Grace Elizabeth (Nail) Johnson (abt. 1885 - 1976)

Born about 27 Feb 1885 in New London, Connecticut, United States

Wife of James Weldon Johnson — married Feb 1910 in New York, United States

Died 1 Nov 1976 at about age 91 in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

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Biography

Grace (Nail) Johnson is Notable.

Grace was born in February 1885.

African American Registry (AAREG)

^[1]

"Grace Elizabeth Nail was born in New London, Connecticut. She was the second child of real estate developer John Bennett Nail and Mary Frances Robinson. By the time she was born, the Nails had already become prominent members of the Black Bourgeoisie of New York City. While the family was very involved with the Harlem community, they lived in Brooklyn, where she would live for all her early life.

"The Nail family business began with a restaurant and hotel in New York City later opening another similar business in Washington D.C. Eventually, the Nails' business ventures expanded into real estate. By the time her father died, they owned five apartment complexes in Harlem. With their influence, the Nails opened Harlem real estate to many of Blacks who would drive the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. Her family were early members of the NAACP and also participated in many artistic and intellectual circles in and out of Harlem. Some of those circles included other prominent figures such as Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington. On February 3, 1910 she married composer James Weldon Johnson.

"Nail Johnson was a hostess, mentor, teacher, and activist in various civil rights causes of the era. She was well known for hosting the Black political and artistic elites of the time and organizing events centered around popular Harlem artists. Some significant organizations she worked in were the Anti-Lynching Crusaders, the Circle for Negro Relief, the Heterodoxy Club, and the American Women's Voluntary Services. She is also credited as the founder of the NAACP Junior’s League, which was organized in 1929. Johnson and her husband were also especially active in promoting anti-lynching legislation.

"On July 17, 1917, she, her husband, and her brother participated in the Negro Silent Protest Parade. The parade took place on 5th Avenue, just one block from the Nail family restaurant. She also became politically involved outside of New York. Nella Larsen, an American novelist, once recalled traveling with Grace Nail Johnson through southern states in 1932. The two of them passed as white patrons at a restaurant in Tennessee, as a political stunt. Her continued political activism eventually led to an event in 1941 in which First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt invited her, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Numa P. G. Adams to the White House to discuss the current state of race politics.

"Later during World War II, (1942) Johnson publicly resigned from the New York committee of the American Women's Voluntary Services because of racial discrimination she and others experienced in their work projects. One year later she recalled the experience as she spoke on an NBC radio program about equal pay. On that program she stated, "We should not have two wage scales for the same job--one for men and one for women, one for Negroes and one for whites."

"In addition to being a political activist, Johnson was also part of a network of prominent Harlem women who fostered the development of Black children’s literature. This connection began with the patronage her parents gave to Harlem artists and deepened with her marriage to James Weldon Johnson, a writer himself. Even after her husband’s death, Johnson continued to participate in discussion circles of Harlem literature. Of the many literature circles, she participated in, one group that focused entirely on children's fiction included herself, Langston Hughes, Ellen Tarry, and Charlemae Hill Rollins.

"Notably, she often had a unique voice compared with the younger members of that circle. For example, she praised the children’s book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats while the other documented members of the group criticized it. While they found issues with the book's portrayal of a young African American boy, she wrote that it “fits the time” and that “James Weldon Johnson would have loved The Snowy Day”. Although the true extent of her involvement in children's literature is unclear, she has been referred to by scholars of the subject as “the unsung hero of children’s literature."

"One of the greatest legacies she left behind is the large collection of papers she gathered and preserved. Throughout her life, Grace Nail Johnson kept a record of newspaper clippings that mentioned herself, her husband, their work, or events significant to the history of Harlem. In 1941 she worked with Carl Van Vechten to create the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of American Negro Arts and Letters at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University. At the time of its creation, the collection was one of the only of its kind. A scrapbook of her brother John E. Nail's work, as well as her own papers, were later added to the collection. Johnson continued to seek out and receive additional pieces of literature from other Harlem authors to add to the collection until her death on November 1, 1976. The collection has been a valuable resource for research on Harlem Renaissance literature and history.

According to her obituary, "Grace Nail Johnson is best known as the wife of poet, essayist, and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson. She was, however, a powerful and influential advocate for social change in her own right. Like her husband, Johnson was committed to encouraging African-American writers and artists and to supporting research in African-American culture." There is a Wikipedia page on her life.^[2]

From Yale bio reprinted on Find-a-Grave: "Grace Nail, the daughter of a wealthy and well-respected New York family, met her future husband when she was a teenager. Fifteen years her senior, James Weldon Johnson was then living in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, as the United States consul; they met when Johnson made a brief visit to New York City. Johnson courted Grace Nail from Puerto Cabello and later from Corinto, Nicaragua, where he became consul in 1908. After they married in New York in 1910, Grace Neil (sic) Johnson joined her husband in Nicaragua. The people of Corinto welcomed Grace Johnson with an unusual gift—a yellow parrot named LuLu. When she returned to the United States, Johnson took the bird with her and she kept the pet for the rest of her life. LuLu, in fact, outlived Johnson by some twenty years.

"When they returned to New York, the Johnson's moved to Harlem, where they became central figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Grace Johnson was one of the most celebrated hostesses of the time, entertaining the African-American political and artistic elite. In addition, Mrs. Johnson worked in support of a number of important civil rights groups, fighting for equal job opportunities for men and women of color, and for equal pay for African-American workers, most of whom then made significantly less than their white counterparts in the same fields. As a result of her valuable work, her high profile, and her generous spirit, Johnson became a mentor to many younger African-American women.

"When James Weldon Johnson was killed in a car accident in 1938, Grace Johnson continued to promote the ideal of social justice to which he had dedicated his life. As a result of her work, many schools, community centers, and housing complexes bear his name."

She passed away in 1976. Burial was in the Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, Kings County (Brooklyn), New York.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ https://aaregistry.org/story/grace-nail-johnson-born/
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Nail_Johnson
3. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 08 March 2021), memorial page for Grace Nail Johnson (1885–1976), Find A Grave: Memorial #33095854, citing Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, Kings County (Brooklyn), New York, USA ; Maintained by Donna (contributor 46910450) .

• https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81409826/grace-n-johnson-91-widow-of-black-lea/

• https://www.harlemworldmagazine.com/harlems-grace-nail-johnson-activist-arts-patron-wife-writer-james-weldon-johnson/

• https://aaregistry.org/story/grace-nail-johnson-born/