Willis E. Mollison Explained

Willis Elbert Mollison
Birth Date:	September 15, 1859
Birth Place:	Mayersville, Mississippi, U.S.
Death Date:	May 11, 1924
Death Place:	U.S.
Occupation:	Teacher, newspaper publisher, newspaper editor, politician, banker, businessman, lawyer, public official, civil rights advocate
Children:	Irvin C. Mollison

Willis Elbert Mollison (18591924) was an American teacher, newspaper editor, politician, banker, businessman, lawyer, public official, and civil rights advocate in Mississippi.^{[1] [2] [3]} He was a Republican.

Early life and education

Willis Elbert Mollison was born on September 15, 1859 in Mayersville, Mississippi. Martha née Gibson and Robert Mollison were his parents. He studied at Fisk University's college preparatory school, and Oberlin College (class of 1883).^{[4] [5]}

Career

He wrote a book The Leading Afro-Americans of Vicksburg, Miss., Their Enterprises, Churches, Schools, Lodges and Societies (1908), about prominent African Americans in Vicksburg, Mississippi.^[6]

Mollison was the president of Lincoln Park Land Company, a stockholder in the Lincoln Savings Bank of Vicksburg. He was also the director of the Mound Bayou Oil Mill and Manufacturing Company in Mound Bayou.

Mollison published The Golden Rule a four-page weekly newspaper in Vicksburg, Mississippi.^[7] He was also the owner of the National Star newspaper. He moved to Chicago in 1917.

He died on May 11, 1924.

His son, Irvin C. Mollison also was a lawyer and served as president of the Bar Association of Cook County, Illinois.

Further reading

• Beacon Lights of the Race by Green Polonius Hamilton (1911)
• Entry by Irvin C. Mollison, Journal of Negro History 15, no. 1 (1930)
• Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, 1844–1944 by J. Clay Smith Jr. (1993)

Notes and References

1. Web site: 1915 . Who's Who of the Colored Race: A General Biographical Dictionary of Men and Women of African Descent . 95.
2. Web site: Mollison, W. E. – MS Civil Rights Project.
3. Web site: 2023-07-14 . Vicksburg Facts: Mollison fought for a better Mississippi . https://web.archive.org/web/20231213083441/https://www.vicksburgpost.com/2023/07/14/vicksburg-facts-mollison-fought-for-a-better-mississippi/ . 2023-12-13 . 2023-12-13 . The Vicksburg Post . en.
4. Web site: W.E. Mollison, Vicksburg, Miss. and Scott Bond, Madison, Ark.. https://web.archive.org/web/20220205152922/https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/api/collection/p249901coll37/id/4579/download. 2022-02-05. 2023-08-14.
5. Web site: Burke . W. Lewis . July 11, 2017 . Mollison, W. E. . Mississippi Encyclopedia . Center for Study of Southern Culture.
6. Book: The leading Afro-Americans of Vicksburg, Miss., their enterprises, churches, schools, lodges and societies;. Library of Congress, Washington DC. 1908. Biographia publishing co .
7. Web site: The Golden Rule (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1898-19?? . 2022-02-05 . Library of Congress.