Category: 1890-1909 (Born)
-
Edythe Raabe
1907-1977 Edythe Raabe was the first woman graduate of Newark College of Engineering (now NJIT) in 1930. She was the first woman in the United States to receive a degree in chemical engineering. The Sunday Call reported she was the only female student at the College in 1928. During college she was employed by Bamberger…
-
Rose Danzis Parsonnet
c. 1900-2003 Rose Danzis was the daughter of Max Danzis, a founder of Beth Israel Hospital and Jennie Danzis, Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. She was married to Eugene Parsonnet, a cardiologist, and her son was Victor Parsonnet, renowned heart surgeon. Rose was involved with music throughout her life, “The house was filled with a Steinway grand,…
-
Miss Rhapsody Viola Wells
1902-1984 Born in Newark, Viola Wells, known as Miss Rhapsody was an internationally acclaimed jazz, blues and religious singer. In Newark, she sang for local jazz clubs in the 1920s and started out with the Salica Johnson Glee Club. She also performed in New York and nationally, playing with Count Basie’s Orchestra and the Harlem…
-
Miriam Ogden Ball
1890-1968 Miriam Ball was from an old Newark family and was born in Newark. She was the daughter of Mary Depue Ogden. She was “presented” to Newark Society in 1909. She attended Wellesley College and worked briefly for the Newark Library; then returned to the library in 1934. In 1951, she was assigned to the…
-
Elizabeth Blume-Silverstein
1892-1991 Eliabeth Blume-Silverstein was born in Newark. She graduated the New Jersey Law School in Newark in 1911 (just a year after the first woman graduate Laura Mayo Wilson), but could not practice until she turned 21. In 1913, she was admitted to the Bar as an attorney and in 1917 as a counselor. Elizabeth…
-
Bertell Collins Wright
1908-1993 Bertell Collins Weight was resident of the Essex County Tuberculosis League, based in Newark at 42 Park Place. She was sometimes called “Director of Negro Health Work” or “Executive Secretary”. Bertell worked there from 1938-1958. She lived at 69 Somerset St in Newark from at least 1935 (likely from her marriage in 1934), until…
-
Myrtle C. Williams
1900- 1957 Myrtle C Williams grew up in Newark on Chestnut St. She was the first “colored girl” to finish a 4 year commercial course in 1919 when she graduated East Side High and played a piano solo at the graduation. Myrtle entered Columbia University. In 1921 she was appointed stenographer for the Mayor’s Department.…
-
Dr. Eva Topkins Brodkin
1899-1994 Dr. Eva Brodkin was the first female board-certified dermatologist in New Jersey. She practiced in Newark from 1927 to 1977 and was also chief of dermatology at St. Barnabas Newark in the 1960s. Eva said being a doctor was, “the only thing I wanted to be.” “I always wanted to be a doctor, never…