Julia Bullard Nelson (1842–1914) was an American temperance and women's rights activist from

Red Wing, Minnesota Red Wing is a city in and the county seat of Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States, along the upper Mississippi River. The population was 16,547 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropo ...

. Following the death of her husband and their only child, she went south to

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, 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 a U.S. government agency of early post American Civil War Reconstruction, assisting freedmen (i.e., former enslaved people) in the ...

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 women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

and the temperance campaign against alcohol use.

Early life and education

Julia Bullard was born in High Ridge, Connecticut, on May 13, 1842, the daughter of Edward and Angeline Raymond Bullard. Julia Bullard moved to

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

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

Hamline University Hamline University ( ) is a private university in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1854, Hamline is the oldest university in Minnesota, the first coeducational university in the state, and is one of five Associated Colleges of th ...

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

Adult life and career

Family tragedy

In 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 is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, 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.J ...

. 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. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far ...

(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, in forming the

Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association The Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association (MWSA) operated from 1881 to 1920. The organization was part of the broader women's suffrage in the United States, women's suffrage movement in the United States and it sought to secure the right of women to ...

(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 pseudoscientist. 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 The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Minnesota Legislature, Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any State legislature (Unite ...

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 Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. ...

. In 1913, her physician suggested a long rest in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

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

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

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 indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

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

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

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 Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, 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.