1921-1996
Connie Woodruff was a journalist, labor organizer and civic activist.
Connie was City editor of the New Jersey Herald News by 1952. She also wrote “On the Scene in Jersey” for the New York Amsterdam News. She wrote a weekly column “As I See It” in City News. She was also active on Cablevision news. She has bylines in various other newspapers as well.
Connie was appointed by six governors to state commissions. She was chairperson of the NJ Commission of the Status of Women and president of the National Association of Commissions on Women. She was also first chair of the West Orange Human Rights Commission. Connie was active in the American Jewish Committee’s Stamp Out Hate Campaign. She was active in the NAACP and the Leaguers.
Connie was also a two term Democratic Committeewomen.
Connie was public relations director at Essex County College. She helped the college found a Women’s Center.
As a union leader, Connie worked for 20 years for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, eventually as community relations director for the entire region. She initiated educational programs and a strong political action committee.
Connie received many awards for her work.
Born Connie Williams, Connie was a Monmouth Street School and South Side graduate, known for her skill at piano as a child. Her godmother was Rosamond Stewart Marrow. In 1935, while in 8th grade at Monmouth Street School she won 2nd prize in an essay contest by the DAR. She remembers being discriminated against due to race at this contest in Kukla’s Defying the Odds.
In 1946 she married Elmer Morris and later Bill Woodruff. In 1950, she graduated from the “Republican School of Politics” with Oliver Brown, a Herald News editor.
Bibliography
Digitized material at Newark Library (1 , 2 )
“Essay Awards Made by DAR Chapter” Newark News Mar 2, 1935
Lautier, Louis “The Capital Spotlight” Afro American May 20, 1950
Boyden, Evelyn “Nosing Around Newark” Afro American Feb 2, 1952 and Mar 7, 1953
“Honors Due for Trio of Black Women” Newark News May 2, 1971
“Denies He Robbed Former Employee” Newark News Dec 30, 1952
Kukla, Barbara J. Newark Women: From Suffragettes to the Statehouse.
Kukla, Barbara J. Defying the Odds: Triumphant Black Women of Newark
Extensive Star Ledger coverage.
Photo from Al Henderson Collection, Newark Public Library, 1975
Barbara J. Kukla Papers, Newark Library
Cummings, Charles F. “Community Leaders Improved Lives of Newarkers” Star Ledger. March 24, 2005.
Finley, Charles Q. “Frankness Wins Admirers for Women’s Leader” Star Ledger Jun 17, 1984
Kukla Barbara J. “Veteran Democrat and Black Leader Dies” Star Ledger Oct 21, 1996.
1950 census under “Canstance O Marris”