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Juanita Morrow Nelson and Wallace F. Nelson Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SCPC-DG-262

Scope and Contents

This collection was donated after Juanita's death. She had attempted to sort her and Wally's papers into categories, but the end result was unusable, with an enormous number of duplicates mixed throughout. As a result, it was all completely re-sorted into categories: 1/ Juanita alone; 2/ Wally alone; 3/ Juanita and Wally together, including biographical and autobiographical material, writings by others about them as well as media coverage of them both, and material about the actions and activities that they engaged in together. These categories are reflected in the Series titles used in the checklist below.

Juanita wrote many sketches, articles and notes throughout her lifetime. Some were published, but these papers also contain draft articles etc. and partially completed writings. Much of the latter are gathered together in folders, in no order. Wally too did some writing. Both gave many talks and made many public appearances, particularly on behalf of tax resistance and against war, and the papers reflect their involvements. Juanita kept copies of her prolific letters in the early 1970s; her dedication to thrift meant that she re-used her carbon mimeograph paper more than once, so that most copies have two to three letters on their pages (sometimes from different years).

Dates

  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1923-2015

Creator

Language of Material

Materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

None.

Conditions Governing Use

None.

Biographical note

Juanita Morrow Nelson was born on August 17, 1923 in Cleveland (Ohio). She began her life of activism while a student at Howard University, where she participated in some of the earliest sit-ins of the civil rights movement. She was arrested as a nineteen-year-old sophomore for her action at a drugstore lunch counter in downtown Washington (D.C.) Juanita was a journalist and reporter for the Cleveland Call and Post from 1941-194_, reporting particularly on racial bias and other issues. Juanita worked on desegregation campaigns in Cincinnati (Ohio), Washington (D.C.) and elsewhere, and was an organizer for CORE (Congress of Racial Equality). She co-founded the Cleveland Committee of Racial Equality in 1944, an affiliate of CORE, which was successful in desegregating two local schools. In 1959, Juanita was arrested for war tax refusal. She made a court appearance in the bathrobe she was wearing when apprehended at her home. She was released the same day, but the incident was reported on in Philadelphia newspapers. Juanita was an activist throughout her lifetime, as well as a writer. A Matter of Freedom and Other Writings by Juanita was published in 1988, and she also published articles, particularly regarding gardening and farming.

Wallace Floyd (Wally) Nelson was born on March 27, 1909 to Lydia and Duncan Nelson. He was raised in Little Rock (Arkansas), a younger son in a large family of sharecroppers. Later, he went north to join his brother, working odd-jobs, and trying to get a higher education. He attended Ohio Wesleyan University for three years, majoring in sociology. He participated in 1934 in the student strike on the campus of the University of Chicago. Before WWII began, he was the director of the Liberty Community Center in Delaware (Ohio). Wally was a conscientious objector and absolute pacifist. He spent one year and four days in Civilian Public Service (CPS), but became dissatisfied with it and illegally walked out of Camp No. 23 near Coshocton (Ohio) in the summer of 1943. As a result, he was imprisoned for three and a half years at county jails in Detroit (Michigan) and Cleveland (Ohio) and in four federal prisons in Milan (Michigan), Chillicothe (Ohio), Lewisburg (Pennsylvania), and Danbury (Connecticut). Toward the end of his imprisonment, he went on a hunger strike for 107 days. Officials fed him forcefully with a tube down his nose for 87 days until Wally was finally released from prison. In 1947, Wally participated in the Journey of Reconciliation -- the first freedom ride bus trip in the South -- and was among 16 who were arrested. For 15 or more years he was one of the main coordinators for the Peacemakers Summer Orientation Program in Nonviolence.

In the 1950s, Wally was the first full-time travelling secretary for CORE (Congress for Racial Equality), also called the National Field Representative. For this job, among other duties, he directed Summer Interracial Workshops on non-violent direct action in Washington D.C. Wally was a founder, and for many years a board member, of Operation Freedom. He worked as a traveling salesman for the Antioch Bookplate Company from 1964 to 1969. In 1968, Wally fasted for 21 days in front of an Acme supermarket to protest their handling of boycotted lettuce, in support of the United Farm Workers campaign for just wages and working conditions for farm laborers. He participated in the annual war-tax protest in front of the Greenfield Post office on tax day for many years.

