Nellie Griswold Francis | MinneHistory

Nellie Griswold Francis was a pioneer of civil rights and civic leadership. As a teen, Francis used theater arts to become a youth leader. She was involved in the beginnings of the civil rights movement and was a leader in the women’s suffrage movement, which won the right to vote for women in 1920. Respected across the country and in St. Paul’s Rondo community, Nellie Griswold Francis is one of MInnesota’s Black pioneers.