Category: Born or raised in Newark (high school or before)
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Sheila D Banks
1956-1992 Sheila Banks was 2nd in the Class of 1974 at Weequahic High School. She was the first Black women to graduate from Steven’s Institute of Technology in 1978 (the school began admitting women in 1971). She received an engineering degree, with a concentration in chemical engineering. In 1974 she completed a Cornell University program…
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Huldah Clark
1947- Huldah Clark made international news in 1961. Her family lived in the Christopher Columbus Housing Projects, with 6 children. Her father could not afford living expenses for the whole family, and also believed schools in Newark were segregated “Jim Crow schools”. When he received an offer from Nikita Khrushchev that would cover his daughter’s…
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Eva A Jennings
1863-1935 Eva A Jennings was an early Black graduate of Newark High School. She went to Commerce Street School and was the first Black graduate since Malvina Sears and Elida Lowery, making her the 3rd Black graduate. Eva is shown on the Newark census in 1870 and 1880. In 1880 she lived with the family…
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Malvina Sears & Elida Lowery
First Black graduates of Newark High in 1877 Many people have heard of the first Black student to enter Newark High School, Clara Mulford. Clara entered in 1872, but did not graduate. Entering in 1873, two other students were the first Black graduates of Newark high school: Melvina (Malvina) Sears & Elida G Lowery. They…
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Maud “Peggy O’ Wing” Wingk Batsch
Sept 1896 – early 1930s? Maud P Wingk lived with her mother Lena, her father a laundry dealer (William) and three sisters Janette/Lulu, Alma and Nora (names differ on census records). She was born in Brooklyn (some articles say China) but quickly moved to Newark and graduated from St. Bridget’s School, along with her sisters.…
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Helen A Miller
1898-1982 We don’t know too much about Helen A. Miller. She was the sister of Mildred Miller Free and her father James Miller was the “first of his race” to work for the City Water Department. She graduated South Side School in 1917, was on the Honor Roll and was planning to attend the Normal…
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Mina Ginger Van Winkle
1875-1933 Mina Van Winkle was a famous suffragist who organized the Equality League of Self-Supporting Women in Newark in 1908. In 1912, the League was re-named the Women’s Political Union of New Jersey (WPUNJ), with Mina as president, and remained based in Newark, headquartered on Halsey Street. Mina was born in New York City, but…
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Minnie Schneider Karr
1855-1938 Her obituary states she was “a veteran feminist…a pioneer suffrage worker and led suffrage picket lines. She was a founder of the National Women’s Party which had as its object the abolishment of all discrimination in the law against women and was active in the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom and the…