Category: Phyllis Wheatley Society
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Irene E Morris
1900-1953 Irene Morris worked as a registered nurse for the Board of Health for over 25 years. She graduated from Mercy Hospital in Philadelphia with the class of 1922. Irene is listed as a nurse in city directories from 1923 and appointed as a visiting nurse for the Board of Health March 1926, and a…
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Mildred Miller Free
1893-1939 Mildred Free was prominent in church and women’s circles. She was active in St. Philips Church and the NJ State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs of which she was Recording Secretary and Financial Secretary. She was active in the Phyllis Wheatly Society, where she was secretary, and the Lit-Muse Club. Mildred was also secretary,…
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Marcia King Stillwell
c. 1846- Feb 13, 1929 Marcia King Stillwell was a daughter of Mary Thompson King and sister of Harriet and Ellen King. Marcia was First Assistant to James Baxter from at least 1865 (first year its listed in the Board of Education reports) until 1880, likely through 1882 so at least fifteen years. In Jan…
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Gladys Berry Francis
c. 1911-1993 Gladys Francis was director of Elementary Education for the Newark Public Schools from 1967-1978. Gladys previously taught at Charlton Street School and South 8th Street School and was Vice Principal at South 8th Street, Oliver Street and Bragaw Avenue Schools. She started teaching in 1936. Gladys was a member of the Phillis Wheatley…
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Pauline Louisa Mars Baxter
Aug 1857 – Dec 14 1924 Pauline Mars was the wife of James Baxter Principal of the Colored School. Born to a prominent family in New York, Pauline graduated the School of Design of the Cooper Institute. The New York Globe wrote Pauline was the “first colored lady” to “receive a diploma from that institution”.…
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Lettie Mae Mulford
1883-1970 *sometimes listed as “Lettie Mulford” or “May Mulford” Lettie Mae Mulford was a eacher in the Newark Public School System for 42 years. She was a daughter of the first African American Newark High School student Clara Mulford, and sister of nurse Eva Mulford. Lettie graduated Newark High School in 1901. In 1904, she…
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Armita Harris Douglas
1874-1958 Armita Douglas was active in the suffrage movement and a civic leader in Newark, advocating for Black women to become more politically active. She said in 1923, ” “the best mother is not the mother who stays at home all the time and gets a flower once a year…there are girls outside our own home…
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Leila Gardner
1914-1993 Leila Gardner was executive director of the Newark Traveler’s Aid Society. She was the first African-American in the nation to head a Travelers Aid unit. She later worked for Family Services as a social worker for many years. The unit helped vulnerable travelers like children, immigrants and senior citizens at Newark Penn Station and…