Background
Wilson, Margaret Bush was born on January 30, 1919 in St. Louis.
Wilson, Margaret Bush was born on January 30, 1919 in St. Louis.
Wilson completed her undergraduate degree at Talladega College. She graduated with honors in 1940, after studying in India for 6 months, as a recipient of the Juliette Derricotte Memorial Fund for Undergraduate Study in India, which had been established by Sue Bailey Thurman.
Wilson broke many barriers as an African-American woman throughout her professional career. Born in Saint Louis, Missouri, she successfully managed a Saint Louis law firm for over 40 years. Wilson was in the second class of the Lincoln University of Missouri School of Law, which had one other woman enrolled.
She passed the bar and was the second African-American woman admitted to practice in Missouri.
In 1946, Wilson’s father, James T. Bush, a real estate broker, was instrumental in helping the Juris Doctor Shelley family buy a home. The family was later ordered out of the home when the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the racial restrictive covenant governing the property was enforceable.
As a young lawyer, Mistress Wilson was counsel for the Real Estate Brokers Association which was formed at her father"s initiative to take the case to the United States. Supreme Court.
In 1948, the Supreme Court ruled in Shelley v.
Kraemer that such covenants were unenforceable in the courts. In 1954, Wilson celebrated with colleagues and friends when the Brown versus Board of Education decision was handed down.
The next year, her five-year-old son started kindergarten at one of the city’s first integrated schools.
Wilson’s professional experience included serving as United States Attorney for the Rural Electrification Administration of the United States. Department of Agriculture and Assistant Attorney General of Missouri. She was Chair of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People National Board of Directors, having served nine terms in that office.
She was Board Chair of two historically African-American colleges, Saint Augustine"s College and Talladega, and also served on numerous boards for national companies and nonprofit organizations. She was also a trustee-emeritae of Washington University in Saint Louis and Webster University, Wilson was Chair of Law Day 2000 for the American Bar Association.
Member general advisory committee Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, 1978-1981. Trustee emeritus Washington University, St. Louis. Chairman board trustees Talladega College, Alabama, 1988-1992.
National board directors American Red Cross, 1975-1981, United Way, 1978-1984, Police Foundation, 1976-1993. Treasurer National Association for the Advancement of Colored People National Housing Corporation, 1971-1984, chairman national board, 1975-1984. Deputy director/acting director St. Louis Model City Agency, 1968-1969.
Administrator Missouri Commission Service and Continuing Education, 1967-1968. Member American Bar Association (chairman youth education for citizenship 1991-1994, chairman National Law Day 1998-2000), National Bar Association, Missouri Bar Association, Mound City Bar Association, St. Louis Bar Association, Alpha Kappa Alpha.
Married; 1 child, Robert Edmund.