1930 – 2007
Dorothea Lee involved in multiple organizations serving high positions in the Newark NAACP, National Association of Negro Business and Professional Womens’ Clubs, and heading American Veteran’s Post 5, the first woman to do so. She was also the first Black woman member of the New Jersey Air National Guard. Friend Tracy Mumford said, “She was the first feminist I came across.” Dorothea said, “I am a doer. I am to make things happen.”
Dorothea said that when her family moved to Newark they were “the first Black family on the block”. Dorothea graduated West Side High School and attended the Newark City Hospital School for Nursing, as an early Black graduate, graduating in 1951.
In the 1950s she was President of a club called Club Cicuso, which raised money for the community.
After leaving school, Dorothea served as a major in the New Jersey Air National Guard, as the first Black woman member.. She enlisted in 1957 and served on active duty from 1961-1962.
In 1964, Dorothea received her Masters at Seton Hall in vocational rehabilitation counseling. She worked for the New Jersey Rehabilitation Commission with psychiatric patients.
Dorothea also worked as a substitute teacher and nurse before joining the Newark Housing Authority in 1980 where she worked for 23 years, eventually managing Section 8 housing and working as a relocation administrator. She was elected Northeast District Governor for the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s’ Clubs in 1983, an organization with 11,000 members. She was elected commander of Newark’s in American Veteran’s Post 5 in 1987. Her funeral program states that she was the “First African American and first woman to head an AmVets post”.
Dorothea retired in 2003 and enjoyed traveling around the world including Paris and China. She was a longtime member of the Newark NAACP and was named president in 2005.
Dorothea was a charter member of Women in Military Service for America. She was the first Black and first woman president of the New Jersey Stand Down Committee. She was a founding board member of the New Jersey Coalition of 100 Black Women. She was a member of many other organizations and received dozens of awards for her work including a New Jersey Medal of Merit.
Bibliography
Adarlo, Sharon, “Dorothea Lee, 76, Newark Role Model” Star Ledger Oct 15, 2007
Johnson, Trudy, “Women’s Club Group Elects Govenor” Star Ledger Aug 1, 1983
Lucas, Caryl, “Amvets’ newest chief takes commanding league” Star Ledger Dec 21, 1987
Barbara Kukla Papers: A Celebration of the Life of Dorothea Lee
Club World News, 1957, Charles F. Cummings NJ Information Center Newark Library
“City Hospital Graduates 14” Newark News May 17 1951
Newark City Hospital Class of 1951, Charles F. Cummings NJ Information Center, Newark Library