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Peggy Officer Lista
1913-2013 Inducted into the Newark Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994 for being a basketball and track standout at Central High in the late 1920s. As of 1930, she was the only girl at Central ever to have lettered in two sports. She was also Class Secretary. Bibliography Margaret O. Liska Oct 11, 2013 Nashua…
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Ruth McClain Rambo
1940- Ruth Rambo, known at the time as Ruth McClain, is a graduate of Fisk University. In the 1960s she took a job with the Urban League and became one of it’s first female directors. She was associate exec director and in 1975 sued the Essex Co. Urban League saying she was denied the Exec.…
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Mildred Roberts Helms
1907–2002 Community activist, encouraged the building of affordable housing in Clinton Hill. In 1972, she helped found the Clinton Hill Area Development Corp which built 151 units of housing in Clinton Hill Community Gardens. Mayor Sharpe James said, “She was a creative, wonderful, hardworking woman….With a ready smile, winning sense of humor, steel determination and…
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Dorthaan Williams Kirk
1938- One of the first people hired by Newark’s jazz station WBGO and became the face of and a fierce advocate for the station. She served as Director of Community Relations and Special Events, among other roles over the years. Dorthann has promoted, curated and produced jazz events throughout the region. She is also co-chair…
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Willie Belle Hooper
1906-1999 Born in Georgia and attended school, including getting a teaching certificate in Florence, S.C, after which she taught in several rural schools. According to her daughter, Newark would not accept her teaching certificate. In her oral history she says she tried to get “in school” and couldn’t because they weren’t accepting “grown people”. She…
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Asimina Speros Zois
1909-1987 Arrived in Newark at age 7 from Greece, married in 1937 as “Minnie Speros”. Before marriage lived on Baldwin St (1930) and served as a bookkeeper. In 1927, she was listed as a high ranking student at Central suggesting she graduated Feb 1927. She began sending care packages back to her native village in…
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Anna Lois Russ Jones
1911-1987 Mother of Amiri Baraka. Born in Alabama, lived in Newark from 1926. Attended Tuskegee, Fisk, and Shaw College. Administrator for Community Hospital for many years. Community relations specialist for the Newark Housing Authority, later identified as “supervisor of community relations and social services” and associated with United Community Corp (1973). In 1968, she was…
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Sarah Catherine Howard Johnson
1907-1993 One of the first African American nurses in the Visiting Nurses Association of Newark, where she worked from 1930-1950. Nurse at Hawkins Street School from 1965-1977. Received degrees from Tuskegee Institute (1929) and Seton Hall. Member of the Graduate Nurses Association. Born in Kentucky but lived in Newark from at least 1930 (West Kinney…
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Maggie Clay Beckett
c. 1892-1972 Founded the James H. Beckett funeral home with her husband. President of the New Jersey State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs 1943-1947, as well as Vice President. She was the first advisor to the Junior Federation. She also was instrumental in presenting a pageant with the group at the 1939 Worlds Fair. In…
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Rose Slavitt
1895-1969 Born in Newark, but grew up in New York for some years (1910). Back in Newark by 1915. First woman to manage a department at Prudential Insurance Co. in 1952. She was manager of Debit Policy Division 2 and worked for Prudential for man years. She liked theater, books, music, art and travel and…