Category: 1890-1909 (Born)
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Mildred Morris Williams
1905-1958 Mildred Morris was one of the early Black teachers in Newark. In 1938 the Herald News called her “one of Newark’s popular school teachers”, “charming” and a “member of one of New Jersey’s outstanding families”. She taught at Abington Ave School, in 1st grade, for most of her career, teaching briefly at Belmont Ave,…
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Dr. Gertrude Ash Golat
c. 1909-1980 Dr. Gertrude Golat was a graduate of University of Vienna Medical School, who came to Newark in 1939. For 25 years worked as a part time physician for the Newark Board of Education and in the 1960s led the drive for better sex education in Newark schools, creating a training program for teachers.…
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Ruth B. Demerast Breder Porter
1902-1971 In 1927, listed by Sunday Call as “the only woman director of a scientific station in the United States”. She was the director of the Wyanokie Zoological Station in Haskell. As of 1930, she was still listed as “of Newark” but was working at the New York Aquarium. She traveled internationally with her scientific…
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Edythe Raabe
1907-1977 Edythe Raabe was the first woman graduate of Newark College of Engineering (now NJIT) in 1930. She was the first woman in the United States to receive a degree in chemical engineering. The Sunday Call reported she was the only female student at the College in 1928. During college she was employed by Bamberger…
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Miss Rhapsody Viola Wells
1902-1984 Born in Newark, Viola Wells, known as Miss Rhapsody was an internationally acclaimed jazz, blues and religious singer. In Newark, she sang for local jazz clubs in the 1920s and started out with the Salica Johnson Glee Club. She also performed in New York and nationally, playing with Count Basie’s Orchestra and the Harlem…


