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Mary Nelson Wilburn
A young dark-skinned woman with dark hair cut in a short bob with bangs, wearing a dark turtleneck
Mary Nelson, later Wilburn, from the 1952 Howard University yearbook
BornFebruary 18, 1932
Baltimore MD
DiedMarch 16, 2021 (aged 89)
Washington, D.C.
Occupation(s)Lawyer, state official
Known forPresident of FIDA

Mary E. Nelson Wilburn (1932 – March 16, 2021) was an American lawyer and government official. She also taught German at Howard University, was chair of the Wisconsin Parole Board from 1986 to 1987, and was president of the International Federation of Women Lawyers from 2000 to 2002.

Early life and education

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Mary E. Nelson was from Washington, D.C.;[1] she was a childhood friend of television producer Ellis Haizlip.[2] She graduated from Howard University in 1952, where she was president of the Howard Players[3] and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha. At Howard she acted in plays with fellow students Toni Morrison and Roxie Roker.[4][5] She earned a master's degree in German at the University of Wisconsin in 1955. In 1975, earned a JD at the University of Wisconsin Law School.[1]

Her sister Elizabeth Nelson Ausbrooks, who also graduated from Howard University in 1952, became a political science professor at the University of the District of Columbia.[6]

Career

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Nelson appeared in Mamba's Daughters with Roxie Roker, while on tour in Scandinavia and Germany with the Howard Players.[7] She taught German at Howard University from 1962 to 1964.[8] She lived in Nigeria,[9] Venezuela, France, and Guyana with her husband, a UNESCO official, in the 1960s.[1][10]

Wilburn moved to Wisconsin with her husband in 1973,[11] and served on the school board in Madison, Wisconsin from 1975 to 1977.[12][13] She was the second Black woman to serve on the Madison school board.[14] She was also a supervising attorney attached to the University of Wisconsin Law School's legal assistance program for institutionalized clients. From 1977 to 1982, she was based in Washington, D.C., working for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.[15] Her 1979 report with Gwynne Sizer, "Family Problems Related to the Female Offender", was part of congressional hearings on women in federal prisons.[16]

Wilburn was the keynote speaker at Madison's NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet in 1980.[17] In 1986, she was appointed head of the Wisconsin Parole Board.[15][18] "It's a job in which you make decisions about people's lives," she explained, "but not just about the lives of the people whose parole application you're considering. There's the rest of the people who have to receive this person into the community where they live."[19] She resigned in 1987, to move back to Washington.[20]

Wilburn was president of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) from 2000 to 2002.[21]

Personal life

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Mary Nelson married foreign service officer Adolph Yarbrough Wilburn in 1957. They had two sons, Adolph and Jason.[22][23] They lived in the "Lunar House" in Madison, a home built in 1969, with materials chosen resembling Moon rocks and space capsule surfaces.[24] She died in March 2021, aged 89 years, in Washington, D.C. Her funeral service was held at St. Augustine Catholic Church, and her gravesite is in Laurel, Maryland.[25]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Haslanger, Phil (1975-05-24). "Wilburn Views Her Legal Training as School Board Asset". The Capital Times. p. 15. Retrieved 2022-01-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Hay, Carla (September 17, 2020). "Review: 'Mr. Soul!,' starring Harold C. Haizlip, Alvin Poussaint, Harry Belafonte, Loretta Long, Nikki Giovanni, Christopher Lukas and Gayle Wald". Culture Mix. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  3. ^ Howard University, The Bison (1952 yearbook).
  4. ^ Whitmore, Michael (2015-02-04). "Shakespeare in Black and White". Folger Shakespeare Library. Retrieved 2022-01-09.
  5. ^ Verdelle, A. J. "Looking Shakespeare in the Face: An Interview with Toni Morrison's Howard University Friends, Florence Ladd and Mary Wilburn" in Carmen Gillespie, ed. Toni Morrison: Forty Years in the Clearing (Rowman & Littlefield) : 155-172.
  6. ^ Gardner, Michael R. (2002). Harry Truman and Civil Rights. SIU Press. p. 203. ISBN 978-0-8093-8896-7.
  7. ^ Cooke, Anne (March–April 1950). "The Wild Duck Comes Home". The Record. 6: 8.
  8. ^ Verdelle, A. J. "Looking Shakespeare in the Face: An Interview with Toni Morrison's Howard University Friends, Florence Ladd and Mary Wilburn" in Carmen Gillespie, ed. Toni Morrison: Forty Years in the Clearing (Rowman & Littlefield) : 155-172.
  9. ^ United States Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (1961). International Educational, Cultural and Related Activities for African Countries South of the Sahara. The Bureau. p. 228.
  10. ^ Simmons, Art (September 4, 1969). "Paris Scratchpad". Jet: 33.
  11. ^ "Wilburn to Leave UW for D.C. Post". The Capital Times. 1976-08-13. p. 25. Retrieved 2022-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Wilburn is a Good Choice". The Capital Times. 1975-05-30. p. 42. Retrieved 2022-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Salute to Mary Wilburn". The Capital Times. 1977-05-17. p. 36. Retrieved 2022-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Dahmer, David (December 13, 2018). ""It's time to be bold:" Ananda Mirilli and Ali Muldrow Embark on Joint Campaign for School Board". Madison365. Retrieved 2022-01-09.
  15. ^ a b "Mary Wilburn to head parole board". The Capital Times. 1986-01-13. p. 21. Retrieved 2022-01-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ United States Congress House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts Civil Liberties and the Administration of Justice (1981). The Female Offender--1979-80: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Courts, Civil Liberties, and the Administration of Justice of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, First Session, on the Female Offender--1979-80, October 10 and 11, 1979. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 215–217.
  17. ^ McGlothren, Victoria (1980-10-18). "Blacks have to create own images, 500 at dinner told". Wisconsin State Journal. p. 23. Retrieved 2022-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Clark, Anita (1986-04-20). "Chairwoman clears air over Parole Board's role". Wisconsin State Journal. p. 7. Retrieved 2022-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Zaleski, Rob (1987-06-01). "Parole Board chief relishes low profile". The Capital Times. p. 17. Retrieved 2022-01-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ Kleinhuizen, Jeff (1987-08-20). "Parole board leader resigns". The Oshkosh Northwestern. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-01-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "List of Presidents and Conventions by Countries since 1960" FIDA.
  22. ^ "Anniversaries". Wisconsin State Journal. 2007-07-08. p. 128. Retrieved 2022-01-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ Who's who among Black Americans. Northbrook, Ill. : Who's Who among Black Americans Pub. Co. 1981. p. 850. ISBN 978-0-915130-33-7 – via Internet Archive.
  24. ^ Gawenda, Gail (1989-06-11). "Madison's 1969 'lunar house' has held up well". Wisconsin State Journal. p. 232. Retrieved 2022-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "Mary N. Wilburn" Washington Post (March 21, 2021). via Legacy.com
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