Category: Born or raised in Newark (high school or before)
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Jennie Caputo
1918-1996 Jennie Caputo was a gymnast who competed in the 1936 Olympics with the first US women’s gymnastic team. She won the all-around 1st prize in Olympic tryouts. She said of the Olympics, “Everything was grand, the ship, the people…everything! I didn’t have any trouble during the competition….Would I like to go back for the…
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Sally Carroll
1922-2019 Sally Carroll was one of the first Black policewomen in Newark along with Rhoda Daniels and Eleanor M. Stokes in 1949 . She was the first Black woman detective with the Essex County Sherriff’s Office. She was active with the Batons. After entering the police in 1949, she took the Civil Service promotional exams…
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Hannah Kinney
1761-1832 Hannah Kinney helped found the Newark Female Charitable Society in 1803 and served as president. She was described as “A star in the social world of her day as well as a writer and theologian” and “a belle in her youth.” She also instituted the first Sabbath schools in the city. Hannah was born…
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Emma Ward Edwards
1845-1896 Emma Ward Edwards was one of the first woman doctors in New Jersey. She ran a large general practice in Newark, also practicing at the Home of the Aged, and around Newark. Newark News wrote she was “to many households the beloved physician, the sympathizing helpful friend who spared herself no labor to reduce…
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Amina Baraka
1942- Amina Baraka is an American poet, actress, author, community organizer, singer, dancer, and activist. She is the mother of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. Born Sylvia Robinson, Amina grew up in Newark and attended Arts High School, class of Jan 1961. In 1960, she married Walter Wilson. In 1963, she was one of the founding…
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Clara L Scudder
1874-1930 Clara L Scudder was very accomplished on the piano and organ. She learned from her father David Scudder who was a member of Craig’s Orchestra. She went to Scotland and Europe to play in 1901-1902 (she appears on the 1901 Scotland Census as a visitor to Mary Jane Cargill in Glasgow) and William Ashby…
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Augusta Levine Parsonnet
1870-1949 Augusta Parsonnet was president of the Women’s Political Union of New Jersey. She was the first President of the League of Women Voters of Newark. She was also first President of the Ladie’s Guild of Beth Israel, a founder of Haddasah’s Newark Chapter and first President the Newark Council of Jewish Women. She also…
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Mildred Preen
1918 – 1979 Mildred Preen, graduate of West Side High in Newark was the first woman to graduate in Electrical Engineering at Newark College of Engineering, was an Assemblywoman (the first woman to do so in Hunterdon County), private pilot, and served with the WAVES in WWII. Mildred graduated Newark College of Engineering in 1938.…