{{short description|American university educator and activist}} {{Use American English|date=March 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Edna Meade Colson | image = Photo_of_Edna_Meade_Colson.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1888|10|7|mf=y}} | birth_place = Petersburg, Virginia, US | death_date = {{death date and age|1985|1|17|1888|10|7|mf=y}} | death_place = Colonial Heights, Virginia, US | education = Fisk University, Columbia University | other_names = | occupation = Educator | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | partner = Amaza Lee Meredith | relatives = Myra Colson Callis (sister)<br>Henry Arthur Callis (brother-in-law) }} '''Edna Meade Colson''' (October 7, 1888 – January 17, 1985)<ref name=DVB/> was an American educator, known for her contributions to improving access to education to Virginian African Americans.<ref name=LVA>{{cite web|title=Edna Meade Colson (October 7, 1888–January 17, 1985)|url=http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/trailblazers/2008/index.htm?id=4|website=Library of Virginia|accessdate= September 16, 2017}}</ref>
==Biography== Edna Meade Colson was born on October 7, 1888, in Petersburg, Virginia. She was the oldest of five children of prominent educators, James Major Colson and Kate Deaver Hill Colson.
She received her B.A. from Fisk University in 1915 and received a Ph.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1940.<ref name=LVA/> She and her sister Myra Colson Callis both spoke at the 1915 commencement ceremony at Fisk.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1915-06-07 |title=Dr. Brown Preaches to Fisk Students |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tennessean-dr-brown-preaches-to-fis/125620789/ |access-date=2025-02-02 |work=The Tennessean |pages=10 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
After overcoming her own obstacles to higher education, she became a champion of making graduate education available to African Americans. In 1937, Colson chaired the committee to implement the program offering graduate courses to African Americans at Virginia State University.
Colson was also politically active beyond education. She was among the first women to register to vote after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, and she was the first African-American woman to become a lifetime member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Colson lived with her partner Amaza Lee Meredith. They occupied the house in Chesterfield County, Virginia, named "Azurest South", which was designed by Meredith.<ref>{{cite web|last1=|title=Azurest South|url=http://www.aahistoricsitesva.org/items/show/30?tour=13&index=1|website=Virginia Foundation for the Humanities|accessdate= September 16, 2017}}</ref>
Colson retired from Virginia State University (then Virginia State College) in 1953.<ref name=LVA/> She died at the age of 96 in a Colonial Heights nursing home on January 17, 1985, and was buried at Eastview Cemetery, Petersburg City, Virginia.<ref name="DVB">{{cite web|title=Edna Meade Colson (7 October 1888–17 January 1985)|url=http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/dvb/bio.asp?b=Colson_Edna_Meade|website=Dictionary of Virginia Biography|accessdate= September 16, 2017}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *Fairclough, Adam. ''A Class of Their Own: Black Teachers in the Segregated South.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England: Harvard University Press, 2007. {{ISBN|9780674023079}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Colson, Edna Meade}} Category:African-American educators Category:African-American women educators Category:Virginia State University faculty Category:1985 deaths Category:1888 births Category:People from Petersburg, Virginia Category:Educators from Virginia Category:LGBTQ people from Virginia Category:African-American LGBTQ people Category:20th-century African-American people Category:20th-century African-American women Category:20th-century American women academics