To celebrate Black History Month, The Boston Globe published a series of profiles on the living civil rights leaders named on the 1965 Freedom Plaza surrounding the Embrace sculpture on Boston Common.
One such profile is dedicated to the life and legacy of Charlotte Mathews-Nelson, program coordinator for the Center for Law, Equity and Race (CLEAR), and her late husband, former president of Boston’s NAACP chapter, Leon Nelson.
During a life of activism, fighting for educational and economic equity for Black Bostonians, Mathews-Nelson began her career at Northeastern at the graduate school of education, before moving to the university’s Executive Vice President’s office of strategic planning. Her longest posting was at Career and Employment Services.
She arrived at the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, May 5, 2022.
At CRRJ, Mathews-Nelson supports CLEAR Director Dr. Deborah Jackson, and helps CRRJ organize their many conferences, workshops and events. Perhaps most critically, Mathews-Nelson is responsible for many of the vital connections CRRJ has with internal and external organizations and the wider civil rights community.
In honor of this year’s Martin Luther King Day, Northeastern University hosted the annual “A Tribute to the Dream” event on Thursday, January 11, 2024, in which CRRJ’s esteemed colleague and program coordinator…
Charlotte M. Nelson poses for a portrait by City Hall on July 30, 2018. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University Ms. Charlotte Mathews-Nelson, program coordinator for the Center for Law, Equity and Race (CLEAR),…