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A proposal from two Aurora City Council members would honor Edna Wilson-Mosley, Aurora’s first Black council member and a trailblazer in several areas who died in 2014, by renaming Aurora’s Central Library as the Edna Wilson-Mosley Central Library. Community members are invited to share their thoughts at two public forums or online.
“We are excited to respond to community requests that we fully honor Councilwoman Wilson-Mosley’s contributions to our city and the state,” said Mayor Pro Tem Alison Coombs, one of the sponsors of the renaming initiative. “Edna championed issues that still matter deeply in Aurora, and we want to ensure her legacy lives on.”
Per a 1993 city resolution, the renaming of a city facility is a process conducted by the city’s Historic Preservation Commission. The city’s historic preservation specialist and liaison to the commission will provide a presentation on the life and merits of Wilson-Mosley at the two public meetings, where members of Wilson-Mosley’s family are invited to attend. The commission will meet in September to review the request and make a formal recommendation for City Council final action. If approved, the name change would be adopted by resolution.
The two community meetings for public input will take place at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 15, at Central Library, 14949 E. Alameda Parkway; and at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 25, virtually. The login information will be provided at EngageAurora.org/Renaming.
During the month of August, community members can also learn more about the contributions of Wilson-Mosley and share their thoughts at EngageAurora.org/Renaming.
“With the naming of the library after Wilson-Mosley, we want to make sure people in Aurora and beyond know her story,” added Ward I Council Member Gianina Horton, second sponsor of the initiative. “Edna is not just an example to me as an elected official but to every person. And what better place than our main public library to be named after such an important figure in Aurora; Edna was a strong literacy supporter.”
Edna Wilson-Mosley (born 1925 in Helena, Arkansas) was a pioneering civic leader who worked in the World War II defense industry, became deeply involved in civil rights and women’s advocacy alongside her husband, Tuskegee Airman John Mosley, and made history in Aurora after moving here in 1965. She co-founded the Women’s Bank in 1978 to expand financial access for women, served on more than 40 boards, became Aurora’s first Black City Council member in 1991, and earned major honors, including induction into the Colorado Black Hall of Fame and the Aurora Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame. In 2015, Aurora Public Schools recognized her and her husband by naming a new school after them.