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Obituary
Jeanetta Welch Brown, activist
Strong black woman founded area job corps, dedicated life to service
By Marilyn Miller
Beacon Journal staff writer
Jeanetta Welch Brown dedicated her life to community service.

At age 95 she was still going strong serving on the Women's Board of Juvenile Court, the Urban League, United Way and Akron's Area Agency on Aging. She was also a member of Akron's St. Philip's Episcopal Church.

``She was quite impressive; there weren't many black women doing the things she was doing back in the '40s,'' said longtime friend Leona Farris. ``She was very warm and friendly and always willing to help someone else.''

Mrs. Brown died of pneumonia Aug. 22 at Rockynol Retirement Community, where she had lived since 2003.

``She was a dynamic bundle of energy. She was charming, beautiful, intelligent and very creative. A true lady,'' said Michelle Ellis, who considered Mrs. Brown a mother figure.

``She also had a way of engaging you in conversation that you always wanted to visit her again and again.''

Mrs. Brown was born in Greenville, Ala. Her family moved to Atlanta when she was in grade school. She graduated from high school in Atlanta and attended Tennessee State A&I College, where she earned a bachelor's degree in business administration.

She started her career in Detroit. She was the first black secretary for the Michigan Liquor Control Commission, then became a columnist and editor for the Michigan Chronicle.

She married Army Sgt. Milton Brown in 1943.

She had completed two years of law school when her husband was transferred to Washington.

She got a job in Washington as a lobbyist for Alpha Kappa Alpha, a sorority she joined while in college. Her job was to lobby members of Congress to vote for projects the sorority was supporting, including civil rights and health legislation for blacks. It was then that she met the late Mary McLeod Bethune, founder of the National Council of Negro Women.

In 1943, Mrs. Brown became the first paid executive director of the council, serving until 1945. She served a second term from 1948 to 1952.

In 1945 Mrs. Brown became the first African-American woman to be nominated for the Michigan Legislature, but she lost the election.

While director of the National Council of Women, she organized the National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers. She started NAFAD because there were not many opportunities available to African-Americans to showcase their talents in the fashion industry.

During her lifetime she met many notable leaders, including Coretta Scott King, Eleanor Roosevelt and Lady Bird Johnson. She was personally invited to the White House by Mrs. Roosevelt and maintained a friendship with her for years.

Mrs. Brown and her husband later moved to New York. She tried to be a homemaker but turned again to the work force and became a buyer, then a caseworker for New York City. In 1960 the couple divorced.

She moved to Cleveland in 1965 to head the Job Corps Center. After retiring in 1978, she moved to Akron to take care of her ailing mother. Her commitment to education inspired her to pursue a multimillion-dollar U.S. Department of Labor grant to establish the Cleveland branch of Job Corps. The program has expanded to provide education for hundreds of high school dropouts.

The Jeanetta Welch Brown Scholarship was established in 1994 to benefit a Job Corps participant. It was started by the Zeta Theta Omega Alumnae Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.