Edna Wilson-Mosley

Edna Wilson-Mosley (May 31, 1925 – August 26, 2014) was a prominent politician, civil rights activist, and educator in Denver and Aurora, Colorado. Wilson-Mosley was a civil rights specialist for Colorado's Civil Rights Commission. She was the only Black founder of the Women's Bank of Denver and served on the board of directors. She was married to John Mosley, a highly respected and original Tuskegee Airman.

Biography Early life Edna Wilson was born May 31, 1925, in Helena, Arkansas. Her mother and grandmother were both named Edna, as well as her daughter, and a granddaughter. Her sister-in-law is the mother of Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

During World War II, she worked in the defense industry. They had four children together.

Activism and career In 1954, Wilson-Mosley visited relatives in Helena, Arkansas and on the day they returned to Denver, a white man on the train platform asked them to leave. She refused and spent the night in jail. She told this story as an explanation and inciting incident for her lifelong involvement in racial equity.

Wilson-Mosley was a founder of The Women's Bank, now called Colorado Business Bank. It was ultimately not chosen.

Aurora Public Schools opened the Edna and John W. Mosley P-8 on October 1, 2015.

John and Edna Mosley Scholarship Fund After years of serving the community, friends and community members raised money to present to the Mosley's to allow them to go on vacation abroad to enjoy themselves. The community raised thousands of dollars to honor and show thanks to the Mosley's philanthropy throughout the years. The Mosley's instead had a different plan for this money: they agreed to accept the money raised, if only they could start a scholarship fund with it, instead of a vacation for themselves. This scholarship fund is now the largest and oldest community fund in the entire state of Colorado. Following his death, the Mosley family asked the public to please not send the family flowers, but instead donate a dollar to his scholarship fund to honor one of his life goals to help African American students achieve their full potential in post-secondary education.

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