Grace Nail Johnson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Grace Nail Johnson
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Grace Johnson bridal photo, Panama 1910
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Grace Elizabeth Nail
February 27, 1885 New London, Connecticut, U.S.
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| Died | November 1, 1976 (aged 91) New York City, U.S.
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| Burial place | Green-Wood Cemetery, New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Activist, hostess, patron |
| Era | Harlem Renaissance (1891–1938) |
| Spouse(s) | James Weldon Johnson |
Grace Nail Johnson (February 27, 1885 – November 1, 1976) was an important African-American activist. She worked for civil rights and supported the arts. She was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, a time when Black art and culture thrived. Grace was married to the famous writer and politician James Weldon Johnson.
Grace's father, John Bennett Nail, was a rich businessman and civil rights supporter. Grace herself was known for her work with groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She also supported and helped promote books for African-American children.
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Grace's Early Life and Family
Grace Elizabeth Nail was born on February 27, 1885, in New London, Connecticut. She was the second child of John Bennett Nail and Mary Frances Robinson. Her father was a successful real estate developer. By the time Grace was born, her family was well-known among New York City's African-American leaders. Even though they were active in Harlem, Grace grew up in Brooklyn.
The Nail family started their business with restaurants and hotels. They had "Nail Brothers" in New York City and "The Shakespeare House" in Washington D.C. Later, they invested in real estate. Their investments in Harlem real estate did very well. They owned several apartment buildings there. The Nails helped many African-Americans move to Harlem. These new residents helped start the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s.
The Nails used their money to support artists and civil rights activists. John Bennett Nail was one of the first members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He was even named the organization's first "Life Member." The Nail family also met with important thinkers and artists. These included famous people like Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington. When John Bennett Nail passed away in 1942, his real estate went to Grace's older brother, John E. Nail.
Her brother, John E. Nail, continued the family's real estate business. He also became the head of the NAACP's Harlem Branch. Grace followed her parents' example. She became one of the most important supporters and hosts of the Harlem Renaissance.
Grace's Work and Activism
Grace Nail Johnson was a big part of the Harlem Renaissance. She hosted events, mentored people, and worked as an activist for civil rights. She was famous for bringing together important African-American politicians and artists. She also organized events that featured popular Harlem artists.
Grace worked with many important groups. These included the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Anti-Lynching Crusaders, and the Circle for Negro Relief. She also helped start the NAACP Junior's League in 1929.
Grace's activism wasn't just in Harlem. She was the only Black member of a women's group called the Heterodoxy Club. This club was in Greenwich Village and focused on liberal ideas and women's rights. In a 1920 photo of the club members, Grace wore a white shirt and tie, just like her fellow members. She was one of the few Harlem leaders involved in such groups before World War I. This made her a key part of the early Harlem Renaissance.
Grace and her husband, James Weldon Johnson, worked hard to stop lynching. On July 17, 1917, they marched in the Negro Silent Protest Parade in New York City. This parade was held to protest violence against Black people.
Grace also got involved in politics outside of New York. In 1932, she traveled through Southern states with novelist Nella Larsen. They pretended to be white at a restaurant in Tennessee as a way to protest unfair rules. Her continued activism led to a special meeting in 1941. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt invited Grace, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Numa P. G. Adams to the White House. They talked about race issues in the country.
Later, during World War II, Grace publicly left the New York committee of the American Women's Voluntary Services. She resigned because of unfair treatment she and other African-Americans faced in their work. She wrote to the organization, saying they only let Black people join to look good. A year later, she spoke on an NBC radio show about equal pay. She said, "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."
Grace was also part of a group of Harlem women who helped create children's books by Black authors. Her parents had supported artists, and her husband was a writer. Even after her husband passed away, Grace continued to join discussions about Harlem literature. She was part of a group that focused on children's stories. This group included Langston Hughes, Ellen Tarry, and Charlemae Hill Rollins.
Grace often had different ideas from the younger members of the group. For example, she loved the children's book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. The others in the group criticized it, saying it didn't show a young African-American boy well. But Grace wrote that the book "fits the time" and that "James Weldon Johnson would have loved The Snowy Day." Her defense of the book was special because many people in Harlem newspapers were criticizing it.
Grace's Personal Life
Grace Elizabeth Nail first met her future husband, James Weldon Johnson, in New York in 1904. They met at a theater show and found they both loved art and helping others. James Weldon Johnson later wrote to her while he was working as a United States consul in Venezuela and Nicaragua. After years of letters, they got engaged in 1909. They married on February 3, 1910, at the Nail family home in Brooklyn.
The couple then moved to Corinto, Nicaragua, where they lived for the first few years of their marriage. Grace learned Spanish and French to help with her new diplomatic life. In 1912, she returned to New York to work with publishers. She helped get her husband's writings published while he stayed in Nicaragua.
After James Weldon Johnson's work as a consul ended, they moved back to New York City. Both became very involved in the Harlem Renaissance. Their home was at 187 West 135th Street in Manhattan. While they spent most of their time in New York, they enjoyed summers at their home in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
When the Nail family faced financial difficulties, James Weldon Johnson's work in the Harlem Renaissance and civil rights helped them. It was partly because of him that Grace's father, John Bennett Nail, became the NAACP's first "Life Member." In 1933, the Nails' real estate business went bankrupt. Grace was less affected because her husband continued to find work as a writer.
The Johnsons were different from some other Harlem activists. They also joined social clubs in Greenwich Village in the 1920s. James Weldon Johnson called a part of Manhattan the center for "colored bohemians." Grace used these connections to join women's rights groups like Heterodoxy.
On June 26, 1938, Grace was badly hurt in a car accident in Wiscasset, Maine. A train hit their car, and her husband passed away. More than 2,500 friends and supporters attended his funeral. They had been married for 28 years and did not have children. Ollie Jewel Sims Okala, who Grace mentored, became her close companion for many years after her husband's death.
Ollie Okala first met the Johnsons when she was a nurse. Grace and Ollie quickly became good friends. When Ollie moved to New York, the Johnsons helped her find a job. Ollie Okala became like a student or mentee to Grace. In their later years, they lived together.
Grace Nail Johnson passed away at her home on November 1, 1976, at age 91. Her ashes were buried with her husband's in the Nail family plot at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. She named Ollie Okala as the person to manage her estate. Ollie continued to live in the Harlem apartment she shared with Grace until her own death in 2001. As a final sign of their friendship, Ollie's ashes were also buried in the Nail plot at Greenwood.
Grace's Lasting Impact
Throughout her life, Grace Nail Johnson worked to support and promote the Harlem Renaissance. We don't know the full extent of her work in children's literature, but experts have called her "the unsung hero of children's literature."
One of her greatest gifts to history is the large collection of papers she saved. Grace kept newspaper clippings about herself, her husband, their work, and important events in Harlem. In 1941, she worked with Carl Van Vechten to create the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of American Negro Arts and Letters. This collection is at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. When it was created, it was one of the only collections of its kind.
Grace later added a scrapbook of her brother John E. Nail's work and her own papers to the collection. She continued to find and add writings from other Harlem authors until she passed away in 1976. This collection has been a very important resource for people studying the Harlem Renaissance.
