Bernice Napper — Norwalk’s forgotten Civil Rights advocate — left ‘inspirational’ mark
A dinner scene at Alver Napper's house around 1945.
Historical Society of GreenwichNORWALK — During the Civil Rights era, one Black couple was known in the Fairfield County area for their activism, though history has remembered the two in different ways.
Bernice and Alver Napper were prolific politicians and business people, integrating local businesses and working for the betterment of Black people in Southern Connecticut.
Alver is remembered for his work with the Lee Haven Beach Club in Greenwich, one of the few places in the area Black people could enjoy the Long Island Sound in the 1940s and ‘50s, before the Civil Rights Movement.
Bernice Napper, an artist and activist in her own right, is missing in the history of many of the realms she once dominated. Bernice Napper’s overlooking extends as far as the spelling of her name, which changes from Bernice to Berenice.
Napper’s obituary spells her name Bernice Norwood Napper, while other publications, including a New York Times article referencing a political campaign of Napper’s from 1970, spells her name Berenice. The spellings that remain consistent are her maiden and married last names, Norwood and Napper, respectively.
Napper died in 2009 at the age of 92 at a nursing home in Waterford, leaving behind two children she had with Alver Napper: Patricia Napper Knudsen and Alver Woodward Napper Jr. Neither Patricia nor Alver Jr. could be reached for comment.
Also living at the time of Napper’s death were her youngest sister, Eleanora Clarke along with three nieces and various grandchildren.
Napper was one in a family of six children, according to The Berenice Napper Collection at Texas A&M University library.
Born in Stratford, Napper was raised in South Norwalk and graduated from Norwalk High School in 1934.
A gifted singer, Napper attended the Historically Black College and University, Howard University School of Music in Washington. Napper graduated Howard where she majored in music and voice.
However, Napper’s memory is once again blurred as her obituary lists her college graduation year as 1938, while the collection at Texas A&M said she graduated in 1940. Napper also served as the assistant to the Dean of Women, a now defunct position, at Howard, according to the Berenice Napper collection. Howard University School of Music did not respond to a request for comment.
While at Howard, Napper — still under her maiden name of Norwood — became a charter member of the university’s chapter of the Sigma Gamma sorority, according to a school record.
“Our own chapter, Alpha Phi, was begun on the campus of Howard University in April, 1939,” the document reads. “Bernice Norwood was the first president and the charter members were: Bernice Chapelle, Dorothy Jackson, Helen Biscoe, Mary Borican, Georgia Morris, Helen Plater and Bernice Norwood.”
After graduating from Howard, Napper lived in Riverside, where she performed vocal concerts throughout the state and Washington, according to her obituary.
Aside from her musical talents, Napper may be best remembered for her political activism in the Connecticut Republican Party.
In 1970, Napper was one of five Republicans who ran for Senate. Napper was described by the New York Times as a Greenwich resident and Norwalk public relations firm owner. In April 1970, she was quoted saying, “I’m going to win it.” By June, she was “given little chance of winning,” according to the New York Times.
Napper’s candidacy itself was groundbreaking, Connecticut GOP Chairman Ben Proto said.
“While I didn't know Bernice personally, her story is an inspirational one. At a time when women, let alone African American women, were not necessarily seen as a political force, Bernice stepped up and put her name on the ballot,” Proto said. “She presented her ideas and vision to voters and, although she was not successful, she showed other women, of all races, creeds and colors, that their voices were not only important, but could and would be heard, and they could make a difference.”
Napper was heavily involved in the southern Connecticut and New York communities, but many of the institutions where she once spent time are no longer operating.
She was executive director of Negro activities of the Greenwich Board of Recreation and a playground supervisor for the South Norwalk Board of Education, according to the Berenice Napper collection. Neither position exists today.
Napper was the first director at the Crispus Attucks Community Center in Greenwich and was active in the Greenwich Planned Parenthood Association. The Attucks Community Center closed around 1959, according to the Greenwich Library records, and the nearest Planned Parenthood is now located in Stamford.
She was also a founding member of the Stamford-Norwalk chapter of the national organization Jack and Jill of America, although the chapter does not appear to still be operating. Napper founded the nonprofit Greenwich Women’s Civic Club — separate from the Women’s Club of Greenwich — which is no longer listed in the Connecticut license database.
She also served as an executive secretary of the Urban League in White Plains, a specialist and field secretary for the National Office of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a social worker for the Connecticut Welfare Department and claims examiner and supervisor for the unemployment division of the Connecticut Department of Labor, according to the collection.
abigail.brone@hearstmediact.com
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