Category: African Americans
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Gladys Berry Francis
c. 1911-1993 Born in Newark.* Director of Elementary Education from 1967-1978. Previously taught at Charlton Street School and South 8th Street School and was Vice Principal at South 8th Street, Oliver Street and…
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Grace Eubanks Malone
c. 1908-1994 First black welfare director in New Jersey. Worked as a social worker for the city starting in 1931, and became director of welfare from 1964-1969. After her retirement served as director…
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Pauline Sims Puryear
1900-1971 Miss Pauline Puryear was a social worker in Newark for many years. She’s famous nationally for being the 4th international president of Alpha Kappa Alpha and Dean of Women at Florida State…
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Wynona Moore Lipman
1923* -1999 Though Lipman is well known as a Senator, some of her early accomplishments are lesser known. She got a Fulbright scholarship at a young age, was a professor at Morehouse in…
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Doris Thompson Dorsey
1911-1985 Doris Dorsey was the first Black woman supervisor in the Newark Post Office in 1966. She was “the only woman in an 18 member section”. She had been a Postal employee since…
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Jacqueline “Jackie” Rendleman Jones
c. 1951-2021 Jackie was the first woman firefighter at the Newark Fire Department in 1981, along with Ethel Goldsberry who was later removed. In 1982, she was the only woman firefighter of over…
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Violet Johnson
1870-1939 Civic leader and suffragist in Summit. Active in the New Jersey Federation of Colored Womens Clubs and the New Jersey Women Suffrage Association. Violet Johnson’s life has been expertly chronicled in Betty…
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Miss Rhapsody Viola Wells
1902-1984 Photo from Barbara J Kukla Papers Born in Newark, Viola Wells, known as Miss Rhapsody was an internationally acclaimed jazz, blues and religious singer. In Newark, she sang for local jazz clubs…