Juanita Nelson (1923–2015)
From War No More: Three Centuries of American Antiwar & Peace Writing
“Why am I going to jail? Why am I going to jail in a bathrobe?”
Juanita Nelson, a legendary figure in civil rights and peace activist movements for six decades, famously lived “off the grid” on a self-sufficient farm, with no electricity and running water, until her death last year. In 1959 she was arrested for unpaid taxes and penalties, allegedly owed for a part-time job she had worked several years earlier. The case was ultimately thrown out, since the IRS was unable to prove she owed any taxes at all, but in this Story of the Week selection, with her characteristic sense of humor, she recalls her arrest by seven law enforcement offers at 6:30 in the morning.
