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Ellen C. King
c. 1839-1936 Ellen C. King was the daughter of Mary Thompson King and sister of Harriet King Brown and Marcia King Stillwell. She was born at 70 Warren Street and lived there most of her life. She lived to age 97. Ellen went to North Carolina after the Civil War to help establish a school…
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Harriet A. King Brown
c.1850-1912 The New York Age called Harriet King Brown “an energetic woman and a credit to her race”. The Sunday Call wrote, “She was interested in many charitable enterprises and was a successful businesswoman.” Harriet was one of the first public school teachers under James Baxter at the Colored School in Newark. She was listed…
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Carrie Epps Powell
c. 1905-1987 Born in Newark, attended East Side High, Newark State University and graduated Rutgers in 1931. Worked as a teacher for over 40 years, retiring in 1964 as VP of Hawthorne Ave School. When she was named VP in 1962 this made her the first Black teacher to be promoted to an administrative post…
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Gladys Berry Francis
c. 1911-1993 Gladys Francis was director of Elementary Education for the Newark Public Schools from 1967-1978. Gladys previously taught at Charlton Street School and South 8th Street School and was Vice Principal at South 8th Street, Oliver Street and Bragaw Avenue Schools. She started teaching in 1936. Gladys was a member of the Phillis Wheatley…
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Grace Eubanks Malone
c. 1908-1994 Grace Malone was the first Black welfare director in New Jersey. She worked as a social worker for the city starting in 1931, and became director of welfare from 1964-1969. After her retirement served as director of the Northeast Region for the US Dept of Housing. Grace was a 1965 Rutgers Newark Graduate.…
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Ruth B. Demerast Breder Porter
1902-1971 In 1927, listed by Sunday Call as “the only woman director of a scientific station in the United States”. She was the director of the Wyanokie Zoological Station in Haskell. As of 1930, she was still listed as “of Newark” but was working at the New York Aquarium. She traveled internationally with her scientific…
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Pauline Sims Puryear
1900-1971 Miss Pauline Puryear was a social worker in Newark for many years. She’s famous nationally for being the 4th international president of Alpha Kappa Alpha and Dean of Women at Florida State A&M College. The 1930 census lists her as working for the NJ Urban League which was based in Newark. In 1939, there…
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Wynona Moore Lipman
1923* -1999 Wynona Lipman is well known as the first Black woman in the New Jersey Senate. You can read her full detailed biography from the Center for American Women and Politics here. Some of Wynona’s early accomplishments are lesser known. She got a Fulbright scholarship at a young age, was a professor at Morehouse…
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Grace Oliver Duryee
c. 1874 – 1945 Grace Duryee headed the East Side Day Nursery for 31 years. She worked closely with philanthropist Louise Shugard. The Newark News wrote she “has been mother and grandmother to two generations of Newark’s children from all parts of the city”. Louise Shugard said, “she is the most faithful soul I’ve ever…
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Justina Eller
1886-1939 Justina Eller was the third policewoman appointed in 1918 with Margaret Dugan and Etta Fallon. They were the first and for many years only policewomen. Justina worked interviewing women prisoners, catching shoplifters, and was assigned to the casualty squad and the censor bureau. She died on duty in 1939 with the Deputy Chief stating,…