Lucille Bernheimer Milner (born Lucille Bernheimer, June 9, 1888 – August 14, 1975) was a cofounder of the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

Biography

Milner was born on June 9, 1888, in St. Louis, Missouri. At the age of 16 she moved to Colorado where she was treated for

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, returning to St. Louis until she moved to Mobile, Alabama to live with relatives. In 1912, she married her first cousin (Reece Bernheimer or Maurice Lowenstein depending on the source). Milner refers to her first husband only as "Reese" in her autobiography. He died the same year. Milner moved to New York where she attended the New York School of Philanthropy (now the

Columbia University School of Social Work The Columbia School of Social Work is the graduate school of social work of Columbia University in New York City. It is one of the oldest social work programs in the US, with roots extending back to 1898. It began awarding a Master of Science d ...

), and the Rand School of Social Science. She returned to St. Louis after graduation. There she met

Roger Nash Baldwin Roger Nash Baldwin (January 21, 1884 – August 26, 1981) was one of the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He served as executive director of the ACLU until 1950. Many of the ACLU's original landmark cases took place under h ...

, who she worked with at the St. Louis, Civic League. She became active in the cause of

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 ...

, joining the Equal Suffrage League of St. Louis and attending the

National American Woman Suffrage Association The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was an organization formed on February 18, 1890, to advocate in favor of women's suffrage in the United States. It was created by the merger of two existing organizations, the National Woma ...

. Returning to New York, Milner was active in the

National Civil Liberties Bureau The National Civil Liberties Bureau (NCLB) was an American civil rights organization founded in 1917, dedicated to opposing World War I, and specifically focusing on assisting conscientious objectors. The National Civil Liberties Bureau was the re ...

(NCLB) advocating for the rights of

conscientious objectors A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or freedom of religion, religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for ...

to military service. After NCLB was dissolved in 1920, she would go on to serve as the executive secretary of the newly formed

(ACLU). The same year she married Joseph Milner with whom she had two children. Milner had a long association with the ACLU. Her relationship grew strained in the 1930s when the ACLU began removing members of the organization who were known members of the Communist party. Specifically, the ACLU forced the resignation of

Harry F. Ward Harry Frederick Ward Jr. (15 October 1873 – 9 December 1966) was an English-born American Methodist minister and political activist who identified himself with the movement for Christian socialism, best remembered as first national chairman of t ...

and

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (August 7, 1890 – September 5, 1964) was an American labor leader, activist, and feminist who played a leading role in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Flynn was a founding member of the American Civil Libe ...

. Milner quit the organization in to protest the ACLU's advocacy for the rights of American fascist groups in the 1940s. In 1954, she wrote an autobiography entitled ''The Education of an American Liberal.'' She died of a heart attack on August 14, 1975, in New York City.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milner, Lucille Bernheimer 1888 births 1975 deaths People from St. Louis American Civil Liberties Union people American socialists Suffragists from Missouri