1930-2014
Elsie Reed Eatman was a community activist, involved in various protests and strikes, especially for housing.
Much of Elsie’s work focused around Housing and Pennington Court. She was the first president of the Pennington Court Tenants Association and vice president of the Newark Tenants Council. She co-wrote a history of Pennington Court with Walter Chambers.
Among many other protests, in 1981, she was a plaintiff in a suit by tenants to force the NHA to modernize housing, charging that they failed to provide “decent, safe and sanitary” housing and in 1980, she was part of a citywide rent srike.
Elsie was also active in the South Street School PTA, which hosted a parent strike in 1969. She also went to the March on Washington in 1983.
Aside from her activism, Elsie was a nurse (Martland), teacher and manager at the Newark Housing Authority. While teaching, she was on the Executive Board of the Newark Teacher’s Union.
Elsie was born and raised in Newark and graduated East Side in 1948. She was interviewed for the Krueger Scott Oral History Project in the 1990s.
Bibliography
“Elsie Teresa Eatman” Star Ledger Sept 11, 2014
“Parent Strike Ends As Board Plans to Act” Star Ledger Feb 2, 1969
“Tenants Council Opens Drive with Emphasis on Involvement” Star Ledger Mar 12, 1984
“Newark Housing Agency to Hire a Deputy Chief” Star Ledger Mar 20, 1987
Byrd, Frederick “Newark Tenants Sue to Modernize Housing” Star Ledger May 7, 1981
Terrell, Stanley E. “Dream is Reborn for Newarkers Who Marched” Star Ledger Sept 7, 1983
“On Strike” Star Ledger Oct 13, 1980
Photo courtesy of Darnell Wolton
“School Shut by Boycott” Newark News Jan 29, 1969
Digital collection Newark Library (including Pennington Court History)