Category: Activists and Community Leaders
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Fannie W Sweasy Smith
c. 1851 – 1923 Fannie W Smith was the only Newark women to attend the International Congress for Women in 1915, representing the New Jersey branch of the Woman’s Peace Party. Fannie also…
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Nadaline Wolfson Dworkin
Aug 5, 1928 -May 17, 2017 Born in NYC, Nadaline Wolfson married Donald Dworkin in 1947 and they lived in Newark’s Weequahic section by the late 1950s. By 1958 she was on the…
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Leah Adele Neuhut
1877-1908 Born to a rabbi in Newark, blind from birth and deaf from 1904, she was called, “one of the most remarkable blind women in the country”. Neuhut a reputation as a pianist,…
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Gloria Jones Swieringa
1938- In 1956, Gloria Jones was believed to be the first blind student ever elected to the National Honor Society, while she was at Barringer High School. She was an A student and…
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Elsie Reed Eatman
1930-2014 Born and raised in Newark, graduated East Side in 1948. She was a nurse (Martland), teacher and manager at the Newark Housing Authority. Eatman was the first president of the Pennington Court…
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Bessie Lanier Smith
1924-1966 Bessie Lanier was born in Virginia but graduated Arts High in 1942 with a major in music. She was prominent in the Clinton Hill anti-poverty activities with United Community Corporation and as…
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Ruth McClain Rambo
1940- Ruth Rambo, known at the time as Ruth McClain, is a graduate of Fisk University. In the 1960s she took a job with the Urban League and became one of it’s first…
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Mildred Roberts Helms
1907–2002 Community activist, encouraged the building of affordable housing in Clinton Hill. In 1972, she helped found the Clinton Hill Area Development Corp which built 151 units of housing in Clinton Hill Community…