1934-
Betty Neals is a nationally-recognized poet, who has performed in Newark, New Jersey and nationally, who also had a 37-year teaching career in East Orange.
In 1975, she was featured in New York City’s Black History Week and the New York Amsterdam News called her a “Newark born writer” who “is also a beautiful wife and mother. She quietly trilled in melodious tones from the heights and depths of her vast Black womanhood experience.” In 1976, she performed with jazz great Rashaan Roland Kirk at Sparky Js and she later recorded with Kirk and is featured on Theme for the 5000lb Man. Her poem “The Amossary” has also been recorded by The Western Wind and she has performed poetry with the Eulipion All Stars nationally.
In 1977, Betty published her poetry collection Sprit Weaving and she published Move the Air in 1985. Both collections contain poems about her Newark experiences.
Betty became involved at Newark Library where she put on yearly poetry programs with librarian Leslie Kahn and was active in the Frances Harper Literary Society. In 1995, with the Newark Writers Collective, she received a special award for her poetry at the Library.
Betty also is an actress, appearing, among other performances, in 1999 at the Intar Theater in New York City and several times in the early 2000s with African Globe Theatre Works in Newark.
Betty received a Woman of Distinction Award in 1999 from the Girl Scout Council of Greater Essex County. She was inducted as a NJPAC elder in 2024, and into the East Orange Hall of Fame in 2025. She said, “I know what my life and work have meant to me, I now see new possibilities to continue this narrative about the blessing it is to be a part of a caring community with positive goals, a community always in search of answers to trying issues that exist here and everywhere.”
Betty grew up in Newark, graduating West Side in 1952, where she was taught and inspired by Katherine Bell Banks. She also attended Morton St and Monmouth Street Schools. She was the goddaughter of Mary Burch and her husband. She attended Newark State Teachers College where she was VP of the Student Government and received multiple scholarships including from the Leaguers and the Columbian Foundation. In 1974, she received an MA in Educational Theater from NYU.
In 1956, she received a scholarship to attend the Encampment for Citizenship in NY, from the Mayor’s Commission on Group Relations. She then became a teacher at Nassau School in East Orange. The Encampment visit led to a summer in Nigeria. Betty then taught the students in her East Orange class about Nigeria and wrote about her visit for Club World News. Betty Harris married Felix Neals in 1960. She remained an East Orange teacher for 37 years, teaching subjects including speech therapy and creative dramatics. In 1987 she was selected for the Governor’s Teacher Recognition Award.
Betty was also involved in Queen of Angels Church from childhood, where she presented a meditational piece “Mary’s Way of the Cross” in 1997, which was then repeated in later years. Her son Julien is a US district judge in New Jersey, who previously served as Newark BA.
Bibliography
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DD7kozYJ4aV/
https://newarkpoems.org/category/poets/betty-h-neals
https://essex-times.com/f/east-orange-hall-of-fame-ceremony-set-for-thanksgiving-weekend
Newark Library Digital Collections 1 2 3 including “Newark’s Literary Lights”
King, Sandra, “600 Turn Out…” Star Ledger Oct 23, 1974
“Scholarships Given…” Newark News July 26, 1956
“Heads Student Unit” Newark News Mar 28, 1954
“Speak Nigerian…” Newark News Oct 12, 1958
“Community Ambassador…” Post Star Glen Jul 9, 1958
“Black History in New York State” New York Amsterdam News Feb 22, 1975
West Side High yearbook, 1954, digital.npl.org
Harris, Betty “Nigeria as I saw It” Club World News 1958
Kanzler, George “Bright moments in Newark Clubs” Star Ledger May 4, 1976
“Book party honors poet” Star Ledger Apr 28, 1978
“Arts Benefit” Star Ledger Jul 24, 1978
Gilman, Dorinne “A rousing…” Star Ledger Mar 20, 1979
“King Observance” Star Ledger Jan 8, 1981
Newark Library book catalog
Kanzler, George “Jazz/Folk” Star Ledger Mar 11, 1983
Robinson, Lauren “People poet…” Star Ledger April 18, 1989
Dilworth, Kevin “East Orange…” Star Ledger May 6, 1987
“Spirit Weaving…” Star Ledger May 6, 1995
Nutt, Bill, “Following the…” Star Ledger May 27, 1997
“Luncheon to salute” Star Ledger Apr 22, 1999
“A story told too slowly” Star Ledger Jun 12, 2001 & other theater reviews
“Gift….” Star Ledger Nov 7, 2002
See also: Mary Burch and Katherine Bell Banks Star Ledger obituaries