Nellie Stone Johnson (December 17, 1905 – April 2, 2002) was an American civil rights activist and union organizer.

Johnson helped form the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) and spearheaded the effort to create the first Fair Employment Practices department in the nation.

[4] Their family had a dairy farm and her father was involved with the Nonpartisan League, helping organize farmers and co-founding the Twin Cities Milk Producers Association.

[7] In September 1922, Nellie moved to Minneapolis where she was a live-in nanny for a white family that lived close to Loring Park.

[10] In 1936, she became a member and then vice president of AFL's Local 665, Hotel and Restaurant Workers union.

[6][11] Johnson met future Vice President Hubert Humphrey in 1941 at Duluth State College.

[5] In the 1940s she spearheaded the drive to create the Minneapolis Fair Employment Practices department, which was the first of its kind in the nation.

[13] In 1955, she led the initiative to create a statewide version of the Minneapolis legislation, the Employment Practices Act of 1955.

[15] She was fired from her job at the Minneapolis Athletic Club in 1950[15] and in October 1950, she resigned her position as Chair of the Hennepin County Progressive Party.

[20] Johnson continued to be active in state and local politics and was Van Freeman White's campaign manager in his successful 1979 bid for a seat on the Minneapolis City Council.

She received a lifetime achievement award from the Black Caucus of the American Association for Higher Education in 2000.