# Edna Meade Colson

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{{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](/source/Petersburg%2C_Virginia), US
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1985|1|17|1888|10|7|mf=y}}
| death_place        = [Colonial Heights](/source/Colonial_Heights%2C_Virginia), Virginia, US
| education          = [Fisk University](/source/Fisk_University), [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University)
| other_names        = 
| occupation         = [Educator](/source/Educator)
| years_active       = 
| known_for          = 
| notable_works      = 
| partner            = [Amaza Lee Meredith](/source/Amaza_Lee_Meredith)
| relatives          = [Myra Colson Callis](/source/Myra_Colson_Callis) (sister)<br>[Henry Arthur Callis](/source/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](/source/Petersburg%2C_Virginia), [Virginia](/source/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](/source/Fisk_University) in 1915 and received a Ph.D. from Teachers College, [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University) in 1940.<ref name=LVA/> She and her sister [Myra Colson Callis](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Nineteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution), and she was the first African-American woman to become a lifetime member of the [National Association for the Advancement of Colored People](/source/National_Association_for_the_Advancement_of_Colored_People).

Colson lived with her partner [Amaza Lee Meredith](/source/Amaza_Lee_Meredith). They occupied the house in [Chesterfield County, Virginia](/source/Chesterfield_County%2C_Virginia), named "[Azurest South](/source/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](/source/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}}

{{authority control}}

{{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

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Edna Meade Colson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edna_Meade_Colson) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edna_Meade_Colson?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.