 Nellie Rathbone Bright was born in Savannah, Georgia on March 28, 1898, the only child of Reverend Richard Bright and his wife Nellie (Jones) Bright.The girl was named after her mother and maternal grandmother; her middle name was in honor of her godmother, a white woman named Caroline Rathbone who was a family friend and social activist.Bright's father was born on Saint Thomas in what was then the Dutch West Indies.