Uncrowned Community Builders

Alberta F. O'Leary Nelson was a native of Jacksonville, Illinois. Little is known about Alberta's early life or her family. The 1910 census has her listed as a servant in the household of brothers, Julius, aged 74 and David, aged 67, Strawn. There was another servant in the household, a 40 year old black female. The Strawn brothers were white.

Alberta attended and graduated from Wilberforce University in 1911. She taught in East St. Louis, Illinois for nine years before marrying a college classmate. Alberta and Dr. Ezekiel E. Nelson married on June 26, 1920 in Chicago, Illinois. The couple moved to Buffalo, New York which they made their home for the remainder of their lives.

Mrs. Nelson did not resume her teaching career in Buffalo. However, she was a staunch supporter and worker with her husband in the self-help movement he initiated. Dr. Nelson and other community members established the Buffalo Cooperative Economic Society . This organization existed for over three decades. More information about the BCE can be obtained from Dr. Nelson's biography which is also on this site.

Upon her death, at the age of 103, Mrs. Nelson was described as "a pillar of the Bethel AME Church for more than 70 years and an influential member of the Buffalo African-American community." She is buried in St. Matthew's Cemetery, West Seneca, New York.