she would teach freed slaves through the Freedmen's Bureau. Congress had created the Freedmen's Bureau to assist newly-freed slaves in adjusting to their release following the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. By 1869, there were about three thousand schools for freed men and women, including the one at which Nelson taught. Most Southern whites, angry at their defeat during the Civil War (1861–1865), deeply resented teachers from the North. Although she was threatened with violence and shunned by some whites, Nelson taught in the South from 1870 until 1888. In the early 1880s, Nelson, a member of the Minnesota

Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program th ...

(WCTU), assumed duty as a public speaker for the group. In 1886, while part of a delegation to a U.S. House of Representatives judiciary committee hearing woman suffrage, Nelson stated, "If I am capable of preparing citizens, I am capable of possessing the rights of a citizen myself. I ask you to remove the barriers which restrain women from equal opportunities and privileges with men." Nelson also worked as superintendent for the Minnesota WCTU and was its vice president from 1889–1890. She handled editing the group's newspaper, the ''Minnesota White Ribboner''. "Julia B." made good use of summers free from teaching duty. In 1881, she joined fourteen other women, including Dr. Martha George Ripley and

Sarah Burger Stearns Sarah Burger Stearns (November 30, 1836 – October 26, 1904) was a social reformer and a leader in the woman's suffrage movement in the U.S. state of Minnesota. She co-founded the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association and served as its first pres ...

, in forming the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association (MWSA). The MWSA led the state effort to allow women to vote, a right denied them when the United States was formed. An excellent public speaker, Nelson became one of the group's most sought-after orators. She became a paid lecturer for the

National Woman Suffrage Association The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was formed on May 15, 1869, to work for women's suffrage in the United States. Its main leaders were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It was created after the women's rights movement spl ...

. Nelson, now a Red Wing resident, served as MWSA president from 1890 to 1896. President Nelson allied the MWSA with

Ignatius Donnelly Ignatius Loyola Donnelly (November 3, 1831 – January 1, 1901) was an American Congressman, populist writer, and fringe scientist. He is known primarily now for his fringe theories concerning Atlantis, Catastrophism (especially the idea of an a ...

in 1893. Donnelly, a well-known Minnesota politician and famed orator, believed in a woman's right to vote. Nelson, Donnelly, and their allies, persuaded the Minnesota Senate to consider a suffrage amendment to the constitution. By a thirty-two to nineteen margin, the Senate voted to drop the word "male" from voting requirement language. But the bill did not become a law, because the House, under time constraints, did not vote on it. The MWSA continued to bring their amendment before future legislatures without success. Her heavy schedule convinced Nelson to recruit twenty-one-year-old Jeremiah Patterson, a freed slave and former student, to run her Belvidere farm south of Red Wing. Patterson became part of the community. He married Verna Gaylord and moved to Red Wing. In spring 1897, Nelson and Patterson opened the Equal Rights Meat Market. This black–white business partnership, rare in Minnesota at this time, proved unsuccessful, but the Pattersons and their children continued to live in Red Wing. They stayed friends with Nelson.

Later life and death

Julia B. Nelson continued her demanding work but by the winter of 1912, at age seventy-one, she was feeling the effects of bronchitis. In 1913, her physician suggested a long rest in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, and she followed his advice. But on her way south she stopped in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

to attend the national woman's suffrage convention. Nelson could not resist working, and in late fall 1914, started a strenuous train tour of

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

, working for women's voting rights. Weakened by this effort, Nelson died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

on December 24, 1914. A newspaper article reported she was "The Last of the Grand Old Women of Suffrage." Nelson left most of her estate to William H. Richards, a Black man, who she had adopted as her son.

Legacy

Julie B. Nelson is an important historical figure in Texas and Minnesota history. Her home in Red Wing was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, but it was torn down in 2004. Nelson was inducted into the Red Wing Women’s Hall of Fame in 2023.

Notes

References

* Hurd, Ethel Edgerton. Woman Suffrage in Minnesota: A Record of the Activities in Its Behalf since 1847. Minneapolis: Inland Press, 1916. *Johnson, Frederick L., and Craig J. Patterson. "Jeremiah Patterson and African American Roots in Minnesota." Minnesota Genealogist 39, no. 1 (Spring 2008): 23–35. *———. Uncertain Lives: African Americans and Their First 150 Years in the Red Wing, Minnesota Area. Red Wing, MN: Goodhue County Historical Society, 2005. *Leaf, Julia Wiech
"A Woman of Purpose: Julia B. Nelson."
''Minnesota History'' 47, no. 8 (Winter 1981): 302–314. *Scovell, Bessie Lathe, ed. Yesteryears: A Brief History of the Minnesota Woman's Christian Temperance Union from Its Organization, September 6, 1887 to 1939. St. Paul: WCTU, 1939.