First Black graduates of Newark High in 1877
Many people have heard of the first Black student to enter Newark High School, Clara Mulford. Clara entered in 1872, but did not graduate.
Entering in 1873, two other students were the first Black graduates of Newark high school: Melvina (Malvina) Sears & Elida G Lowery. They graduated in 1877. Two other Black students entered Newark High in 1873: Sarah E. Pataquam, Clara Mulford‘s sister, and William H. Fowler, but neither graduated in 1877.
Malvina Sears (name varies Melvina, Nina) born c. 1858 was the sister of Colored School teacher Rosa Sears, who would have been teaching at the time she was at the Colored School. She is listed on the 1870 census with her family in Newark. Along with her sister she is mentioned in the 1878 book Music and Some Highly Musical People by David Trotter as “musical people”. By 1879, she was a teacher in Washington DC.
In 1882, in Washington DC she married James A Snowden. In his obituary James was listed as “one of our most active workers in the church, the business and social circles and the fraternal societies”. His job on his death certificate was listed as a Publisher.
In 1900 Malvina is listed as a pianist and in 1910 a teacher at a printing store. The couple had 4 children. Her husband (d. 1913) and one son (d. 1925) both died of tuberculosis, and a granddaughter of the 1918 flu. Malvina died in Philadelphia in 1940.
Elida G Lowery (Alida, born c. 1860) lived at 22 Division Place with her mother and siblings in 1880 and also is listed in 1870 in Newark. James Baxter lived with their family in 1870 before he was married in 1877. Elida Lowery married George Mickens and moved to Kentucky. In 1904, she’s noted as having given an interesting address as a Mason lodge and in 1909 as a founder of her own lodge.
After her husband’s death, by 1910, she became a Public School teacher. The Bourbon News states she was elected as a county teacher in 1913. Later, she moved to St. Louis, Missouri with her daughter and worked as a maid at the library. In St. Louis she was involved in the Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs. She was also president of the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society of Union Memorial Church. She had one daughter Claretha, who was a pastor. Elida died in St. Louis in 1945.
Bibliography
John R. Anderson’s “Negro Education in Newark, New Jersey”
1870 & 1880 census
Philadelphia Death Certificates
Washington DC Marriages
“His Was a Life of Loving Service Among His Fellows” Philadelphia Tribune Oct 4, 1913
Ancestry.com trees from the families
Death notice, July 27, 1945, St. Louis Argus
“County Teachers” July 10, 1913, Bourbon News
“K of P Grand Lodge” Lexington Herald Leader, Jul 30, 1904
“Kentucky Charters” Cincinnati Enquirer Aug 28, 1909
“City Fed Women’s Clubs Holds Annual Election” St Louis Argus, Feb 1, 1929
“Mrs. Barrett Returns” St. Louis Argus Aug 21, 1936
Washington DC 1879 City Directory