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Mary Beasley Burch
1906-2001 Mary Beasley Burch founded the Leaguers non-profit focused on the development of African American youth & was the first African American woman to serve on the Newark Board of Ed. & NJ State Parole Board. She was on the board of Essex County College and contributed to its founding. The theater at ECC is…
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Emily Rollins Miles
1910-1999 Emily Miles was a fashion designer. Known for her hats and for frequent fashion shows in Newark. Born Emma Rollins in Tennessee, she graduated Central High in Aug 1929 and Howard University, and various fashion schools. In 1952, she won the Paper Dress Ball sponsored by the Newark NAACP. After graduating from school in…
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Musette Brooks Gregory
1876-1921 Musette Gregory was a suffragist and activist. She was a leader in the Urban League of Newark and Vice President of the Newark Branch of the NAACP. She was on the Executive Committee of the New Jersey Suffrage Ratification Committee during the suffrage struggle. Musette was secretary of the NJ State Federation of Colored Womens…
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H. Blanche Harris
1878-1956 (Thanks to George Robb who did much research on Harris, his full biographer is linked below.). Blanche Harris was active in the suffrage movement in Newark. Her obituary said she was a “member of one Newark’s first Negro families and active many years in community affairs” and “a pioneer in the Newark NAACP branch…
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Elsa Rehmann
1886-1946 Elma Rehmann was the sister of Antoinette Perrett. Elsa was a famed landscape architect, who has a large biography linked below from the Cultural Landscape Foundation. The Sunday Call called her “one of the most successful women in her profession.” Elsa worked planning gardens saying, “The results of my work are most satisfying but…
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Antoinette Rehmann Perrett
1880-1952 Antoinette Perrett was a photographer and magazine writer, who wrote for national publications, specializing in gardens. Her work appeared in magazines such as House Beautiful, House and Garden, and Charm. She was the sister of Elsa Rehmann. She also had a recurring feature “Nature News Gathered in the Essex County Parks” in the Newark…
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Josephine Lawrence
1889-1978 Josephine Lawrence was Newark Sunday Call Children’s and Household Editor. She was also the Newark Sunday News women’s page editor and a weekly columnist. Josephine wrote around 100 children’s books, many with the Stratemayer firm and over 30 adult books. She also contributed to the New York Times Book Review, until she retired from…
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Louise Scott
1927-1983 Louise Scott was the founder of the Scott School of Beauty Culture. Born in the South, she came to New York from the South as a domestic & then to Newark where she opened her first beauty shop in 1944. This expanded into five shops and then a school. Louise was known as Newark’s…
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Dorothea H Wingert
1905-1990 Dorothea started writing for Newark newspapers in her teens. She wrote dozens of articles for a series on business and professional women in NJ in 1926-1927 when she was 21-22. In Jun 1926 she was placed in charge of the Call’s resort news bureau at Asbury Park. In 1934, she wrote several articles for the Newark…
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Brenda Estelle Ray Moryck
1894-1945 Black writer and social activist born in Newark. Worked with Newark Bureau of Charities. She published short stories, essays, and book reviews in national journals and magazines. Photo from Wellesley College. At the time of her graduation from Wellesley in 1916 her address was 61 Kearny (31 Kearney seems to be the correct address)…