Nelson "Jack" Edwards (1917–1974) was Vice President of the UAW (United Auto Workers), and a founder of CBTU, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.
As Vice President of the UAW, he headed the following Departments and Councils: Alcoa, Allen Industries; Bendix; Borg-Warner; Budd; Die Cast; Doehler-Jarvis; Donaldson; Drop Forge and Heat Treat; Eaton; Electric Storage Battery; Ex-Cell-O; Federal Mogul; Foundry; FMC-Food Machinery; Heating-Air Conditioning-Radiation and Refrigeration; Hoover; Houdaille; Independents-Parts and Suppliers; Indian Head; Kelsey-Hayes; Koehring; McQuay-Norris; Midland-Ross; Modine; Motor Wheel; Purolator; Standard Products; Sundstrand Council; and Teledyne.
He was also Co-Director of the Manpower Training and Development Department and Chairman of UAW's Southeastern Michigan Community Action Program Council (SEMCAP).
Freedom Road remained his personal goal for all mankind; the right to live, learn, work, and play in accordance to the quality of the man and not the color of his skin, his religion, ethnic background, or sex.
But most of all the Great Society is not a safe harbor, a resting place, a final objective, a finished product—it is a challenge constantly renewed, beckoning us towards destiny where the meaning of lives matches the marvelous product of our labor."
Nelson Jack Edwards, 57, the first black man to become a vice-president of the UAW and long-time civil rights champion, was killed by a gunman, November 2, 1974.
As a tribute to the lasting memory of Nelson Jack Edwards, the International Union dedicated to him one of the buildings at the Walter and May Reuther UAW Family Education Center at Black Lake.