Category: Entertainers, Theater and Music
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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…
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Geneva, Helena and Gertrude Turman
The three Turman sisters performed with their brother Buddy in nighclubs around Newark and New York. Gertrude Turman performed in Newark nightclubs as a “shake dancer”. Helena also specialized in dance. Geneva Turman…
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Rosa L Sears Scudder
c. 1852 – 28 Jan 1930 Rosa Sears was the mother of Clara Scudder, piano prodigy. She taught in the Colored School with James Baxter from at least 1870 until her marriage to…
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Fanny Tuell (Faye Adams, Scruggs, Jones)
1923-2016? Pioneering R&B singer who had several chart-topping hits in the 1950s, including 1953 hit “Shake a Hand”. Active from the 1940s-1960s. Born in Newark as Fanny Tuell and lived at 588 North…
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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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Mary and Louise Curcio
c. 1901-1973? , c. 1904-1987 Featured photo is Mary Curcio, Daily News, 1931. Two blind sisters born to Eva Bender and Paul Curcio in Newark. They lived on Morris Avenue. Mary entered school…
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Dorthaan Williams Kirk
1938- One of the first people hired by Newark’s jazz station WBGO and became the face of and a fierce advocate for the station. She served as Director of Community Relations and Special…
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Tina Eugene Holtzclaw Bohannon
1905-1999 Photo from Arts High Yearbook, 1966 An early Black teacher in Newark, hired before 1945, firstly as a “permanent sub” at Cleveland Junior High, because Black teachers could not be officially hired…