Category: Born or raised in Newark (high school or before)
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Ame Amelia Garrison
c. 1909 – 1997 Amelia Garrison was a swing-era saxophonist who travelled widely playing with bands, also leading NJ’s only female orchestra as of 1938, according to the New Jersey Herald News, Ame Garrison’s Sirens of Swing. During her career she said, “usually I was the only female sax player they had ever worked with.”…
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Earlene Jackson Provit
1945-2007 Junius Williams in his book “An Unfinished Agenda” states that Earlene Provit was a “community legend…I heard a story about Earlene fighting five cops and winning!” Earlene worked part time at a bar called the Pink Palace. Junius says, “I remember the first time I went to the Pink Palace. Earlene was wearing a…
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Ruth C. Battles Dickerson
1867-1939 Ruth Battles was an early Black graduate of Newark High School, in 1891. In 1894 and 1895 she is listed as running a Select School in Newark at 187 Commerce. Ruth married Rev. Charles Dickerson in 1895 but in 1901 sued him for desertion. He had to pay her $4 a week (later revised…
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Edwina Johnson Hale
1933-2019 Alt names: Bailey, Manigault, Mason Edwina Johnson lived with her parents and siblings at 56 Ridgewood Ave in Newark and attended South Side High (now Shabazz). Her father was a taxi driver. In Jun of 1949, when she was 16, Edwina and her brother Marshall, along with their father, stopped in Montgomery, AL, on the…
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Georgianna Franklin Brennan
1936- Georgianna Brennan was an early Star Ledger writer. Born in Newark, she was the daughter of Parks and Property Director Pearce Franklin. In June 1953, when she would have been about 17, a photo of Georgianna judging Miss Newark Marine Corps listed her as “Miss Georgianna Franklin of the Star Ledger”. In August, Georgianna…
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Sylvia Guarino
26 Dec 1945- Sylvia Guarino was the first woman deputy mayor in Newark, appointed by Mayor James in 1986. The full time position paid $28300 and the purpose was to “serve as a conduit between the government and its citizens” and “assist the day-to-day operation”. She envisioned improving quality of life, working with the community and…
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Melba Moore
1945 (1940-1942*) – Melba Moore is a Tony award winning, Grammy nominated singer who had many top hits in the 1970s and 1980s. Melba Moore was born Beatrice Melba Smith, in New York. When she was 9, her mother married Newark jazz pianist Clem Moorman and she moved to Newark. The family lived at 283…
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Mary Cartin Kelley Howard
1889-1951 Mary Howard was a pioneer in the Marines, one of the first three women to be enlisted nationally, and first in Newark. She did general office work in the Marine Corps offices in Washington DC, assigned to the Publicity Bureau. In Nov 1918, she was part of an official visit to Quantico and, later,…