Wilmington celebrates the life of civil rights leader Bertha Todd

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY-TV) – Longtime educator and civil rights activist Bertha Boykin Todd died two weeks ago at the age of 96.

Her celebration of life was on Tuesday at the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Wilmington. Todd served on an advisory board to former Governor James Hunt early in his administration.

She was also the first librarian at Wilmington’s only Black school, Williston.

She helped many students, such as Reverend Kojo Nantambu, through the challenges that came when a federal judge ruled New Hanover County Schools would have to desegregate in 1968 which closed Williston.

“We all admired her and adored her because she was like a big sister and at the same time she was strong and firm like her mother and we knew that she would look out for us,” Nantambu said.

Todd played a key role in the effort to commute the sentences of the “Wilmington Ten” a group of student activists who were wrongfully convicted for arson and conspiracy during school desegregation.

She was also remembered for bringing the history of the 1898 massacre to light in the 1990s. On top of her many accolades, she served 75 years in the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. Chapter president, Onya Gardner, said Todd’s leadership will be lasting.

“Legacy, legend, sisterhood service advocate those are just a few words that I could use to describe her but for me personally, a mentor,” Gardner said.

Some of Todd’s honors include The National Organization for Women’s Susan B. Anthony Award, the Order of the Long Leaf Pine and YWCA Lifetime Achievement Award.