Eva Hodgson

Feb 21, 2023

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in 1910-1929 (Born), African Americans, Education, Museums and Libraries, Immigrant (born outside the Continental US)

1924-2020

Eva Hodgson was an internationally known Bermudian activist, union leader and author (read more here). However, she had an important Newark connection and was in Newark for a significant time period.

In 1969, during the first years of Essex County College Ms. Hodgson was coordinator of Black Studies. Essex County was the first public college to plan a degree of Black Studies. By 1979, Hodgson was chair of the ECC History Department and she completed her PhD in 1980.

According to Black History in Bermuda, “Her contribution to the Social Science Division at ECC led to her being awarded a Fellowship Grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington. During the sabbatical year that grant made possible, she was able to do research for a study of human rights and social sciences at the Center for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University. Also during her Chairmanship at ECC she worked with the New Jersey Historical Society on one of their oral history projects. That involvement reinforced her own interest in oral history and its presentation. In 1983, as a result of her own proposal, she was seconded to the Department of Education in a pioneering effort by the Bermuda Government to preserve oral history and to introduce human rights into the social science and civics curriculum.”