Juanita met Wally in 1944, when she was investigating prison conditions and he was in the Cuyahoga County Jail as a conscientious objector. In 1948 they joined Peacemakers together and became tax resisters the same year. They planned and participated in the first Freedom Rides in the late 1940s. As African-Americans, Juanita and Wally were always working for racial equality, though their main attention turned toward promoting tax resistance and protesting war. In 1950 Juanita and Wally lived communally with Marion and Ernest Bromley in Cincinnati (Ohio), and then moved to Philadelphia (Pennsylvania). They spent four months at Koinonia Farm in southwest Georgia in 1957, where the intentional and integrated community was the target of nine shootings.

The Nelsons chose to live very simply, in Ojo Caliente (New Mexico) from 1970-1974, and later at Woolman Hill in Deerfield (Massachusetts) from 1974 on. They cut their expenses dramatically, living on less than $5,000 a year, building a house with salvaged materials and without electricity or plumbing, and maintaining an organic vegetable farm on a half-acre of land. In her later years, Juanita instituted harvest suppers in nearby Greenfield (Massachusetts), at which 700+ locals ate together at tables set up in the Town Common.

Wally and Juanita were founding members of the Valley Community Land Trust in western Massachusetts. A no-interest loan fund is now held by the Trust in Wally's memory. They also stimulated the organization of the Pioneer Valley War Tax Resisters, and co-founded the Greenfield Farmer's Market.

The Nelsons received the Courage of Conscience Award from The Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Massachusetts. Juanita and Wally were very well known and admired by many for their peaceful living that consistently reflected their beliefs. They never married officially, but were wed in their complete devotion to each other and shared vision for the world. After Wally's death in 2002, Juanita wrote letters to him, telling of her activities and her terrible sense of loss without him at her side. She lived until 2015, still active in her community and beyond.

Extent

8.3 linear ft. (20 boxes)

Abstract

Juanita and Wally Nelson were civil rights activists, tax resisters, simple living proponents, farmers, and writers/speakers for peace.

Arrangement

Organized in 5 series:

  1. A. Juanita Morrow Nelson
  2. B. Wallace F. Nelson
  3. C. Juanita and Wallace Nelson [together]
  4. D. Correspondence
  5. E. Reference material

Custodial History

The Swarthmore College Peace Collection is the official repository for these papers.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Delivered by Randy Kehler, 2015 [acc. 2015-036, 2015-038, 2015-042]; 2016 [Acc. 2016-049].

Related Materials

  1. Marion Bromley and Ernest Bromley Papers (DG 214)
  2. Center on Conscience and War Records (DG 025), Part I, Series B
  3. Center on Conscience and War Records (DG 025), Part I, Series E,2
  4. Congress of Racial Equality Collected Records (CDGA)
  5. Peacemaker Movement Collected Records (CDGA)

Separated Materials

Items removed:

  1. Photos to the Photograph Collection (4"x5" / 5"x7", 8"x10")
  2. Wally's winter hat, and picture (attached to wooden frame) of Wally in hat, 1990, to the Memorabilia Collection
  3. Necktie with text "Jim Crow Must Go" to the Memorabilia Collection
  4. Sock with text "on earth peace" to the Memorabilia Collection
  5. Oversized ledger used as journal by Juanita (January-September 1941 [1942?]) to Oversized Items Collection: Documents
  6. Laminated greeting to Juanita and Wally from the Companeros Affinity Group to Oversized Items Collection: Documents
  7. Buttons to the Button/Pin/Ribbon Collection
  8. T-Shirt (sleeveless) with text "I work, you work, he/she works, we work, you work, THEY profit!" to the T-Shirt Collection
  9. T-Shirt with text "No War! No Way. Don't Pay." to the T-Shirt Collection
  10. T-Shirt with text "You Don't Gotta" to the T-Shirt Collection
  11. T-Shirt with text "Free Harvest Supper" to the T-Shirt Collection
  12. DVD "Death and Taxes" (with footage of Juanita and others) to the Audiovisual Collection

Legal Status

Copyright to the Juanita Morrow Nelson and Wallace Nelson Papers, and created by the Nelsons has been transferred to the Swarthmore College Peace Collection. Copyright to all other materials is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Processing Information

Processed by and finding aid created by Anne M. Yoder, Archivist, August-September 2015; updated by SCPC staff, September 2016, January 2020.

Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Revision Statements

  • 2020: The file list was standardized in Summer 2017 by Mary Olesnavich in preparation for importing into ArchivesSpace. Tessa Chambers added the notes in Fall 2017. This finding aid was updated by Wendy E. Chmielewski, January 2020.
  • 2023: The Photographs series was added to the finding aid by Laura Melbourne in 2023.

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