Turner was vice president of the St. Paul NAACP and captain of the Sixteenth Battalion Medical Corps, Minnesota Home Guard.
In 1910, he was charged for performing an abortion and was defended in court by Frederick McGhee,[1] who was an African American criminal defense lawyer, and also part of the civil rights movement.
In 1912, Turner worked with McGhee to establish the Twin City Protective League, which later joined forced with the NAACP.
[2] On April 26, 1918, Turner headed the medical corps of Military companies C and D formed in Minneapolis for the state's National Guard.
On June 6, 1896, Turner married American educator and civil rights activist Lillian M. Anderson.