A few weeks ago, I met a hero. She’s coming to Harvard next week, and I hope many will have a chance to meet her. Juanita Nelson is an activist and tax resister. Why is she a hero? I think she is the most aligned person I have ever known, living her life in complete congruence with her beliefs and values. Hers is not the heroism of giving a life at the moment of peril; rather it is the heroism of giving her life every minute, every day, every year, dedicated to her beliefs.

Juanita was first arrested in 1942 at age 19 while a student at Howard University. She sat at a lunch counter with two friends and ordered hot chocolate. They were finally served, then arrested when they paid the posted, rather than an inflated, price.

Juanita Nelson and Erhardt Muller share lunch in Juanita's kitchen. (Photo by Worth Robbins)

She is the author of A Matter of Freedom and Other Writings; she joined the group Peacemakers in 1948 shortly after the founding conference; basic tenets of the pacifist group are nonpayment of war taxes and nonregistration for the draft.

She met her husband, Wally Nelson, when she was working as a journalist and interviewed him in jail. He had been arrested for walking out of a civilian public service camp for conscientious objectors. Wally participated in the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation, which is now known as the first Freedom Ride. Sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, this racially integrated group of 16 men traveled the upper South testing the Irene Morgan decision in which the Supreme Court banned segregation of interstate travel.

In 1948, Juanita began living with Wally, who had been released from prison after serving 33 months. They made a firm decision to refuse to pay taxes for war and military preparations, which meant from that point on they only did work for which they could be paid with no federal tax withheld.

During the 1950s and ’60s, Juanita and Wally continued to resist violence, war taxes, and segregation, with occasional arrests for their trouble. In 1970, they moved to Ojo Caliente, a small village in northern New Mexico, as an expression of the desire to be less involved in the economic milieu which spawns war, to try to live a more integrated life. They rented an adobe for $10 a month, learned to heat and cook with wood, to garden, can, and make soap. They hit upon the idea of selling surplus vegetables for cash income.

In 1974 they moved to Woolman Hill, a Quaker conference center in Deerfield, where they have free lifetime use of a small plot of land they named the Bean Patch. They built a house with no electricity or running water. They used wood from the land as their only fuel, and were granted a permit to build an outhouse. As a small concession to Wally’s failing vision, they installed two gas lamps to read by, but that is their only use of outside energy. Wally died five years ago at age 93; Juanita continues to live simply in the home they built, gardening for her livelihood.

A few months ago, Erhart Muller, a longtime friend and Shaker Road resident, gave me an essay written by Juanita in 1980 and published in the Massachusetts Farm Bulletin. It was part of a series of prize-winning essays on the theme “How to earn $1,000 or more on one acre or less.” After I read it, Erhart mentioned that he had contacted Juanita at that time, and he and his wife, Ruth, traveled to Deerfield for a visit. It had been a pleasant day, and they exchanged a few letters, but there had been no further contact.

On a whim, I googled “Juanita Nelson” and began to learn of her remarkable life. One of the hits was a recording of a speech she gave last year, so I knew she was still in the area. I tracked her down and asked if she would be willing for us to come visit, and she said yes. The day before Town Meeting, Erhart and I drove to Deerfield and spent two hours in Juanita’s kitchen in lively conversation. She warmed some roasted vegetables on the wood-fired cookstove, and we ate and talked. Before we left, I asked if she might come to Harvard so that others could get to know her. She said she would prefer to come by bus, rather than someone wasting the gas by driving to get her, but if we could arrange that, she would come.

I never met Wally, but a story attributed to him perhaps captures their motivation. After release from prison, he visited a former Sunday school teacher. The man expressed surprise that Wally, an outstanding youth leader, had ended up in prison. Wally replied, “I hold you partly responsible. You taught me the Bible passages, ‘Thou shalt not kill’ and ‘Love thy neighbor.’ Perhaps the problem is that I really believed what you taught me.”

To learn more about this remarkable woman, just google “Juanita Nelson” and see where it takes you.

Juanita will be in town Friday, June 8, and Saturday morning, June 9. Her visit is sponsored by Harvard Local. Friday evening’s discussion in the Hapgood Room in the old library will focus on sustainable local food production. Other details of her visit are being developed.

Worth Robbins is one of four publishers of the Harvard Press.