Born: 30 January 1919, United States
Died: 11 August 2009
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Margaret Berenice Bush
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Margaret Bush Wilson (1919–2009), was a cum laude graduate of Talladega College and Lincoln University School of Law. She began her career as counsel for the Real Estate Brokers Association, which her father formed to initiate Shelley v. Kraemer, the case that banned restrictive covenants. She practiced law privately from 1947 to 2009, intermittently serving as Missouri’s assistant attorney general, a public administrator, and professor. In 1958 she became president of the NAACP St. Louis Branch, and in 1962 headed the State Conference. Elected to the NAACP Board in 1963, she became the first black woman to chair it in 1975. During her tenure, Wilson tried to reform management and recruit youth. In 1983 she was involved in an internal dispute with Benjamin Hooks that resulted in her ouster.