Category: African Americans

Sandra West

Mar 1, 2022

in 1930-1959 (Born), African Americans, Authors, Journalists and Writers, Born or raised in Newark (high school or before)

1947-2019 1964 Weequahic graduate. Editor of the Black Organization for Students newsletter at Rutgers and first African American female editor of Rutgers Observer. Worked as a journalist for Information published by the City…
Connie Woodruff (Williams)

Mar 1, 2022

in 1910-1929 (Born), Activists and Community Leaders, African Americans, Authors, Journalists and Writers, Born or raised in Newark (high school or before), Education, Museums and Libraries, Social Work and Philanthrophy

1921-1996 Journalist, labor organizer, educator. City editor of the New Jersey Herald News. Also wrote On the Scene in Jersey for the New York Amsterdam News. Active in the NAACP and the Leaguers.…
Thelma Gillis

Mar 1, 2022

in 1910-1929 (Born), African Americans, Born or raised in Newark (high school or before), Law and Law Enforcement

1916-2003 First woman and first non-law school grad assistant chief of the municipal court clerks of the City of Newark. Named in 1971, deputy municipal court clerk in 1965. She was the sister…
Kitty (Kearney) V. Taylor

Feb 28, 2022

in 1910-1929 (Born), African Americans, Born or raised in Newark (high school or before), Entertainers, Theater and Music, Politics & Government, Social Work and Philanthrophy

1926-2008 Attended Charlton Street School and South Side High. Senior citizen activist and radio host on WNJR with “The Kitty Taylor Show” and “Senior Citizens in Action”. She was named to the Mayor’s…
Pearl Beatty

Feb 28, 2022

in 1930-1959 (Born), African Americans, Born or raised in Newark (high school or before), Politics & Government

1936-2019 Active in the Urban League, NACCP, organizing for JFK and the March on Washington. Attended Morton St. School and Arts High. Exec secretary / office manager for COPE. In 1970, appointed Executive…
Dolores Collins Benjamin

Feb 28, 2022

in African Americans, Entertainers, Theater and Music

1913-2007 Founded the North Jersey Philharmonic Glee Club. Founded in her Newark, N.J. home in 1939, the all-male African-American choral group is one of the nation’s longest continuously performing ensembles of its kind.…
Lillian B Huff Stewart

Feb 27, 2022

in 1890-1909 (Born), African Americans, Authors, Journalists and Writers

1909-2007 Social writer, social editor of the New Jersey Herald News in Newark. Reporter who covered all kinds of stories according to Robert Queen. He says she was working as a waitress when…
Loraine White

Feb 26, 2022

in 1930-1959 (Born), African Americans, Athletics, Born or raised in Newark (high school or before), Education, Museums and Libraries

c. 1947 In 1980, said to be the first Black woman to become a high school football coach in the United States. In the Newark Athletic Hall of Fame. NJ’s first female assistant…