Category: African Americans
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Willie Belle Hooper
1906-1999 Willie Belle Cooper was born in Georgia (maiden name: Saunders) and attended school, including getting a teaching certificate in Florence, S.C, after which she taught in several rural schools. According to her daughter, Newark would not accept her teaching certificate. In her oral history she says she tried to get “in school” and couldn’t…
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Anna Lois Russ Jones
1911-1987 Anna Jones was the mother of Amiri Baraka who was active in the community in education and civic activism, and a champion sprinter in her youth. She was also administrator of Community Hospital, Newark’s Black hospital, for many years. Born in Alabama, Anna lived in Newark from around 1926. She attended Tuskegee, Fisk, and…
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Sarah (Sara) Catherine Howard Johnson
1907-1993 Sarah Johnson was one of the first African American nurses in the Visiting Nurses Association of Newark, where she worked from 1930-1950. She was a nurse at Hawkins Street School from 1965-1977. Sarah received degrees from Tuskegee Institute (1929) and Seton Hall. She was a member of the Graduate Nurses Association. She was a…
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Maggie Clay Beckett
c. 1892-1972 Maggie Clay Beckett founded the James H. Beckett funeral home with her husband. Maggie was President of the New Jersey State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs 1943-1947, as well as former Vice President. She was the first advisor to the Junior Federation. She was instrumental in presenting a pageant with the group at…
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Delores Rich
1948-1996 Delores Rich was President of the Aspen Riverpark Tenants Association, who did lots of organizing for tenants in the building. Tenants were forced out of the old Prudential Apartments to allow Aspen to renovate it. Delores and others organized to pressure the state to allow tenants to return and continually organized for better conditions…
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Marion Roberson Kidd
1928-2012 Marion Kidd was a community activist working for welfare rights, who also worked many years with the North Jersey Community Union. In 1966, she led a group of welfare mothers to complain about welfare issues to the Essex County Welfare Board. In 1967, she was chairwoman of the UCC Welfare Committee, for Area Board…
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Dorothy Gould
1922 – 2015 Dorothy Gould was an early Black teacher, hired in 1943 for $144 a month at Cleveland Junior High as a “permanent sub” since Black teachers couldn’t be officially hired above primary level. One of her students was Mayor Gibson. Dorothy came to Montgomery Street School around 1967, and by the 1970s, she…
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Katherine Bell Banks
1912-2008 Katherine Bell Banks was born in Tennessee. The Banks family shared a home with the WEB Dubois family in New York before moving to Newark in 1922. Katherine graduated Barringer in 1929 and was one of the first African Americans to graduate Montclair State Teacher’s College. She then received a Masters from Columbvia University.…