Renaming of Central Library

Edna Wilson-Mosley was Aurora’s first Black council member and a champion in areas of social justice, veteran’s affairs, affordable housing and education, among many things.

After conversations with her surviving family, members of the Aurora City Council would like to honor such a trailblazer by renaming Aurora’s central library as the Edna Wilson-Mosley Central Library.

Join a community meeting to learn more and share your opinion. Choose from

• Saturday, Aug. 15, 10:30 a.m., Central Library, 14949 E. Alameda Parkway
• Tuesday, Aug. 25, 6:30 p.m., Virtual. Link to meeting to be published here.

You can also learn more about the contributions of Mrs. Wilson-Mosley and share your thoughts on this page from Aug. 1 to 31.

Edna Wilson-Mosley: Equity advocate, community builder, trailblazing City Councilor

Edna Wilson-Mosley, was born in 1925 in Helena, Arkansas, to Edna Ames Wilson and Judge Leon Wilson, Sr. She graduated from Denver’s Manual High School and attended the University of Northern Colorado. During World War II Edna worked in the defense industry. Following the war, she married John Mosley, a retired Tuskegee Airman, and returned to Denver where he was a master’s candidate at University of Denver. Both remained active in civil rights, education and women’s issues.

• Edna and John moved to Aurora in 1965, when he was transferred to Lowry Air Force Base. Edna graduated from Metropolitan State, as a part of its first Bachelorette program in 1969.
• Mrs. Wilson-Mosley was a lifetime member of the NAACP and active with the Denver Sister Cities International. She worked for the Urban League of Metropolitan Denver, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, and as director of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action for the University of Denver.
• In 1991, she was the first Black woman on the Aurora City Council and became a champion for issues like civil rights, gender equality, veteran’s affairs, affordable housing and education.
• In 1978, she was a co-founder of the Women’s Bank (Now Colorado Business Bank), to provide women equal access to financial services. All told, she served as chair or member of more than forty city committees or boards, including the Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority and the Aurora Economic Development Council.
• Mrs. Wilson-Mosley received Denver Urban Spectrum’s 25 Timeless Legends Award, and the Aurora Chamber of Commerce Woman of the Year award for her work. In 2000 she was one of the Aurora Women Sculptors of our Community and in 2004, she received an honorary doctorate from Colorado State University.
• In 2002, in recognition of their many years of service to our community, John and Edna’s friends organized a thank you party and raised money to send them on a trip abroad. The Mosley’s agreed to accept the money only if the funds could be used towards the creation of a scholarship fund. This money, now managed by the Denver Foundation has been used to send minority students with leadership potential to college.
• Edna Wilson Mosley died on August 26, 2014. The Aurora Public Schools Board named a new school after Edna and John W. Mosley in 2015.
• Mrs. Wilson-Mosley was inducted into the Colorado Black Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Aurora Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 2015.
• Currently, Edna Wilson-Mosley is highlighted in the Aurora History Museum’s new exhibition, “Proclaiming Colorado’s Black History: Aurora,” which runs through Nov. 7. Learn more at AuroraMuseum.org.