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Hannah Kinney
1761-1832 Hannah Kinney helped found the Newark Female Charitable Society in 1803 and served as president. She was described as “A star in the social world of her day as well as a writer and theologian” and “a belle in her youth.” She also instituted the first Sabbath schools in the city. Hannah was born…
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Hannah Mandeville
c. 1810 – 1902 Hannah Mandeville was born into slavery, one of the first members of the African American Plane St. Church and active in the church. Her Newark News obituary said she was “well known to the negroes of this city and to many white people for her piety and good works”. The Daily…
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Emma Ward Edwards
1845-1896 Emma Ward Edwards was one of the first woman doctors in New Jersey. She ran a large general practice in Newark, also practicing at the Home of the Aged, and around Newark. Newark News wrote she was “to many households the beloved physician, the sympathizing helpful friend who spared herself no labor to reduce…
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Amina Baraka
1942- Amina Baraka is an American poet, actress, author, community organizer, singer, dancer, and activist. She is the mother of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. Born Sylvia Robinson, Amina grew up in Newark and attended Arts High School, class of Jan 1961. In 1960, she married Walter Wilson. In 1963, she was one of the founding…
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Clara L Scudder
1874-1930 Clara L Scudder was very accomplished on the piano and organ. She learned from her father David Scudder who was a member of Craig’s Orchestra. She went to Scotland and Europe to play in 1901-1902 (she appears on the 1901 Scotland Census as a visitor to Mary Jane Cargill in Glasgow) and William Ashby…
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Amanda Minnie Douglas
1831-1916 Amanda Douglas was a children’s author who wrote dozens of published books, with some sources saying 92! The Newark News wrote, “Young and old enjoy her writings” and she “had been a favorite author among thousands of readers.” Amanda was born in New York City, but moved to Newark by 1850, when she appears…
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Augusta Levine Parsonnet
1870-1949 Augusta Parsonnet was president of the Women’s Political Union of New Jersey. She was the first President of the League of Women Voters of Newark. She was also first President of the Ladie’s Guild of Beth Israel, a founder of Haddasah’s Newark Chapter and first President the Newark Council of Jewish Women. She also…
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Mary Elizabeth Mapes Dodge
1831-1905 Mary Mapes Dodge was a children’s author best known for Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates. She was the founding editor of St. Nicholas Magazine. Mary was born in New York. Sources vary for when she first came to Newark, however, her father, a chemist, agriculturist and professor, is shown in New York on…
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Alice Bunce
1893-1970 Alice E. Bunce was the first African American woman to graduate from the New Jersey College of Pharmacy in Newark. However, she lived in Asbury Park at the time of graduation in 1927. She owned a pharmacy in Asbury Park for many years, opening it with her brother in 1923 and operating it until…
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Mildred Preen
1918 – 1979 Mildred Preen, graduate of West Side High in Newark was the first woman to graduate in Electrical Engineering at Newark College of Engineering, was an Assemblywoman (the first woman to do so in Hunterdon County), private pilot, and served with the WAVES in WWII. Mildred graduated Newark College of Engineering in 1938.…