Mrs. Wilson realized her educational dreams by attending Columbia’s Booker T. Washington and Old Howard schools and earning her teaching credentials from Allen University in 1933.

In 1931, Donella Brown married Reverend John R. Wilson, Sr., an educator and minister. They were the parents of four children.

After Mrs. Wilson’s neighbor George Elmore and the NAACP successfully challenged the all white Democratic primary in 1946, she and her family were among the hundreds who braved heat and long lines to exercise their right to vote in August 1948. She never missed an election in nearly 70 years!!!

A champion of civil rights, Mrs. Wilson was a Life Member of the NAACP, and she maintained membership in the organization since she paid her 25 cents dues when she joined in the 8th grade at Allen University. In the 1950s, when the state of South Carolina forbade public school teachers from being members of the NAACP, Mrs. Wilson refused to drop her membership. She remarked: “Now, they can control my job by not giving me a job, but they can’t control my mind."

Her work lives on! On the corner of Main and Washington Streets, Columbia SC 63 unveiled a wayside marker featuring Mrs. Wilson and others who proudly stood in line to vote in 1948.

Well done, Mrs. Wilson! Our thoughts and prayers are with her wide circle of family, neighbors, friends, and admirers.